Glaciers- Modifiers of the Landscape

In her lecture on Thursday, June 5th, at the Valdez Museum, Suzanne McCarthy defined a glacier as "a long lasting mass of ice, formed on land, which moves under its own weight." According to her, there are three major kind of glaciers- Valley Glaciers, Piedmont Glaciers, and Ice Sheets. Glaciers are formed when more snow falls in the winter than can melt in the summer. The snow builds up, forms layers, which shrink together, compact, press out the air, and form ice. There are many glaciers in our area, most of which are receeding. They have, in large part, formed the terraine we see every day, and indeed are still impacting it. Some formations that glaciers leave behind are Horns, Aretes, Eradics, and Ogives. Sugarloaf is a nice big example of a Horn, which we see every clear day.
I am glad I had the chance to learn about glaciers from Suzanne. She has a good way of translating technical knowledge into everyday terms. For example, she talked about when glaciers dam off lakes, and then suddenly release and flood, just like when you have ice in your glass and add water to it, the ice suddenly will lift up and start to float as you fill the glass. This happens to Hidden Lake in McCarthy every mid-summer. Wouldn't it be neat if we got to see it happen while we're there? From far away, in a safe place, of course.

Dock Point

weather: Rainy day
Temperature: 50(degree f)
Plants: Samon berry,spiny wood fern,devils club,red berry aldar,star flower,Northern rice root black,goats beard.
organisms: slug snail,shell fungus
birds: gull bird,duck bird, remains of a dead eagle.
animals: Northern river otter.
On arrival at the Dock point, was the amazing Northern river otter but we hard a glare view of it because of the distance it had with us from the water.an otter is a sleek long-bodied mammal has glossy gray-brown coat,thick tail and webbed hind feet. it is mostly found near water throughout most of Alaska.
on our ascension up to the dock point,i identified a salmon berry,also known as rubus spectabilis, it's sizes 7ft often thick-forming shrub in the south coast of Alaska (pg110 nature of alaska). Also on the identification list was the spiny wood fern also known as dryopteris expansa,often fronds clustered,erect and spreading, 1m tall(pg422 plants of the pacific book). to add was the devils club, also known as oplopanax horridus(pg82)
we noticed the mid way to the top of the dock point, the soil was more fertile than at the foot of the dock point. there too was a star flower known also as trientalis europea with size of 6in.it is mostly found in muskegs, wet forests,tundra. a slug snail was also seen, goat beard known as aruscus sylvester with size of 4ft large, compound leaves usually have 7 leaflets. creamy flowers bloom in long giving the plant it characteristics appearance. found in moist woodlands,ravines,along water ways most common in coastal areas. i also realise that berries ripe faster at the top of the dock point than at the foot because they get more sunlight than at the foot.
i found a squerrel nest where the inhabitant of the colony, clean their nest during the summer getting ready to pile in more food in preparation for the next winter to come. the last but not the least, we found the remains of a dead eagle but from its features, it looked more like the bald eagle.

Dock Point

Top picture: A young Sitka Spruce sitting on the edge of the cliff.

Middle picture: "Impressive" Emmanuel explains the squirrel dens.

Bottom picture: Emmanuel, Wendy, and Dr. Julie examine an eagle's remains.

Dock Point. Valdez, AK

Rain (heavy sprinkle, off and on). Temps ranging from mid 40s to low 50s.

Plants (that I identified):

Sitka Spruce, Salmonberries, Devil’s Club, Arctic Willow, False Hellebore, Chocolate Lily, Dwarf Cornel, Yarrow, mosses and lichens, False Solomon Seal, Shell fungus

Animals:

Arctic Tern, Slug

Today, we went to Dock Point. It’s a little spit of land next to the small boat harbor. I’ve walked this trail before: twice during winter, once during the “melt and breakup” and twice after all of the snow melted. If someone didn’t tell you, you wouldn’t think that just a few months ago, this lush green and flowering point was completely dead and covered in snow. Only Alaska’s state tree, the Sitka Spruce was green during the winter. I walked this trail a couple weeks ago, and it wasn’t nearly as green as it was now. It’s like it grew overnight….

