The boreal forest, or taiga, is found in the northern reaches around the globe. This constitutes one of the largest forests, making it a crucial part of conversations around climate change, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, water quality, and human needs. The trees and other organisms are especially adapted to the cold, dry conditions and as a result are often stunted. In Alaska, conifers, primarily black spruce and white spruce, dominate accompanied by deciduous trees including birch, aspen, and cottonwood. The mid and understory layers contain a multitude of trees, shrubs, forbs, graminoids, and moss/lichen blankets.

Monica Kopp (CLM), Samantha Snodgrass (CLM), Tim Skiba (BLM Forester), and I got to experience the boreal magic firsthand. We ventured up to Eagle, located in Interior Alaska, just before the winter snows block the passes. Eagle may be tiny, but also boasts a greater percentage of museum per square foot than just about anywhere within historic Fort Egbert. The town is also rimmed with soft mountains and bordered by the mighty Yukon River. Our main focus was to conduct a forest inventory using the national Forest Vegetation Inventory System (FORVIS) protocol. There are a number of parameters collected relating to the general characteristics, forest type, vegetation cover, and tree measurements. We determined what trees to measure by using a 10-factor prism. Each tree that met the size requirements was identified then measured for diameter at breast height, height, crown to height ratio, and age using an inclement borer to collect a core sample. Forest inventories such as these are important for informing the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) management in their decision making processes. A definite highlight was having the opportunity to talk with the upper grades at the local Eagle School. The students there were studying forest succession and especially enjoyed getting outside to meet and measure trees. Their looks of delight of seeing the cores come out said it all- pretty cool to age a tree.

Happy trails, Kim Hack

A calm Yukon River.

Monica Kopp expertly cores a tree.

Samantha Snodgrass measures the forest fuel load.

A mossy understory of a boreal forest.

A black spruce, Picea mariana, cone.

Tim Skiba, BLM Forestry, using an inclinometer to calculate a tree’s height.

The town of Eagle, AK.

Winter is coming with snow dustings on the hill tops and ice underfoot.

As the Pokémon fans and SOS participants will tell you, “Got to clean ‘em all.” Cleaning seeds is important for storage, future use in restoration, and for qualitative/quantitative assessment. Nearly all the Seeds of Success (SOS) collections are sent to the Seed Extractory in Bend, Oregon for seed cleaning, but in Alaska we have a local facility for that. The Plant Materials Center (PMC) is primarily focused on agricultural research and services, but also partners with agencies like the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for ecological projects. The PMC not only cleans SOS seeds, but also propagates plants from those seeds to determine the viability of cultivating these plants for even greater seed yields. The ultimate purpose of these efforts is for restoration projects on BLM lands for campgrounds, road ways, trail systems, and mining sites. As Conservation Land Management (CLM) interns, Samantha Snodgrass and I take part in this good, clean fun. The strategies for cleaning seeds varies by species and includes both hand and mechanical means. The stars of the show are brush machines, air machines, pans, and tumblers. We use the tools that fit the task in order to reduce loss and damage to the seed while of course maximizing the cleanliness. We then could examine the seed under the microscope to determine how healthy the seed appeared and anticipate their viability. While there, we primarily cleaned seeds in the Poaceae and Fabaceae families. Lubo Mahlev served as our guru guide in this science (and art) form and we even got to join forces with a former CLMer Jenn MacMillan.  In addition to cleaning seed, we also harvested some of the last seed from the PMC fields with handy sickles. It was incredible to experience these facilities (that includes a seed library!) and interact with the welcoming, knowledgeable staff.

Samantha Snodgrass expertly working the brush machine.

Kim Hack feeding Calamgrostis canadensis into the brush machine,

Beautiful lighting at the Plant Materials Center.

Examining seed in the microscope.

Samantha, Lubo, and Jenn harvesting the bounty.

Machine v. human, who yields more seed?

My these seed bags are soft.

Seed library!

Bounty has come to us in Northern Country. In the form of seed. So many varieties each sporting their own colors, sizes, textures, shapes, and personalities. It is no easy feat to scope seed and have timing just so for a successful harvest in a land this vast. The target areas for Seeds of Success (SOS) collections this year were the White Mountains up the Steese Highway (Northeast of Fairbanks) and Dalton Highway around Coldfoot (North of the Arctic Circle). That’s right seed collecting North of the Arctic Circle, how wild and how wonderful. Both locations yielded productive collections. The White Mountains charmed us with their blustery alpine tundra and challenged us with the sedge seed succumbing to blight. Up the Dalton Highway we were surprised to see fall colors descending down the hillsides heralding the season’s change. Some highlights include our hands being dyed pink by the fireweed, our ears entertained by the musical pea seeds, and our eyes held in wonder at the Dr Seuss like fluff of the Eriophorum.

