Although the physical landscapes of everywhere I have been have influenced me greatly, those of Ketchikan, Alaska, where I spent my most formative years have done so the most. Ketchikan lies on Revillagigedo Island in Southeast Alaska. I lived in Ketchikan from the age of 2 until I was 15. We lived on the water on a small cove and the landscapes of Southeast not only entertained and sustained us through our years there, but also helped shape me into the scientist and teacher I would become. Here is a Google Earth tour to Ketchikan and my childhood home. (Save to desktop and open in Google Earth)
Revillagigedo Island is part of the Alexander Archipelago that was formed by tectonic plate interaction of the North American and Pacific plates. These islands are the tops of submerged mountains, leaving both beautiful coasts and elevated mountain terrain. As a child growing up on those coasts, we spent most of our time on or near the water. We fished, swam, and traveled the waterways to various wildernesses of the Tongass National Forest for recreation. We listened to the waves as they crashed against the shore bringing driftwood (knocking out a piling of our boathouse more than once) and the rain as it eroded the gravel driveway and created numerous small creeks to play in.
Captain of my own ship. Picture by my Dad.
Me getting an early start on gathering firewood. Picture by my Dad.These landscapes and the natural forces that created, and continue to change, them have been a part of my own family and professional culture since that day we arrived in Ketchikan 31 years ago. I have chosen my life's paths based around nature, water, and mountains. I graduated from college with a degree in biology and did my thesis work with Chinook salmon. I teach science because it allows me to pass this appreciation of the natural world onto others. Even when I spent time living in Los Angeles, CA, it was a block from the water and when I lived in Santiago, Chile, I could see the Andes from our wall-sized sliding glass door. Now that I live in Anchorage, I look out my window and see the Chugach Mountain Range and during the summer head down to fish the Kenai.
As I toured six different regions (the four suggested and two of my own) of Alaska shown on the right, I was reminded how geologically diverse Alaska is and how this diversity has widely influenced the people living here. I decided to look more into this geo-culture connection for two places I have been: St. Paul Island and Tuluksak.
I spent a summer on St. Paul Island teaching literacy through photography to kids ages 7 to 13 years-old. St. Paul is one of the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea. These islands were volcanically formed and their isolation and exposure to erosion and weathering have had a vast influence on the Unangan people
who live there. They have a culture very in tune with the ocean environment, its bounty, and its force. The picture on the right is one I took of residents testing out a freshly completed and blessed baidarka in anticipation of an upcoming race in Washington state celebrating this connection with the ocean. St. Paul is virtually flat from centuries of wind with only a smattering of small hills. Its coast is diverse, with cliffs (created from years of wave erosion) serving as home for a variety of birds and more protected beaches that are home to northern fur seals. These landscapes and their associated species have provided sustenance for the Unangan people, both through the actual harvest of seals, but also through tourism. The isolation of St. Paul has had a great influence on their modern culture as well. The economics of getting food and other goods to the island is tough and many of the children I worked with had not been off the island before due to the high cost of travel.
Here is a short video I put together for this class from footage of my summer on St. Paul. You can even hear the wind.
A drawing depicting our ice safety lesson to Tuluksak kindergartners.
A diesel power plant that depends on the river for delivery of fuel.
Trucks and snowmachines on the Kuskokwim "highway."
As I listened to Richard Glenn speak about his role as both a geologist and an Inupiaq, it reminds me of my experiences on both St. Paul and Tukluksak. His quote of "I think they are just two flashlights shining down the same path," is clearly shown through something as simple as an ice unit for kindergartners. During this unit, elders shared stories and history, but students also got a chance to experience ice from a Western science perspective learning about, among other things, phases of matter and energy transfer. The students learned about how ice forms, ice thickness, and how the flow of a river has an influence on that. In St. Paul I had the honor of attending a seal harvest. Glenn's two flashlights were shining on this as well, with traditional tools and methods being used, but with a biologist on hand to check recently deceased seals' temperatures, looking for a sign that the harvest has reached a point where it was too stressful for even the seals that would be released.
Tools like Google Earth give us another flashlight to help students illuminate their world. Many of them have probably not seen such views of where they were born or other places special to them. By helping them understand the geological forces that created these landscapes that are so important to them, we better help them learn the science while also connecting them culturally to those places in ways they may not have realized when they were merely memories, not geo-cultural histories.
