300KM FROM SOUTH POLE, ANTARCTICA-- The Norwegian-US Traverse, Year 2, Begins! We still haven't started on our big trip, (the actual traverse), but we are getting closer and closer! This seems amazing given how far we've come already... {Read More »}

TOOLIK LAKE STATION, ALASKA-- Balsam poplar is the northern-most tree species in North America. In Arctic Alaska, it occurs sporadically in isolated stands often adjacent to perennial springs or on south-facing slopes. Join our field crew as we venture... {Read More »}

COLVILLE RIVER, ALASKA– Finally, there is time to journal, as we are still relaxing in the “Salix Lounge” (Latin genus for willow). We’ve spent 36 hours watching the river flow backward – upriver. It has granted us time to catch up on some of the scientific literature, so we’ve been discussing the changes underway in North Slope river floodplains... {Read More »}

COLVILLE RIVER, ALASKA-- Another day of fieldwork and floating later, we are camped on a big bend in the Colville, across from cliffs and peregrine falcons. Yesterday saw more science, including clear evidence of shrubs colonizing alpine tundra... {Read More »}

COLVILLE RIVER, ALASKA-- The four-person crew for this second float of the summer is led by Greta Myerchin and myself, both veterans of the first trip (Nimiuktuk/Noatak) and familiar with the science and wilderness protocols... {Read More »}

NOATAK RIVER, BROOKS RANGE, ALASKA-- Yesterday we floated through Noatak Canyon, but not before stopping on several occasions to relocate and rephotograph old Philip Smith photos. I added these excursions partly out of curiosity, but partly to extend the record of vegetation... {Read More »}

NIMIUKTUK RIVER SANDBAR, BROOKS RANGE, ALASKA-- Another solid day of sampling and mosquitoes. We are sampling areas documented in repeated photographs over time that show both expanding shrub patches and stagnant shrub patches... {Read More »}

QUINHAGAK, ALASKA-- After my final ethnobotany lecture, I offered to help Cecilia, a co-teacher and Yup’ik elder, collect sour dock leaves. Sour dock (Rumex arcticus) is a perennial herb native to Alaska... {Read More »}

NIMIUKTUK RIVER SANDBAR, BROOKS RANGE, ALASKA-- If only it were that easy! Yesterday we made the strenuous portage from the lake where we were dropped to Seagull Creek, where the boating commenced... {Read More »}

KANGERLUSSUAQ, GREENLAND-- There are two theories about how Greenland was named, both having to do with the 10th century Vikings who first christened this gigantic Arctic island. One is that Erik the Red, having been banished from Iceland because of his murderous ways... {Read More »}