Author Archives: Shannon Cole

Useful Links

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– One source I think is particularly valuable is the variety of Alaska Native place name atlases/dictionaries that are out there. Many exist, from those that list names in several languages to those that focus on a single region’s language. This is of particular importance to geographers because of what information is included within the Indigenous names of objects, places, geologic formations, rivers and other physical attributes of the land. Sometimes, from a name, you can tell whether the object in question faces the north or south, what it is known for, etc: for example, Aniak is a Yup’ik name that means “the place where it comes out”, referring to the Aniak river.

Place Names List: https://www.uaf.edu/anla/collections/map/names/ 

Dictionaries: https://www.uaf.edu/anla/collections/dictionaries/ 

AK Native Place Names Project: http://akplacenames.org/ 

 

– The Alaska Public Lands Visitor’s Center information page is full of information about Alaska’s lands, from maps to trail information to photos. One of the important things on this website is that it lists which agency administers which lands: AK Dept. of Fish and Game, Federal Fish & Game, State Parks Administation, National Parks Administration, BLM, etc. This allows insight into how various types of lands and their resoures are controlled or protected today, and whether/how access is permitted.

 

The Alaska Public Lands Visitor’s Center : https://www.alaskacenters.gov/ 

 

– Lovingly known by the Arctic Studies department as “S-DAWG”, the Arctic Council’s Sustainable Development Working Group was formed with a focus on…wait for it…sustainable development in the Arctic (usually defined by the Council as 50ºN or above, so as not to exclude places like Anchorage from the Arctic club). On the SDWG website is a list of their goals, actions and current projects, all of which are invaluable to those concerned with maintaining a way of life for those in the north. Under the “what we do” tab is a list of their current projects, most of which are undertaken in collaboration with Indigenous communities, and focusing on their needs in particular.

 

SDWG: https://sdwg.org/

Projects: https://sdwg.org/what-we-do/projects/

 

– Because weather is an important component of climate change, databases that retain historic and modern weather data are vital. Using historical records of weather, we can see the degree of change over time, and thus the severity of some aspects of climate change. We can also see how weather relates to localized natural disasters (such as volcanic eruptions and coastal erosion) as well as widespread meteorological changes and shifts in patterns.

 

NWS Alaska: https://www.weather.gov/arh/

Alaska Climate Research Center: http://climate.gi.alaska.edu/acis_data

St Michael

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Above-ground water lines, surrounded by protective structures, run to houses in St Michael, Alaska.

The village of St. Michael is one of many places in Alaska that was born as a result of settlement by the Russian-American Company. The RAC, whose primary goal was to find fur-bearing animals and other valuable natural resources, sought to exploit the raw materials in Alaska. Their chain of settlements were made in an attempt to develop an empire that stretched along the West Coast of the American continent, from Alaska to Mexico. Before Russian incursion, St Michaels had functioned as a trading point for Yup’ik and Inupiaq peoples as it was positioned near where the borders of the two people’s lands begin to blur. In 1833, the RAC established a trading post called Redoubt St. Michaels on the small, shoreline-adjacent island in the Bering Sea that the Russians also named after the archangel Michael, forever changing the history and human geography of the area.

Location

St. Michael’s location on the Norton Sound means it is exposed to the hazards caused by weather as the harsh tides of the Bering Sea batter the coastline. A little over 9 miles long by 6 miles wide, the island of St Michael also houses the village of Stebbins; in total, there are just under a thousand people residing on the island. Although it is very close to land, it is disconnected from the mainland by meandering rivers and waterways. Because it is an island community, it is less feasible for residents to move away from the island’s dangers than their counterparts in mainland villages threatened by erosion such as Kivalina and Shishmaref.

 

Hazards

Islands are particularly vulnerable to hazards because they are surrounded by tempestuous waters. Due to the seismicity of the area (there is evidence of volcanic activity in the immediate area) high waves and tsunamis as a concern for St. Michael’s houses, built at just 26 feet above sea level. Underwater or terrestrial earthquakes could also cause damage from shaking. But the greatest threat to St. Michael is climate change in the form of global temperature rise, which results in the melting of permafrost. The entire island of St Michael is subject to damage from permafrost melt. Currently, efforts are being made to reinforce existing buildings and to build new structures that are better equipped to handle changes in soil. Temperature rise will also increase localized flooding, and erosion will also occur as the permafrost continues to melt, causing even more damage.

 

Climate

Temperature in St. Michael varies greatly throughout the year, peaking in the summer in the 60s and with extreme winter lows in the -20s. Mostly dry winters are followed by summer days when daily precipitation totals can reach 2.5 inches, and no matter the time of year, the weather is usually overcast and gray. It is further disconnected from the next closest large town of Nome in that it is not on the road system, however it can be accessed by boat when the water is free of ice. 