As I toured six different regions (the four suggested and two of my own) of Alaska shown on the right, I was reminded how geologically diverse Alaska is and how this diversity has widely influenced the people living here. I decided to look more into this geo-culture connection for two places I have been: St. Paul Island and Tuluksak.I spent a summer on St. Paul Island teaching literacy through photography to kids ages 7 to 13 years-old. St. Paul is one of the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea. These islands were volcanically formed and their isolation and exposure to erosion and weathering have had a vast influence on the Unangan people
who live there. They have a culture very in tune with the ocean environment, its bounty, and its force. The picture on the right is one I took of residents testing out a freshly completed and blessed baidarka in anticipation of an upcoming race in Washington state celebrating this connection with the ocean. St. Paul is virtually flat from centuries of wind with only a smattering of small hills. Its coast is diverse, with cliffs (created from years of wave erosion) serving as home for a variety of birds and more protected beaches that are home to northern fur seals. These landscapes and their associated species have provided sustenance for the Unangan people, both through the actual harvest of seals, but also through tourism. The isolation of St. Paul has had a great influence on their modern culture as well. The economics of getting food and other goods to the island is tough and many of the children I worked with had not been off the island before due to the high cost of travel.Here is a short video I put together for this class from footage of my summer on St. Paul. You can even hear the wind.
The other place in Alaska I chose to look at geologically and culturally is Tuluksak on the Kuskokwim River in western Alaska. 
While I was getting my master's degree for teaching I spent two weeks at the school in Tuluksak during a severe cold snap in January. It was too cold for even the Kuskokwim 300 dog-sled race to start. The most influential geologic feature of the area, of course, is the Kuskokwim River. All along the river are small villages like Tukluksak that rely on the river year-round. It has always served as a provider of salmon, and still does, but now also serves as a major transportation corridor. Barges and boats travel the river in the summer and fall bringing food and fuel, and once the ice is thick enough in the winter, trucks are able to bring the supplies. Families visit one another and schools travel via the river for sports competitions. The river does not always cooperate, however, and residents have to deal with both flooding, bringing erosion, and low water volume, limiting the size of vessels. While we were visiting Tuluksak we taught a lesson to kindergartners on ice safety, highlighting the power of the river in the lives of the residents. Many of the children had heard stories of the dangers of the ice and as they became the age to use the ice themselves for fishing and traveling, the adults combined traditional Yup'ik knowledge and stories with Western science for a comprehensive ice unit.
While I was getting my master's degree for teaching I spent two weeks at the school in Tuluksak during a severe cold snap in January. It was too cold for even the Kuskokwim 300 dog-sled race to start. The most influential geologic feature of the area, of course, is the Kuskokwim River. All along the river are small villages like Tukluksak that rely on the river year-round. It has always served as a provider of salmon, and still does, but now also serves as a major transportation corridor. Barges and boats travel the river in the summer and fall bringing food and fuel, and once the ice is thick enough in the winter, trucks are able to bring the supplies. Families visit one another and schools travel via the river for sports competitions. The river does not always cooperate, however, and residents have to deal with both flooding, bringing erosion, and low water volume, limiting the size of vessels. While we were visiting Tuluksak we taught a lesson to kindergartners on ice safety, highlighting the power of the river in the lives of the residents. Many of the children had heard stories of the dangers of the ice and as they became the age to use the ice themselves for fishing and traveling, the adults combined traditional Yup'ik knowledge and stories with Western science for a comprehensive ice unit.
A drawing depicting our ice safety lesson to Tuluksak kindergartners.
A diesel power plant that depends on the river for delivery of fuel.
Trucks and snowmachines on the Kuskokwim "highway."
A skiff that did not get pulled out in time.
(previous four pictures by Ben Walker)
(previous four pictures by Ben Walker)
As I listened to Richard Glenn speak about his role as both a geologist and an Inupiaq, it reminds me of my experiences on both St. Paul and Tukluksak. His quote of "I think they are just two flashlights shining down the same path," is clearly shown through something as simple as an ice unit for kindergartners. During this unit, elders shared stories and history, but students also got a chance to experience ice from a Western science perspective learning about, among other things, phases of matter and energy transfer. The students learned about how ice forms, ice thickness, and how the flow of a river has an influence on that. In St. Paul I had the honor of attending a seal harvest. Glenn's two flashlights were shining on this as well, with traditional tools and methods being used, but with a biologist on hand to check recently deceased seals' temperatures, looking for a sign that the harvest has reached a point where it was too stressful for even the seals that would be released.
Tools like Google Earth give us another flashlight to help students illuminate their world. Many of them have probably not seen such views of where they were born or other places special to them. By helping them understand the geological forces that created these landscapes that are so important to them, we better help them learn the science while also connecting them culturally to those places in ways they may not have realized when they were merely memories, not geo-cultural histories.
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