Glacier Dynamics & Biologic Succession

What does Glacier Bay teach us about warming climate and the landscape and habitat changes that result?

With a tidal range of 24 feet, and fossil forests emerging from the sea, take a journey through time to understand why the Bay wasn't a bay 250 years ago. Learn how humpback whales, sea lions, sea otters, oyster catchers and puffins use this newly flooded marine habitat that was filled with advancing glacier ice that forced the HUNA Tlingit people to seek new village sites. Witness ice cliffs falling into the sea as calving tidewater glaciers retreat, leaving barren bedrock. Lichens, mosses, and Dryas quickly carpet the emerging landscape. These early plants form the soils that will support lush spruce and pine forests providing habitat for moose, bear, and mountain goats.

Students will travel into the upper reaches of Glacier Bay, exploring this extraordinary landscape.   Instructors are drawn from UAS faculty, Juneau School District, ADF&G and Glacier Bay National Park Service.

This is a remote module where students will live and work in close quarters, assist with meal preparation and clean up, and on a daily basis actively explore the rugged landscape.   The ability to work with others in a remote setting with limited amenities, and overall fitness are pre-requisites for this wilderness experience.

Instructors

Cathy Connor, UAS; Clay Good, retired JDHS oceanography/biology teacher; and Park Service staff