Academic literature on the topic 'Alaska Communities and Forest Environments Team'

The contextual model developed by Archaeology Consulting Team (Frink, this volume) and based on the reconstruction of forest communities is applied to a Phase I archaeological site identification study in Colchester, Vermont. The project is located at the ecotone between a freshwater marsh and a pine-hemlock-oak forest community. Hypotheses regarding seasonal use and site function are based on the resources available to early Native Americans within these two environments. The predicted characteristics of the environments are compared with the Phase I level study data, and hypotheses are refined for future research studies.

Abstract This presentation presents and builds upon the Alaska Native Successful Aging model. Elders’ conceptions of successful aging differ from the Western model, how rural and urban environments influence successful aging, and the lessons Elders pass down to ensure a healthy lifestyle are not common in the literature. 42 Alaska Native Elders from the Norton-Sound sub region of Alaska, 21 Alaska Native Elders from the Aleutian Pribilof Islands, 26 Elders from the Bristol Bay region, and 12 Elders residing in Anchorage, AK to provide an urban context of successful aging. A community-based, exploratory, qualitative research methodology was used to allow for co-learning between research team and tribal communities. 101 qualitative interviews were conducted, and team-based thematic analysis was used to establish codes and main themes to expand the Alaska Native Successful Aging model. We learned that emotional well-being, community engagement, spirituality, family and purposeful engagement, and physical health were instrumental in promoting successful aging within Norton Sound and Bristol Bay. These findings expanded Lewis’s model to include gerotranscendence and generativity; Elders intentional relationships and stronger connections to traditional cultural and spiritual activities gave life deeper meaning and value. These findings argue the importance of including and emphasizing social components, historical perspective, and the importance of place, as well as generativity and gerotranscendence in program and policy development.

Abstract We investigate the perceptions and impacts of climate change on 11 Indigenous communities in Northern British Columbia and Southeast Alaska. This coastal region constitutes an extremely dynamic and resilient social-ecological system where Indigenous Peoples have been adjusting to changing climate and biodiversity for millennia. The region is a bellwether for biodiversity changes in coastal, forest, and montane environments that link the arctic to more southerly latitudes on the Pacific coast. Ninety-six Elders and resource users were interviewed to record Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and observations regarding weather, landscape, and resource changes, especially as concerns what we term Cultural Keystone Indicator Species (CKIS), which provide a unique lens into the effects of environmental change. Our findings show that Indigenous residents of these communities are aware of significant environmental changes over their lifetimes, and an acceleration in changes over the last 15–20 years, not only in weather patterns, but also in the behaviour, distributions, and availability of important plants and animals. Within a broader ecological and social context of dwelling, we suggest ways this knowledge can assist communities in responding to future environmental changes using a range of place-based adaptation modes.

The boreal forest is the northern-most woodland biome, whose natural history is rooted in the influence of low temperature and high-latitude. Alaska's boreal forest is now warming as rapidly as the rest of Earth, providing an unprecedented look at how this cold-adapted, fire-prone forest adjusts to change. This volume synthesizes current understanding of the ecology of Alaska's boreal forests and describes their unique features in the context of circumpolar and global patterns. It tells how fire and climate contributed to the biome's current dynamics. As climate warms and permafrost (permanently frozen ground) thaws, the boreal forest may be on the cusp of a major change in state. The editors have gathered a remarkable set of contributors to discuss this swift environmental and biotic transformation. Their chapters cover the properties of the forest, the changes it is undergoing, and the challenges these alterations present to boreal forest managers. In the first section, the reader can absorb the geographic and historical context for understanding the boreal forest. The book then delves into the dynamics of plant and animal communities inhabiting this forest, and the biogeochemical processes that link these organisms. In the last section the authors explore landscape phenomena that operate at larger temporal and spatial scales and integrates the processes described in earlier sections. Much of the research on which this book is based results from the Bonanza Creek Long-Term Ecological Research Program. Here is a synthesis of the substantial literature on Alaska's boreal forest that should be accessible to professional ecologists, students, and the interested public.

An important responsibility of all researchers is to communicate effectively with the rest of the scientific community, students, and the general public. Communication is “a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs or behavior” (Merriam-Webster 1988). It is a two-way process that requires collaborations, best-information exchange practices, and effective formal and informal education. Communication of this knowledge and understanding about the boreal forest is important because it benefits scientists, policymakers, program managers, teachers, students, and other community members. Good data and a firm knowledge base are needed for improving understanding of the functioning of the boreal forest, implementing best-management practices regarding forests and other resources, making personal and communal decisions regarding livelihoods and quality of life, coping with changes in the environment, and preparing future cadres of science-informed decision makers. Communication among scientists is an essential step in the research process because it informs researchers about important ideas and observations elsewhere in the world and allows boreal researchers to contribute to general scientific understanding. For example, the Bonanza Creek LTER has developed its research program by incorporating many important concepts developed elsewhere, including ecosystem dynamics (Tansley 1935), succession (Clements 1916), state factors (Jenny 1941), predator interactions (Elton 1958), and landscape dynamics (Turner et al. 2001). Through active research and regular communication and collaboration with the international scientific community, these “imported” ideas have been adapted to the boreal forest and new ideas and insights have been developed or communicated to the scientific community, as described in detail throughout this book. New ideas have originated among boreal researchers, and their “export” has sparked research elsewhere in the world (Chapter 21). The pathways of communication are changing. Alaskan boreal researchers have participated actively in traditional modes of communication, including hundreds of peer-reviewed publications, several books, reports intended for managers, and participation in meetings and workshops. However, some of the greatest benefits of longterm research reside in the records of changes that occur. These long-term data are now available to the rest of the world through internet Web sites that house databases, publications, photographs, and other information (http://www.lter.uaf.edu).