This Used to be My Playground...

Today was the last day of our work in the field, and we leave for the United States tomorrow! We surveyed a fen and a palsa for seedings and saplings. My partner and I found our biggest tree yet, our very own Moby Dick. Once again, our tiny group of two fell behind the other more productive groups of three, and we were left to fend for ourselves as we trudged through the water and muck of the fen.
For the first time since surveying in precarious sites, I fell through the earth and was really stuck in the muck! My leg disappeared past my knee and I began to panic. I had heard stories of an Earthwatch volunteer falling into the fen and losing her boot. When she was pulled from the fen, a teammate reached in to recover the boot and it had been swallowed into the earth. My fears were legitimate, but I survived!
Our afternoon was spent cleaning the research van and getting last minute travel instructions. Tonight we are celebrating the end of our journey with a char tasting event complete with bannock and locally made jams and jellies.
During the evening meeting, Dr. Kershaw explained how our seedling data fits into his research on climate change and some trends that became apparent in the data we collected. He has really made us feel as if we are an important part of his research and has valued our efforts. I feel like I am part of something bigger, something more important. I have achieved some insights into the tedious side of research and the exciting side, not to mention the downright fun side. I have a fuller picture of being a scientist. And this is only part of what I will bring back with me. Even more importantly, I got to work with a team of amazing, like-minded teachers from across the country. The ten days were spent sharing ideas, brainstorming lessons, and creating ways to stay in touch and maintain this environment of sharing our best practices. I have so many new curriculum and lab ideas. I am excited to get home so I can “re tool” my program for next year! I have developed some wonderful friendships with all my “Earthwatch Team One” members!
This will be my last blog entry from the arctic as my flight leaves in the morning.
This was truly an amazing opportunity, and I am honored that I was selected to be here. I am extremely grateful to the Earthwatch Institute, Northrop Grumman, Dr. Peter Kershaw, and the staff at the Churchill Northern Studies Center for this “once in a lifetime” opportunity. I would also like to thank all of my blog followers for supporting me electronically as I tried to share my experiences through this blog.

Here is the "California Dude"

Justyne, see my comment below... here is a video of James, the California Dude.

Polar Bears and Sea Ice... A Delicate Relationship

      We spent a very buggy day surveying plots in various locations for tree seedlings.  The land here is so different from home.  The ground is spongy and wet with a layer of thick peat, and beautiful tundra plant life.  All of this is underscored with a layer of permafrost.  In the mosquito infested forests and forest ecotones, the evergreen trees are relatively short, and wind mangled.  It takes a tree several decades to become the size of the seven year old Christmas Trees that my family sells on our tree farm.    

     The weather can turn on a dime which makes dressing for field work  tricky.  We started our morning meeting believing the temperature would be 1°C (about 32°F)  only to discover that it was much warmer.  I stripped layers during a lakeside lunch complete with hungry mosquitoes.

     Today we did not return to the study center mid day, so we pulled a double shift in the field with only a short break for food.  I was so tired when we finally go back to the center only to discover that someone arrange a Hudson Bay “dip” after the evening lecture.  Will I swim in the freezing ice ridden bay?  The peer pressure is immense!  At this point I am skeptical. 

     The evening lecture was about polar bear biology and climate change.  I learned that the bears are being forced off the ice and on to shore too early and too thin.  The ice is melting too early in the season  and populations are in decline.  Cub survival rate is dropping.  Birthrates are dropping.  Bears need to be on the ice as long as possible to hunt the ring seal. 

     More northern populations of polar bears are doing better than the Churchill subpopulations.  This explains why the US Endangered Species Act lists polar bears as a threatened population.  This listing is related to climate change and disappearing sea ice.  If the ice disappears, so will the polar bears.  Declining sea ice is DIRECTLY linked to declining polar bear populations.  The Western Hudson Bay subpopulations could be facing extirpation.  The more northern sub populations may remain stable. 

     We are off to the Hudson Bay for a “dip”.  Here is a photo of me giving "puppy love" to a Canadian Eskimo pup.  These dogs are raised as working dogs and cannot be used as pets.  I have also included an adult Canadian Eskimo dog.  Thanks for following me!  

Sea Ice For My Neighbor, Pat!

     After one glorious day off, it was back to work in the field surveying the arctic landscape.  James and I surveyed the tundra and the forest ecotone.  All the team members seemed a little lethargic from the amazing events from yesterday, that there wasn’t much laughter today.  We were given an early day off and headed back to the research center.  We were able to work on our Northrup Grumman lesson plans and community action plans.  More field work tomorrow!

     To answer Pat’s question… the difference between an ice floe and glacier… A glacier are considered land ice because they form on land.    An ice floe is sea ice that forms in the water.  Here at the Hudson Bay, we can see the sea ice travel in and out of the bay daily.  The sea ice “grows” in the winter in the northern part of the bay, and breaks up and melts in the summer.  This is the ice that the polar bears “ride on” to get  the Churchill, Manitoba.

