Connections to Natural and Cultural Resource Studies in Alaska's National Parks
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
National Park Service U.S. Department of Interior Alaska Regional Office Alaska Park Science Anchorage, Alaska Connections to Natural and Cultural Resource Studies in Alaska’s National Parks June 2009 Noatak National Gates of the Arctic Table of Contents Preserve National Park and Cape Krusenstern Preserve US and Russian Collaboration in Park Science National Monument in the Arctic _________________________________________ 4 Kobuk Valley National Park Yukon-Charley Rivers Bering Land Bridge K A And The Wildlife Therein _____________________________ 6 S National Preserve National Preserve L A Tent Ring Archaeology in Gates of the Arctic A National Park and Preserve __________________________ 10 Norton Sound Denali National Park and Preserve Permafrost/Active Layer Monitoring Program: Wrangell-St. Elias Involving Remote Villages in Permafrost Drilling for National Park and Preserve Operational and Scientific Applications in Alaska ______ 16 Lake Clark National Park Klondike Gold Rush and Preserve National Historical Park The Cooperative Park Studies Unit: Dynamic University-Based Research in the Parks _______ 20 Glacier Bay Katmai Kenai Fjords National Park Zorro Bradley Interview ___________________________ 24 National Park National Park and Preserve and Preserve Fred Dean Interview ______________________________ 28 Sitka National Gulf of Alaska Historical Park Bristol Bay Alternative and Sustainable Energy Sources ISSN 1545-4967 June 2009 for Alaska’s National Parks ___________________________ 32 Aniakchak National Monument The Colors of the Aurora ____________________________ 36 and Preserve Alaska Park Science http://www.nps.gov/akso/AKParkScience/index.htm Science News _______________________________________ 42 Project Lead: Robert Winfree, Regional Science Advisor, email: [email protected] Editor: Monica Shah This project is made possible through funding from Alaska Park Science Journal Board: Peter Armato, Director and Research Coordinator, the National Park Foundation. Additional funding is Ocean Alaska Science and Learning Center provided by the National Park Service and other Ted Birkedal, Team Leader for Cultural Resources Don Callaway, Cultural Anthropologist contributors. Joy Geiselman, Deputy Chief, Biological Science Office USGS Alaska Science Center Russ Kucinski, Team Leader for Natural Resources Alaska Park Science is published twice a year. Recent Rachel Mason, Cultural Anthropologist issues of Alaska Park Science are available for sale John Morris, Education Coordinator Lisa Oakley, Alaska Geographic Association by Alaska Geographic (www.alaskageographic.org). John Quinley, Assistant Regional Director for Communications Sara Wesser, Inventory and Monitoring Coordinator, Alaska Region Charitable donations to help support this Robert Winfree, Chair of Journal Board journal may be sent to: Alaska Geographic Association, Printed on recycled paper with soy based ink 810 East Ninth Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501 Published twice a year in June and December by Alaska Geographic, a nonprofit partner of the Alaska Region of the National Park Service, ATTN: Alaska Park Science. supporting educational programs through publishing and operation of visitor center bookstores. Disclaimer: Information published in Alaska Park Science has been subjected to general review by the National Park Service Alaska Cover photo: Aurora over Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Region. Publication in Alaska Park Science does not signify that and Skagway, Alaska. the contents reflect the views of the National Park Service, nor does mention of trade names or commercial products constitute Photograph courtesy of Michael Klensch National Park Service endorsement or recommendation. About the Authors Tim Hudson is Associate Regional Director for Operations, Alaska Regional Office, NPS. Dirk Lummerzheim, Ph.D., is a Research Professor at the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks. Frank Norris is a historian for the National Trails System Office, NPS. Sanford P. Rabinowitch is a subsistence manager at the Alaska Regional Office, NPS. Becky Saleeby is an archeologist at the Alaska Regional Office, NPS. James F. Stratton is Regional Director for the National Parks Conservation Association. Andrew Tremayne is a graduate student at the University of Wyoming. Robert Winfree is the Alaska Regional Science Advisor for NPS. Kenji Yoshikawa, Ph.D., is an Associate Research Professor, Water and Environmental Research Center, Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks. And The Wildlife Therein Photograph courtesy of G. Gusse Article on page 6. 