TOOLIK FIELD STATION — Despite a wind that makes today’s minus 14 degrees Fahrenheit feel like minus 39, a worker at this research camp in blue-white hills north of the Brooks Range has proclaimed this the first day of summer. Today, the population of Toolik Field Station increases from nine — five people running the […]
Camani – Lower Forty-Eight States Camani ilangq’rtuanga. – I have family in the Lower Forty-eight. (Click sentence to hear Alutiiq words spoken) When Alutiiqs speakers talk about the continental United States they use the word camani, which literally means “down there.” In Alaska, the English equivalent is “the Lower Forty-eight.” Despite the separation between Alaska […]
Cold water the color of iced tea wets the boots of Chris Arp as he yanks a power auger from the hole he just drilled in this quiet lake, a few miles from his office at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. A whiff of sulfur, a sign there’s not much oxygen in this pond born […]
As I skied on a frozen river, a hairy creature trotted toward me. When the wolverine spotted me, it popped up in the air like an antelope, landed like a cat, and bounced away into the high country of the Wrangell Mountains.