Much thanks and happy harvesting! Kim Hack

Blight on a sedge.

Oxytropis deflexa ripe for the picking.

A bumble bee visiting a cheery Potentilla fruticosa

Pillars of Pedicularis seed.

Seed collectors, Justin Fulkerson and Sam Snodgrass, must be mighty in the alpine

Feathery beauty of the Calamagrostis.

Fall colors have begun north of the Arctic Circle.

Barbed wire like seed must be plucked with caution.

Avalanche of seed overtakes Justin Fulkerson.

Eriophorum seed makes a compelling mustache on Justin Fulkerson.

Eriophorum seed makes for a lush fluffy bed.

Humans are bedazzled by gold and driven to unearth this precious metal. Alaska had the well-known Klondike Gold Rush in the late 1800s, but few people realize that there are still active mining claims. The glory days may be gone, but the living heritage persists. Miners are rather industrious and their equipment powerful. These extractive processes, as one can imagine, have an effect on the hydrology, water quality, plant communities, wildlife, soils, and overall ecology. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has started to employ the Assessment Inventory Monitoring (AIM) program to better understand these impacts and quantify the reclamation progress. AIM was originally developed for BLM grazing lands throughout the western region and are now being adapted for the Alaskan landscape. We received training in Chicken, AK and then completed our first assessments up the Dalton Highway. This past week Brad Casar, Soil Scientist of Homer Soil & Water Conservation District, fellow CLM Intern Sam Snodgrass, and I went into the White Mountains to examine gold mine reclamation sites in varying stages. Sam and I focused on the vegetation assessments using the point-line intercept method to determine cover and species diversity. It was a productive and full week with some of our own golden moments. We feasted on wild berries, viewed bumble bees lapping up sugar excretions from aphids, and fell asleep to the sound of a waterfall.

A water color inspired by mountain experiences.

So many wild berries including this blueberry plump and juicy for the picking!

Active mining area with remnant structures from older claims

Conducting AIM across this landscape of early seral species.

A mosquito prepared Sam Snodgrass amidst Alaska Rhubarb, Polygonum alaskanum, going to seed.

A scenic outhouse on one of the mining claims.

Fellow CLM Intern Sam Snodgrass presenting two bouquets of flower to a miner, one highlighting native forbs and one to discourage non-native invasive plants.

Sphagnum moss with sporophytes.

A bumble bee lapping up the sugary excretions of the aphids.

Hello Hello!

Alaska is known as a land of mystique and beauty and now having lived here, I can say that Alaska is indeed a land of mystique and beauty. Completing field work in Alaska has its own unique set of challenges because of the vastness, lack of accessibility, wildlife and terrain. One strategy to navigating these lands is to take to the air; on a recent trip to Unalakleet (Western Alaska, off of Norton Sound), we flew by helicopter to our field sites every day. The diversity of ecotypes included wind swept lichen alpine tundra to volcanic rocky rolling hills to willowy grasslands to sphagnum moss bogs to tussocky low shrubland to mixed spruce woodlands. This project in partnership with the National Resource Conservation Services (NRCS) focused on soil and vegetation mapping of Nulato Hills managed by BLM and is anticipated to take another five years. I was on the botany team and identifying woody plants, forbs, graminoids, lichens, and mosses as well as estimated cover. Where forest existed we also measured trees for canopy cover, size, age, and density. The beauty and diversity of plants and animals was unbelievable- lichens, tussocks, grizzly bears, o my! These surveys help to better understand the land and can be useful for making a range of management decisions including reindeer and caribou grazing strategies. In addition to gaining a scientific perspective, I enjoy a reflective approach through photography, poetry, and watercolor painting. Below is a poem from my time there and photos to give you a sense of that stunning place.

Irises blooming in Unalakleet, Alaska.

Carnivorous sundew, Drosera rotundifolia, in the tundra.

Fellow CLM intern, Monica Kopp, in good botany form.

Colorful sphagnum moss, lichens, sedges, and low shrubs in the tundra.

A bumble bee in the lichen.

Our field helicopter picking us up for the day.

Beaver dam from the air.

Norton Sound with fellow helicopter heading into the field.