 

Boom
 St. Michael was founded at the peak of the sea fur boom, when Russian promyshlenniki took the hides of seals, otters and other small furbearers from the Alaskan waters. It functioned as a trade outpost for the Russians, but was not densely populated until long after they had gone. At the start of the Klondike gold rush at the turn of the 20th century, miners and prospectors flocked to the Yukon River. Fort St Michael was established as a United States installation, placing forces close by in case action was needed in the Klondike. The subsequent gold rush in nearby Nome further increased activity in St. Michael, swelling its population to 10,000. The fort was deactivated in the 1920s, and the population returned to being mostly Yup’ik. Due to the island’s lack of a deepwater port, it has not seen as much activity in commercial fishing as other communities on the Bering Sea. This has also prevented it from becoming a part of the oil and gas supply chain until recently, when an oil company opened a small terminal and retail operation in the city. As both typically rely on petroleum fuels, Stebbins and St. Michael are in the process of installing renewable energy producing products: solar panel arrays, as well as a field of wind turbines.

 

Transportation & Tourism

Currently only one regional air carrier serves the St Michael airport, with service to Stebbins and Unalakleet where one may access a connection to Anchorage. The airport runway is not long enough to support large jets that may bring loads of passengers, and there is little in the way of attractions for tourists (unless they are the sort who see novelty in a traditional subsistence lifestyle). 

Perhaps the most important thing that St. Michaels has to offer those who do not call it home is the information about how communities deal with permafrost melt, as this community is in the throes of it. How they work together to repair damage and prevent further damage from occurring, as well as how they adapt to the environmental changes around them, can function as a case study for other Alaskan and Arctic communities. 

Fox Islands

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The most hazardous place in Alaska would have to be the Fox Islands.

Located in the volcanic Aleutian Island chain, the Fox Islands are a seismically active area. Earthquakes are frequent in the area. The place where these islands are located is a subduction zone, and the Pacific Plate is being forced underneath the North American plate, resulting in earthquakes as the plates move against each other. The region is capable of producing strong temblors, already experiencing a 6.3 in 1952, a 7.3 in 2011 and a 6.9 in 2015

Volcanic activity is also prominent (obviously–these are volcanic islands!) in the area, with at least three active volcanoes located in the Fox Islands: Okmok, Akutan and Makushin.

Volcanic and seismic activity can cause another hazard to which the Fox Islands are very vulnerable: tsunamis. The Islands are already vulnerable to flooding, as shown on the Alaska Department of Natural Resources website. As in many coastal villages, erosion from rising sea levels is already a concern. There is also concern for future damage to natural shorelines in the event of an earthquake or from heavy storms.

All of these earthquakes, volcanoes, and possible damage from waves both large and small make the Aleutian Islands’ Fox Islands the most hazardous area in Alaska.

Map Perspectives

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Map 3: This map was particularly interesting because it showed Alaska in relation to the rest of the circumpolar north. Sometimes I forget that Alaska is actually America, as it is so far away from the rest of the country and in many ways, very different. The first week I was up here, I kept looking for things in French too because it felt so much like Canada to me. I even thought ‘oh, I need to go exchange some money’ because I was about to run out of American cash. It was then that I realised that Alaska really is America, despite it looking to my brain like Canada.

Figure 2.6 Geographic Projection: This map doesn’t do good by Alaska, or the rest of the north. Vietnam looks great, and so does the Central American region. Poor Alaska looks bloated, stretched out, and distorted to appear much wider than it actually is. Scandinavia and northern Russia don’t seem to fare any better, as their coastlines are distorted as well.  

Figure 2.7 Mercator Projection: Mercator is the worst type of map and any Canadian will tell you that because of what it does to our poor country. This projection makes parts of the north, like Alaska and poor Canada, look obnoxiously, comically large. On some Mercator maps, Canada is larger than the whole of Africa or South America, but it’s really nowhere near that big. Alaska also looks huge in Mercator projection, so when I’m trying to impress my Lower 48 friends with how big Alaska is, I send them a Mercator map.

Figure 2.10 Orthographic Projection: I am rather fond of this type of map because I love seeing how close Alaska is to the North Pole compared to where I am from. It also most closely resembles the view if you’re looking at Alaska on a globe; it’s realistic, it makes sense to me, and it shows Alaska’s place in the circumpolar world. I like this map quite a bit.  

 

Hey folks!

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My name is Shannon and I’m an Arctic and Northern Studies major. This is my second semester at UAF, and I moved up here from San Francisco in August. I took GEOG 101 last semester as a prerequisite to Polar Geography, a required course for my major, and I took this as a major elective because I really like geography. When I was a kid I auditioned for Where In The World Is Carmen SanDiego? but ended up being too young to shoot in the timeframe they wanted–I was devastated.

As far as Alaska goes, I’ve only ever lived in Fairbanks, but I’ve also lived in San Jose, Santa Cruz, and Campbell, California, and Lawrence, Kansas. I do know a fair amount about Alaska geography thanks to A) being a nerd and B) the Iditarod Historical Trail and the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Last year I led a fundraiser during the Iditraod called the “Igivearod” to help send kids from the village of Nikolai on a field trip to Anchorage, build a reading nook in a school in Nome, and fully fund all the active DonorsChoose.org campaigns in the state of Alaska. We try to focus on the needs of communities along the Iditarod Trail itself, and we’ve repeated it during the Kuskokwim 300 and coming soon, the Willow 300. through this work, I’ve come to know quite a bit about Alaska geography and the needs of rural communities. I also think of Nikolai as “my village” so whenever I see it on a map or hear someone talk about it, I say “That’s my village!!” and then have to explain that I’ve never been there, I just really like it and have a lot of little friends there.

Here’s a map showing the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race route, which alternates each year between the northern and southern routes:

Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race map