As I am into all things "Alaska": there is a huge Forest Fire currently burning on the Kenai Peninsula. As of last night it had burned 110, 600 + acres. Further research shows that Forest Fires in Alaska are common yet we hardly hear of them here in the lower states. April Melvin is one of the many scientist who are researching and studying forest fires in Alaska. Her research focuses on understanding the interactions between human activities and ecosystem nutrient dynamics. She currently is working in Alaskan boreal forest studying how changes in fire severity driven by climate change influence vegetation, plant-soil-microbial feedbacks, and permafrost stability. She is also quantifying how fire management practices influence ecosystem carbon storage. This work is part of a large collaborative project aimed at coupling empirical research with model development to improve our understanding of the interactions among fire, vegetation, carbon cycling, and permafrost across Interior Alaska.
April and her research have a connection to the Adirondacks and Woods Lake. Her research at Woods involved studying how forest liming, used to ameliorate the effects of acid deposition, affects ecosystem carbon and nitrogen cycling, and how different tree species influence carbon, nitrogen, and calcium distribution in Northeastern U.S. temperate forests.
I received this e-mail from her this spring : "Thank you again for the opportunity to work at Woods Lake. Your generosity and willingness to let me work there led to a unique dissertation project that I was very excited to undertake. I am now applying the knowledge I gained conducting that research to studies in the boreal forest in Alaska. I was told the mosquitoes in Alaska would be intolerable, but after spending 2 summers there, I still think your black flies are much worse :-) "
Here is a link to April's website which better describes her research: www.aprilmmelvin.com
If you look under Research and then Temperate Forest , you will see more of her research at Woods Lake, under Boreal Forest will be her Alaska research. (picture of current fire on the Kenai Peninsula and containment efforts.
Curious what the connection is/was. We used to have fire towers all over the place, also used to spot planes in WWII if I remember right... my grandfather manned the Woodhull one. Yet seems we don't have the fires, or as much. Are they getting less press? Doubt it but...
ReplyDeleteThe usual comment, often pushed by the paper/logging industry... is to open it up, take out the underbrush: if only all logging was that careful! Yet the Adirondack experience seems to question that. Then we had the old locomotives: once we changed how we powered them that made a difference.
Thanks for the blog and my jealousy: I refuse to die until I see Alaska... Ketchikan, Sitka. The panhandle would be my go to, for I'm less into the Rocky like experience or tundra.
Mike's Uncle Willie Peacock, (age 92!) also worked the Woodhull Fire Tower! We are concentrating our trip in the South Central Region and just a little north of that into Denali National Park. Alaska is sooo big, that we had to pick one area...or else spend too much time traveling and not seeing, experiencing anything! Mike was against a cruise..although we will be doing a day glacier cruise out of Seward. He also said " I don't want to just look at ice!" to which I replied " Your gonna look at some!!" Most of the people we know who have been to Alaska have done a cruise, which usually is in the south east "panhandle" area as you mention, and say it just wets their appetite and they want to go back to do the interior .... since we may not be able to do this again...we opted to skip the cruise and have picked the south central area. Most people say...doesn't matter where you go in Alaska it will be awesome!
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