3 4 Alaska Park Science, Volume 8, Issue 1 US and Russian Collaboration in Park Science in the Arctic By Robert Winfree as one, the Beringia Days International social sciences and related topics that Conferences have been held since 1996 to are especially relevant to the Gates of the Science and resource conservation are recognize and celebrate the contemporary Arctic, Noatak, Cape Krusenstern, Kobuk rarely simple undertakings in wild Alaska, and historic value of the region’s shared Valley, and the Beringian Heritage and it does not get any easier in Siberia. ecological and cultural heritage. Berin- International Park Program. Numerous The joys and challenges of working to gia Days and the biennial Alaska Park Sci- and diverse cultural program elements, understand and preserve natural and cul- ence Symposia provide important venues including scholarly presentations and tural heritage on both sides of the Bering for cross-cultural sharing of information dances by Native performers from Straight were “hot” topics when scientists, among scientists and scholars in multiple Fairbanks, Alaska, and Provedenia, Russia, scholars, educators from the United States disciplines, educators, students, resource facilitated recognition of cultural tradi- and Russia came together in Fairbanks, managers, and the interested public. tions, subsistence lifestyles, and ecological Alaska, in October 2008. Their venue was Participants have consistently rated knowledge. Several workshops and field the first combined meeting of the Alaska the informal opportunities for collegial trips also coincided with the symposium. Park Science Symposium and the Berin- networking, inter-disciplinary, and cross- Watch for a selection of summary gia Days International Conference. This cultural communication as among the papers from the symposium in the Decem- highly successful bilingual Park Science most important program elements. ber 2009 issue of the Alaska Park Science in the Arctic event was the third in what is The theme of the fall 2008 Internation- journal. Future conferences on the natural planned as a biennial series of National al Polar Year symposium was the Natural and cultural heritage of Alaska and Russia’s Park Service scientific symposia. Each and Cultural Heritage of Greater Beringia, Far East are also intended. Discussions of the symposia in this series has focused a vast geographic area stretching from the are underway for the next Beringia Days on specific geographic areas that encom- Lena River in Siberia to the Mackenzie International Conference to be held in pass national parks and their associated River in Canada, and from the North Pole Anadyr, Chukotka (Russia) in 2009, while programs in Alaska. The Alaska Park to the Aleutian Islands. Some 200 scien- Alaska Park Science Symposium planners Science Symposium series attracts people tists, resource managers, decision makers, are focusing on coastal parks and protected Figure 1. Dance groups from Provideniya, with diverse knowledge and interests in educators, students, and local residents areas in Southwest Alaska in 2010. Russia and Alaska gave performances of traditional Native dances during the scientific and scholarly topics relevant to from both Alaska and Russia participated More information about the 2008 Park October 2008 Park Science in the Arctic these areas. in the event. Their 100 oral and poster Science in the Arctic event can be found at Symposium. While 2008 marked the first time that presentations covered a broad range http://nps.arcus.org. NPS photograph by Greta Burkhart these two NPS conferences came together of physical, biological, cultural, and 5 66 Alaska Park Science, Volume 8, Issue 1 And The Wildlife Therein By Sanford P. Rabinowitch and James F. allowing sport hunting in the 19 million hunting in national preserves, leading the Stratton acres of national preserves. state and federal governments to manage Managing for wildlife harvest in this separate hunts for the same wildlife. Thus Over the past several years (2004-2008) country’s national parks is not the norm. the new era of “dual management” began. the National Parks Conservation Associa- One of the key management-related The Federal Subsistence Board consists of tion (NPCA) has funded several student provisions of the NPS Organic Act of six voting members (of which NPS is one) interns working on projects to improve 1916 is to “…conserve the scenery and the who set regulations for subsistence hunting the quality of information available for natural and historic objects and the wild and trapping on federal lands, including managing wildlife in Alaska parks. The life therein…” and that usually means all of Alaska NPS lands. In crafting these National Park Service (NPS) partnered no hunting. But in Alaska, where 96,000 federal subsistence hunting regulations, with NPCA by providing office space, hunting licenses were issued in 2008, the NPS realized