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Caribou Migration Update: March 13, 2002

Today's Report Includes:

Latest from the Arctic Front

Caribou Migration Map
Click on Map to Enlarge

What direction are the caribou moving? Can you see some northern movement yet? The days are getting longer in the Arctic and around the world. This increased day length can make a big difference! What other factors are influencing the caribou to travel northward? (see data below)

Take a look at the most recent locations of our caribou (this week data missing for Cupid and Donner):

Girls Get New Collars

Courtesy Government of Yukon

caribou002

It is a busy time now for biologists working with the caribou. Last week they were working on collaring and late winter composition counts of the Porcupine and 3 other herds in the Yukon and Alaska.

They caught Isabella near Arctic Village where she has been hanging out for the last couple of months. She was refitted with a new satellite transmitter. In addition to re-collaring Isabella, Dr. Stephen Arthur, research biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, captured 11 cow caribou near Arctic Village. Ten were for deployment of conventional radio collars and the one new satellite transmitter was for Isabella. They have 11 conventional collars to deploy, as well as 1 satellite collar. The team is still looking to find either Lucky or Blixen. If they can, they will replace their transmitters. Otherwise, they will collar a new cow for the project.
Winter Life in the Coastal Plain
Imagine commuting to work on a Boeing 737! Kevin Fitzgerald lives in two places. He and his family live Talkeetna, which can be located on about any map of Alaska. It is 100 miles North of Anchorage on the Anchorage-Fairbanks, or Parks highway. Talkeetna is where all the climbers begin their journey to climb "Denali" or Mt. Mckinley.
Mr. Fitzgerald and his family are participating in Journey North from Alaska this spring. Mr. Fitzgerald spends half of each month as a medic/clinician at the Badami River Oil Pumping Station on the Arctic coastal tundra. Located about 35 miles east of Prudhoe bay and 35 miles West of Kaktovik, or Barter Island. Can you find his site? Badami is the name of the river which flows nearby.
He took a moment to describe winter life -

"The only wildlife I have seen in the last several months have been several ravens visiting the coast from the nearby Brooks range. There are several arctic fox which visit the camp, an occasional wolverine and wolf, a few "local Caribou" (from the Central Arctic herd) which spend the winter for one reason or another and a few "Ermine" or winter weasels.
"Spring is a very Dynamic time of year here and it starts around mid April. Thousands of geese nest here, muskox wander through, the fox have their pups, Ptarmigan nest by the "dozens" and of course the Caribou come back (by the Hundreds!!!), and of course the occasional Grizzly, or polar bear. I have attached several photo's of local wildlife from last year for you to share."

BADAMI oil pump station, North Slope, AK
Photos courtesy of Kevin Fitzgerald and Murray Warren

Arctic fox and caribou

Caribou in parking area

Grizzly bears

Challenge Question #6:
"Find Talkeetna on your Alaska map. Then locate the Badami River Pumping Station where Mr. Fitzgerald works. How far does Mr. Fitzgerald commute to work? Do you think that this kind of commute is common in Alaska and the Yukon?"

(To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.)

Amy Gulick's Adventure
Amy Gulick is a photographer, a writer, and an adventurer. Last June she wanted to see what the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was all about, so she packed up her cameras, her portable laptop computer, and a special satellite telephone and had an experience never to forget. Her purpose was to share the beauty of the vast wilderness with others with hopes that might help preserve it from oil exploration. Ms. Gulick has spent many hours in school classrooms teaching students about the Arctic and has generously shared some of her photographs with Journey North.

Caribou

Caribou herd crossing river

Caribou crossing river

Joe Creek

Kongakut River

Kongakut River

Catch up to Amy, a herd of caribou and some wolves during her travels up Joe Creek in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Read parts or all of her Journal at One Earth Adventures.

The Twilight Zone
Our friends living in the high latitudes of the Arctic regions treasure an astronomical phenomenon most of us in the warmer regions are unaware of, a winter full of twilight. How would you like to experience a three-hour sunset complete with some of the most beautiful golds, reds, and purples found in nature?

If it is not dark, and not light, twilight is the term used to describe the period of incomplete darkness that occurs after sunset and before sunrise. This word is derived from Saxon or Middle English terms, which implies light that occurs twice daily. With the sun below the horizon, the multiple scattering of light produced by constituents in the upper atmosphere may commonly produce a purple, red or yellow glow. This is possible because refraction (a phenomenon where the light is bent when it passes from one medium to another) apparently lifts the sun a little more than its diameter when it is lying on the horizon.

After visiting the Twilight Zone, do a little research and answer this-

Challenge Question #7:
"Another term that is associated with the subject of twilight is a word again from the British language, the term crepuscule. What does this term mean and how many ways can you find that it is used?"

(To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.)