     Currents bring the sea ice to the shores of Churchill carrying the bears.  As the ice travels south down Hudson Bay, it breaks up and melts.  However, according to the scientists at this study center, the sea ice is melting earlier than it normally does, and this gives the bears less time to hunt seals. (They hunt for seals out on the ice then come to shore.) The bears are coming into Churchill thinner and less able to survive the summer… (and more likely to harass locals by getting in garbage and breaking into homes…)  Hopefully this makes sense… this is being typed by your “tundra tired” neighbor!  Here is a picture of me and some fellow Earthwatchers standing on a chunk of sea ice (a sea floe) that has "beached".  Thanks for following me!

Tears For Belugas!

     Today was our “day off” from work in the field.  It started with a hiking tour with our bear monitor, Sheldon.  We rode on a school bus with a shot gun mounted in the front.  Wouldn’t that be something if the buses back home came equipped with a weapon?  Our tour started with a bouldering hike in search of the elusive polar bear.  Although we did see many beautiful bird species and ring neck seals, we have yet to find our bear.

     We have learned that some of the polar bears in Churchill become nuisance bears to the residence.  The stories told are terrifying!  As a result of the bear troubles, the residence have created a bear jail.  For example, if a bear is around a residence and cannot be deterred with a weapon, or continues to come around humans, it is tranquillized and sent to bear jail for the summer.  At first I thought this was cruel because there is no food provided in jail, but polar bears that come in off the ice for the summer, normally do not hunt for food.  They have reserved enough fat from the winter of hunting seals.  They are released from jail at the end of summer and can return to the ice.  Time in jail teaches the bears not to go to certain places and to stay away from people. 

     After an amazing morning of hiking, bird and seal watching, and bear hunting, we headed for a Zodiac raft to find beluga whales in the Hudson Bay and the Churchill River.  A Zodiac is a terrifying fast moving raft used by navy seals to complete maneuvers.  Our boat had been damaged by a polar bear and had a leak in one of the baffles.  While sitting on the back of the raft bouncing up and down wildly, I held a death grip on the passenger rope.  The boat continually filled with water… I was in a horrified state of shock. 

     We circled a few ice floes and studied their anatomy.  To my surprise and complete horror, the captain of the zodiac drove up onto a huge ice flow, and let us leave the boat and walk on the ice!  This is truly polar bear winter territory!  A curious ring seal kept his eye on us the entire time.  

       We shoved off from the large ice floe and headed for beluga whale territory.  I got tears in my eyes as the first beluga whale crested the surface of the water!  They are beautiful!  It didn’t take long for several curious belugas to start following our Zodiac.  The captain actually had to rev the motor a little to push the belugas away from the propeller. 

     Even though the polar bears have managed to elude us, I have fallen in love with the arctic and its beautifully varied ecosystems.  Thanks for following me!  Here are some belugas for you!

Desperately Seeking Seedlings!

I feel as if I haven't done the blog justice, as I am so tired by the end of each day. I should be writing about everything I am learning, but there would just be too much to include. I am really starting to take pride in what I am doing here as it is a small piece to a larger puzzle. The data my group is collecting is added to a much larger set that will be analyzed. Hopefully, important conclusions about the tree line will be made.
I have been surveying several ecosystems for tree seedlings. Today I was chewed alive by mosquitos in a boreal forest, a tundra forest and a tundra. In total, we surveyed six sites!
My teammate James and I found several "ramets" which are asexually reproduced trees. Basically a ramet is a branch from one tree that roots itself, but is still connected to the original tree. This is an indication that the forest is replenishing itself. We had so many ramets that we fell behind and were a little isolated in the forest from the rest of the group. We swore we heard something "snort" in the distance. When we are collecting data in the field, we are always in the company of Carley, our armed bear guard. She carries a riffle and is constantly on the lookout for polar, grizzly and black bear.
We listened to a lecture from Dr. Kershaw (permafrost Pete) on Polygonal Peat Plateaus, Palsas, Pingos, and Permafrost! Afterwards we visited Carley's cabin, watched the sunset at 11:00, and went searching for polar bears (with no luck).
The Results are In!!!
Thank you to everyone that submitted answers to my post card contest!  Let's analyze the results!!!  I will start with Hillary:  To answer your question, I went to Carley (our armed guard).  You didn't know the answer to my question, but asked your own.  You wanted to know if there was an overpopulation of a species that was a problem up here.  Carley said not really, but herring gulls predate the nests of other birds, rip open the garbage of the local people, and are a real pain in the neck.  She also said there are no official studies going on in Churchill of the herring gull.
     Scotty: your answers were excellent!  You were one of my best students and I am hoping you become a scientist!  However, someone beat you to it!
     Pat, my favorite neighbor, also submitted great answers, but was not the first post.
     Natalie, my lovely daughter posted some beautifully written prose, but I could never allow a literary person to win a science contest!  Love you Nat!!!
     Leann... all I can say is Cedar Bog rocks!!!! (and happy belated birthday!)
     The winner is..... Victoria!!!!  Very nice answers and you were the first to post!  I will put a post card in the mail for you tomorrow!
     Well, I am exhausted, so I will update tomorrow!  I am going on a boat tomorrow to find Beluga Whales!!!!   Here is a picture of Carley, our bear patrol.

