Beavers and Change

 

For me it has sort of been the summer of the beaver. On our Karluk Lake dig earlier this summer we camped on Thumb Lake and had beavers swimming by and slapping their tails on a daily basis (click here for post). Then Mike and I went on our hunting trip to a small lake that has been repeatedly impacted by beavers. The lake has been recently dammed by beavers and even in the few days we were there we watched the water levels creep higher. The first time I went to the same lake a beaver dam had recently burst and the lake level was about 2 meters lower with a wide 'bathtub ring' of nothing growing. Then a few years after that I went back and the water level was still low but the bathtub ring was growing new alders and grass. It seems there is a cycle of raising and lowering lake levels.

At Thumb Lake I noticed that the beavers had eaten most of the readily available willow near the shoreline and that it was mostly a grass meadow near the lake. And, yes, I have noticed that the beavers seem to prefer willow over alder and other types of trees. I bet in a few years they decide to move some place else with more willow and that the willow again takes over on the shoreline.

Mike and I saw this at a nearby lake to where we were camping. That lake and its beaver house were no longer active and the lake levels had dropped. You could see all the cleared vegetation and lack of brush near the shoreline (see top photo and below). It was all grassland around the lake and totally different environment compared to the lake we were currently camped beside.

From grassy marsh meadows with sundews growing to brush farms to brush ringed lakes. It seems in beaver country the landscape is always changing.

Patrick

Nearby lake recently abandoned by beavers

It's a beaver wasteland

Camp in 2026 (see below for same view in 2017 and 2020)

beaver dam in 2026

Lake in 2017

Lake in 2020

Thumb Creek in 2009 and 2026

 

2009 - crew member Rose eating lunch at the exact spot we set up our teepee in 2026

I first visited the site that we excavated this summer back in 2009 (click here for post from back in the day). That year we surveyed and mapped all the sites at Thumb Creek and surveyed the north end of Karluk Lake. On that survey we actually tested a lot of the sites that we re visited to excavate in the last few years. We radiocarbon dated a lot of the samples from those test pits. In addition, it is nice to have an idea before you dig about what might be present. Including this year, our past 4 excavations at Karluk Lake have centered around a test pit from 2009.

The stratigraphy in our test pit 2 in 'HP2' at KOD-1112 in 2009 hinted at a house with roof sods. And a radiocarbon date from the test of around 4700 years before present suggested that it was very old. So in 2026 we very carefully re found our old 2009 site datum and placed our excavation around the 2009 test pit. We wanted to excavate a 4700 year old structure. What's funny is that it turns out the 2009 test pit barely missed the hearth to a circa 1000 BP structure (more on this in a later post) and hit a far older fire pit feature under it. That older feature is what got radiocarbon dated. It was the fire pit that dated to 4700 years old and not the over lying structure!

In any case, looking at the old photos from 2009 got me looking for photos from this year that show the same basic view. I found the top photo of Rose eating a can of salmon for lunch in 2009 at the site of a recently burned cabin. In 2026 we erected our camp at the exact same location. Comparing photos, Rose is practically sitting where our cook tent teepee was located in 2026. If she time travelled to 2026 she would be in our teepee facing the woodstove just like a member of the 2026 crew!

Patrick

Our camp in 2026 at the same locality as above

2009 Aubrey and Mark excavate a test pit

In 2026 we excavate around the same test pit location - even the same elderberry bush!

2009 - Mark digging the test pit

The hole just beyond the rocks is the 2009 test pit - the structure hearth just this side of it

2026 archaeology crew

Karluk Lagoon

 

Karluk Village and Lagoon with old Karluk on the other side of the lagoon (to left)

Last week I went to the village of Karluk for a work related trip. For the last 15 years or so I have done a lot of archaeology up on Karluk Lake and along the river.  But I had not visited the village in over 20 years - maybe 25!

The village of Karluk is on the lagoon at the mouth of the river and it is where I spent my first summer in Alaska way back in 1985. I was a part of the Bryn Mawr College excavation at the Karluk One site. This is the excavation that basically created the Alutiiq Museum where I now work. The site was a 'wet' site and had amazing organic preservation - grass and spruce root baskets, wood masks, painted box panels, ulus with the handles attached - All sorts of amazing stuff  Today most of the artifacts on display in the gallery are from that excavation.

Since then the entire site has been destroyed by erosion. The river draining the lagoon has been slowly migrating to the southwest and it completely destroyed the site by the early 2000's. Now it is cutting into the hillside and threatening the old Russian Orthodox Church on the hill that was once behind the site (see bottom photo).

Spending a day back on the lagoon brought back many memories. I walked the same road that I had once walked every day from the village to the site. I saw the old Russian Orthodox church. But one thing I did not see was Karluk One the archaeological site I helped excavate. Where the site once was is now under water or beach gravel. The erosion since I last visited is utterly amazing. 

Patrick

River erosion threatening the Karluk Church

It was a tad buggy

Ugak Bay from the plane home

'CC 1,2,3' - the old ski route from Crown to Center

The church in 1995

me on the slope below church above river in 1985

Aerial view of Karluk from 1983 - it's eroded a lot since then

Wakefield Fisheries Symposium

 

Yesterday I presented a paper at the Wakefield Fisheries Symposium. It was a re worked version of the paper I presented at the SAA's - I cut some of the archaeology and added a few slides related to how the Alutiiq adapted to the vicissitudes of life in the Gulf of Alaska in the past. In any case, I remembered that back in the day my dad wrote a story about Lowell Wakefield and the King Crab Industry for Time Magazine. My mom and dad visited Kodiak, Anchorage and Homer back in 1967 while my dad worked on the story (photos below). So I went on the internet and tracked it down (see article below).

Lowell Wakefield became a very important man in the Alaska fishing industry and for the last 34 years every year there has been a fisheries symposium held in his honor. It's actually a pretty prestigious symposium and people come from all over the world to attend it. It's usually held in Anchorage but this year they had it in Kodiak and the theme was Marine Heat Waves. 

My dad's article is worth reading and very much relevant today. Warming oceans and declining sea food prices are hurting fishing communities. In the mid 20th century Lowell Wakefield created and marketed an entirely new segment in the fisheries industry - King Crab. Perhaps the industry could (and should!) do something similar with another previously under-appreciated type of seafood.

Patrick

My dad's story about Lowell Wakefield

My mom and family friend on arrival at Kodiak from Homer

Snow machines at the new Port Wakefield (Port Lions)

Crab boat crewman

A new canyon to ski

 

On Friday I went XC skiing up into the Russian River canyon. I checked my old blog and I don't think I've gone skiing there in almost 20 years. However, it used to be a favorite. I think I sort of forgot about it as an option when we had a run of warm winters in the 2010's. It is an area that only sets up for skiing after particularly long cold snaps.

Anyway, for old posts about the Russian River click here and here for some ski tours and here for a whitewater trip - and finally here for a post where I describe the trip along with other places to XC ski.

The old blog post linked above where I describe places to cross country skiing got me thinking (map but not descriptions shown below). I used to be pretty adventurous about places to go cross country skiing! Also I noticed that it is missing 2 of my favorite places to XC ski. These are places where I did not XC 20 years ago. 

These 2 places are the plateau and bowls above and behind the ski chalet and the big bowl on the north side of Sharatin Mountain. Both are places where I like to go skate skiing when the snow is skimpy down low. But go check out the old blog post linked above to find out more about these areas.

Patrick

I did not even see the duck in this photo when I took the picture