Pocupine Caribou Management Board News

Image courtesy of Dept. of Renewable Resources
Gov't of the Yukon

The Pocupine Caribou Management Board (PCMB) publishes a newsletter "Community Caribou Update" each month. This issue just arrived and contains news hot off the press:
"Senate Vote on the Energy Bill-
Even though the House of Representatives passed the Energy Bill months ago, on March 5th, Senate Majority Leader Daschle and Energy Committee Chair, Jeff Bingaman introduced the long anticipated energy legislation to the Senate floor. Debate on the bill is expected to last for about two weeks but the situation changes constantly. The introduced bill does not call for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge but Senator Murkowski has promised to add such an amendment. Because a drilling amendment is so controversial, both sides are first working on non-controversial amendments. They have agreed on increased fuel efficiency for cars. A recent Associated Press poll showed that 52% of Americans opposed drilling with 38% in favor."

For more information, visit the Board:

Your Personal Energy Audit
What kind of impact does your family have on total national oil consumption? Can we look to conserving our supply of oil by simply using or consuming less? Legislators are investigating using their power to enact new laws governing fuel efficiency. Some experts report that improving the efficiency of vehicle fuel consumption could save us as much as a million barrels of oil a day.
In the U.S., 19.4 million barrels of oil is needed every day to power our vehicles. If oil drilling legislation in ANWR Area 1002 is approved, sources estimate that regardless of how much oil there ultimately is, they have the technology to take out between 1 and 1.5 million barrels of oil a day from the Arctic region. This amount represents between 2-5% of the 19.4 million barrels we consume daily.
Take a look at your own family's fuel consumption. Cars vary greatly in the amount of gasoline they need to get around. What kind of energy demand does your family car put on the U.S. energy-demand picture? Think about how energy conservation might effect this big picture.
Use this Personal Energy Audit to help you see.

After the audit, answer this:

Challenge Question #8:
"Calculate your family car's fuel efficiency. How much fuel would you conserve in one year if your family drove a car that had a fuel efficiency of 50 miles per gallon?"

(To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.)

Old Crow Living: Discussion of Challenge Question #4
"What would it be like to live in Old Crow or Arctic Village? What came first, the migration path or the town? What makes this route good for 1.) the caribou 2.) a town?"
Students try to get a grasp of what life would be like in Arctic Village. Here is what some Seventh Graders at Iselin Middle School shared: "It would be very difficult living in Arctic Village and Old Crow because they are not developed areas. It is very cold most of the year."
As to the second question, they shared: "The migration path comes first. The route is good because when the Caribou migrate through that path they have water from the rivers nearby. They also eat cranberries which they get from the nearby bushes, as well as, lichen. A town could develop there because, it is low, and near the mountains. It has a river for water and land for backyard gardens."

Students Share Opinions: Discussion of Challenge Question #5

"Where do you stand on the subject of the US drilling for oil in ANWR now?" This was the subject of questions we asked in Challenge Question #5 last update.
Seventh Graders at Iselin Middle school took some time to review this complex issue. They shared, "In our opinion we think that drilling for oil in ANWR is wrong. The people do not know if there is oil there. When they try finding oil they will mess up the ecosystem, pollute the air, and destroy the landscape. If this happens, the caribou will not migrate there. To stop the oil drilling we could send letters to the drilling company and to our congressmen and explain to them why drilling in ANWR is wrong."

Thanks to Bridgette, Justin, Kawan, Jackie, Kenneth, Mike, Charmi, Kavika, Amy, Briana, Jillian and Christine for your well-thought out answers.

Caribou Adaptations
In order to survive in their ecosystems, animals have certain ways to eat, sleep, communicate, and reproduce. They are the products of many adaptations over long periods of time that keep them alive in their habitat. Caribou were living in North America during the last ice ages and have evolved over a million years of glacial influenced climates. Thus, caribou have adapted to thrive in landscapes covered in snow and in climates of extreme cold.

Try This!
Learn about the caribou's adaptations and then take the challenge to build a model caribou with its body parts symbolizing the caribou's adaptations. Or, with your classmates draw a life-sized caribou making note of all the adaptations on its body.

Literature Link- Tundra: The Arctic Land
Tundra: The Arctic Land, by Bruce Hiscock is a chapter book about the far north, and the plants and animals that live there. Much of the book deals with of how living things survive in the cold, but there is a narrative theme as well.
Tundra, though out of print is available at amazon.com, or perhaps in your local library. Mr. Hiscock is planning a new version for younger readers, this time based on his experiences in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. We will keep you posted.
How to Respond to Today's Challenge Questions:

IMPORTANT: Answer only ONE question in each e-mail message.

1. Address an e-mail message to: jn-challenge-caribou@learner.org
2. In the Subject Line of your message write: Challenge Question # 6 (or #7, or #8).
3. In the body of EACH message, give your answer to ONE of the questions above.

The Next Caribou Migration Update Will Be Posted on March 27, 2002.

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