Correction to Drew's Video

Polar bears are actually listed as a "vulnerable" species. In the video, we erroneously said they were endangered because we were only considering the sub arctic populations. In the Churchill population there is a decline in polar bear numbers probably due to melting sea ice in the Hudson Bay, but in the northernmost part of the arctic the polar bear populations are actually doing quite well. Thanks for the questions Drew!

A Video for Drew!

     Hello from Canada, eh?  Before I forget, I wanted to let everyone know that while I was working in a wetland ecosystem called a fen today I caught several wood frogs!  Yay for HERPS!!!  I would like to answer a few questions that have been posted on the blog.  Natalie wants to know how I am feeling.  I feel great because I love science field work, working with other scientists/teachers, and laughing.  She also wants to know how the switch to the arctic has affected my sleeping and breathing (I have asthma...)  Sleeping here is a bit of a bummer, because the sun basically never sets.  Its pretty much light out all the time.  I took a blanket off the top bunk of my bed that no one is using and built a fort around the bottom of the bunk where I sleep to make a darker environment.  The blanket also traps a little heat!  I am breathing great.  The the air is cold and clean.  Canada is beautiful!  Also, I am not in the higher altitudes like I was when I studied in Wyoming, so the air molecules are closer together.
     For Drew's questions, I have a fellow researcher, Luann, helping me with the questions.  In this video, we just returned from working in a fen ecosystem which is similar to a bog, so we are looking quite awful.  I nearly lost one of my Muck boots in the hummocky fen!  Basically we go to several different ecosystems each day and survey one by two meter random land plots.  We are looking for three different tree species to monitor their germination in each of the different ecosystems.  This will lead to conclusions about the movement of the tree line.
SCIENCE CONTEST!!!  I will send the first blog follower a post card from the arctic who posts an answer to the following question.  Be sure to include your mailing address with your answer!  Here's the question.  What are three differences between a FEN and a BOG?

A Video for Justyne!

Thank you for the question Justyne.  Here is my first attempt at a video blog just for you! Sorry for the terrible still frame image! Remember, I have been outside all day in the cold and I am just at the edge of exhaustion! We collected tons of date on the same field of tree seedlings today, and hopefully tomorrow we will have the opportunity to understand all the data. We have learned about the melting of permafrost, peatlands, glaciers, sea ice, and snow pack and how all of this is related to climate change. As peatlands melt, they begin to decompose and release carbon dioxide and methane, two major greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. An increase in these gasses leads to climate warming.  Thanks for following me on this crazy adventure!  I am having a blast!  More questions please.

Happy Summer Solstice!

     Today is officially the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice.  Working on very little sleep, I am going to try to stay up and watch the sunset tonight around 11:00 PM!  My husband would be in heaven with that much daylight to "play" outside!  The sun really doesn't even seem to set here.  It just barely dips below horizon, then seems to pop right back up!  I am sleeping with a pillow over my face to try to make my world a little darker!
    In the photo above, Earthwatch teammate James and I are analyzing white spruce tree seedings to determine seedling success in a stressed environment.  (I am entering data into a field computer.) Churchill is truly a stressed environment as evidenced by the Krummholz "ing" of the trees.  To put this more simply, I have noticed the trees here look like flags blowing in the wind.  Stressed trees!!!  I also noticed this same phenomenon last summer in the high elevation areas of Wyoming.
     I have learned so much today, and I couldn't be happier!  I am networking with some of the finest middle school teachers in the country!  One of my fellowship obligations is the development of an original lesson plan.  I was inspired about a climate change study involving parasites living on frog species!  Leave it to me to be able to turn a trip to the arctic into more herpetology for seventh graders!  (My seventh graders know that HERPS RULE!!!!)  Thanks for following me. Ask questions!

So where is Churchill?

The tiny red dot shows where I am in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada.  The research center is right on the Hudson Bay where the ice flows freely!  This image is thanks to www.maps-of-north-america.us.

The Day of Endless Airports!

I am here!!! After five airports I have made it to Churchill. I have decided to rename what has been called the polar bear and beluga whale capital of the world to the mosquito capital of the world! The mosquitos are the size of the Ohio cardinal! (jet lagged sarcasm...)
I was really excited to see so many people following my blog! Thank you so much, hopefully I can deliver some pretty cool science!!! I am in my element here... this is what I truly love to do... seek out strange science experiences in the summer to try to make my science class during the school year awesome!
We arrived at the CNSC (Churchill Northern Studies Centre) just in time to grab a late dinner, introduce ourselves and unpack. It is now 11:00 PM central time, and it is STILL DAYLIGHT! The summer solstice is tomorrow which will mark the longest day of the year... there will be no darkness here... so strange! We meet at 7:00 am in the morning for our first field briefing, and then its off to work I go! Maybe tomorrow I will try the video blog... Thanks for following me!!!

Ready to Fly!

My bags are packed, and I am ready to fly tomorrow morning! This will be my last blog post from Medway, Ohio. My daughter, Natalie, has taught me how to update my blog with video, so hopefully I will be able to do that on my own when I get to Churchill. Even though we are almost a month into summer vacation, I am hoping I still have students following my blog. Remember students, I need good questions, so follow me for only eleven days!!!

Fears...???

My second pre trip question... What am I nervous about? Time is flying by so quickly, I leave for Churchill in three days... nervous?... a little. Let me spew out all the obvious answers. I am afraid my luggage will get lost, but its just stuff and I packed enough in my "carry on" to get me through an extra day. I am afraid I will miss one of the nine million flights to get to the great north, but I'm sure I will be fine. I am nervous about getting Canadian money, but how hard could that be? Now for the real stuff. I am nervous that my school district will not allow me to use what I am about to learn in the arctic with my students. Here's the deal: My district, for very lame reasons, forces science teachers to "split" students. In other words, I only have my students for one half of a school year, then, after winter break, I have a completely different group of students. The original group goes to another teacher. So that adds up to about ninety days with my students, and in that incredibly short amount of time I have barely enough time to teach a little biodiversity, ecology, and a few key science processing skills. It is awful. There's no other way to put it. I lose time learning new names and making new seating charts, while everyone else in the state of Ohio blows right by me. Classroom time is precious and this robs me of time every year. I have fought this for three years as I have watched our school's science scores go down the drain. I am unable to make meaningful connections between science concepts, and THIS, I BELIEVE, is the KEY TO UNDERSTANDING SCIENCE. The bottom line is: I need my students ALL YEAR. I am going to the arctic to study climate change and its impact on biodiversity and ecology. Shouldn't I be given the basic right of having students in my classroom for one full school year??? I need this time to build connections in science. So this is my fear. All the miles of travel, all this hope for new learning, all this time I've given and research I have done... won't benefit my students because I only have two short, frequently interrupted quarters to be with them. The solution is simple. My district, which I have loyally served for twenty-two years, needs to hold everyone accountable, and keep science students with the same teacher for one complete school year. I promised myself I wasn't going to rant on this blog... but I am going to the polar bear capital of the world and my fear is here at home.

What am I looking forward to?

My fellowship requires some specific pre trip journaling, and with only ten days till arctic departure, I need to address these questions. The first question asks, "What are you looking forward to?" I am tempted to write all the obvious responses here: seeing a polar bear, seeing a beluga, learning new things, and meeting new people... While all these are certainly true, what I am really looking forward to is improving my "climate change conversation skills". Just the other day I stopped at a fancy coffee shop in the middle of the mall and the barista, an older gentleman, was complaining about the heat and humidity, which I thought was odd because it seemed he had spent the afternoon in an air conditioned mall kiosk. As I regretted ordering a drink that took a few minutes to prepare, he sarcastically brought up the topic of global warming, a subject I hate to discuss with strangers. Of course he was joking about how Al Gore was a "bunko artist" (his words), and how global warming was a way to scare people and spend more tax payer money. I thought to myself, how does one go about mentioning carbon emissions, melting permafrost, coastal erosion, coastal flooding, the difficulties many species face, and all the other pieces to the evidence puzzle? I suppose I shouldn't worry about my friend the barista, but more importantly, how do I have responsible conversations with my students about climate change. Is there a creative way to get a seventh grade scientist to discover their personal contribution to the problem of global warming, and guide them into being problem solvers for the future of our world? I am looking forward to listening to the conversations of experts, learning from other amazing educators, and finding my own "words" about climate change.

Time to Focus

School is finally out, and I have had Memorial Day weekend to relax, spend time in my boat, and clear my head. Now it's time to focus on my adventure! I just ordered a pair of "Arctic Muck Boots", which is a huge load off my mind. I own muck boots... wow! Can't tell you how excited this makes me for the trip that is only twenty days away! I need to focus on smart packing and re reading of research!