I think it started sprinkling as we left our car. The first thing we noticed was a (of the many lining the area) Sitka Spruce sitting on the edge of the rocks. Many of the plants at Dock Point sat on top, or on the sides of the rocks. They’re able to do that because moss and lichens break down the rocks and make a layer of soil just deep enough for the trees and plants to root.

As we walked down the path, we came upon these beautiful pinkish-violet blossoms, which were (after a couple minutes of research) identified as salmonberries. The point’s red alders, arctic willows, and Sitka spruce made the path look like a canyon of green (if you will).

Now you can get to the top of Dock Point two ways: You can go around and follow the curve that goes up the hill, or you go up a steep hill that brings you right to the top. For time reasons, we chose the hill. As we went up, we noticed how the many plants went from covering the ground, to being up towards the tops of their trunks and branches. Those plants are “reaching for the sun”, meaning that since the sunlight doesn’t really reach to the soil surface, the plants have to adapt. We identified the Arctic Willow and Devil’s Club on our way up, and I identified the False Hellebore once we got to the top. After the snow had melted, I noticed that the false hellebores were the first plants to start growing here at Dock Point and around Valdez.

The mosquitoes and bees weren’t as pesky as they have been when I’ve walked up here to the top. One day, a bee followed me all the way from the top of the hill to the beginning of the path. Not today, though. A couple curious bees flew around us, but didn’t follow us. As we strolled around the high part of dock point, we identified a Chocolate lily as well as dwarf cornels (probably known to you as ‘dogwood’). Further down, we identified some blossoming blueberry plants, which most of us plan to try out once they bear fruit.

Dock Point has an outlook path that is shrouded in Sitka Spruce and gives an amazing view of the harbor, mountains, Aleyska oil terminal and the eastern end of the fjord that Valdez sits in. As we walked along the path and took in the views, Giggy noticed a young Sitka Spruce growing on the edge of the cliff, and I took a photo of it. The temperature dropped a little during our walk on the outlook, I remember ‘seeing my breath’ at one point. Emmanuel came upon some squirrel dens and did an excellent job of explaining them to us; he then found the remains of an eagle. He was impressive on this trip! Also impressive was the role moss and lichens played on a dead spruce. They broke down (and are continuing to) break a dead tree which allowed for new trees (or ‘baby spruce’) to start growing. It’s like nothing goes to waste in nature.

As we headed back toward our car, the rain picked up. It picked up enough that we tried to make our way down the hill as fast, yet as safe as possible. It was nice to go to Dock Point and actually be able to identify the plants that were unknown to me before.

Dock Point Trip

June 03, 08

We did wonderful trip this time, reason why I have been living in Valdez April 2006. But I have never been this area. That day weather was a little chily and cloudy. End of the trip time there were cold runny and windy and around 50 degree.

I identified diversity of plants and other things.
I love the skunk cabbage, blue berry, horse tail, yarrow, cornel, rottenwood, chocolate lily, spiny wood fern, and some other birds.

I noticed that I would like to go to trip end of the July again.

Dock Point Trail

1. June 3, 2008, 2-4pm, Dock Point Trail
2. showers, upper 50s, light breeze
3. Inlet beach, rocky, leading to tidal marsh, up a gravel trail with steep sides, large rocky outcrops with glacier turbidite fans
4. Plants observed and personally identified: Sitka Spruce, Salmonberry, mosses, lichen,Sitka Alder, Devil's Club, Scouler Willow, Starflower, Dandelion, Skunk Cabbage, False Hellebore, Corn Lily, Horsetails, Blueberry
5. Animals observed and identified: mosquitoes, sparrow, bee, 2 crows, red squirrel, gulls, aphid, ducks

I just got back from our field trip, and I am damp from the rain and glad to have gone. It was great being able to identify so many things, but not always easy, even with the field guides we have. However, as a group, we found many different plants in a relatively small area. The reason for this is the diversity of the altitudes we traversed. We went from the rocky shore, past the marshy Duck Flats, and up to the top of this little island, which Dr. Julie told us was a remnant of Old Rain Forest area, which the glaciers skirted around. There were Sitka Spruce at the top which were very big around and must have been ancient.
It being Spring, many of the plants there were in their young phase, and if we go back in a few weeks, they will have changed a great deal. Immanuel found squirrel dens in the roots of some spruce trees, and a nest up in the branches. Underneath were the remains of the cones they had eaten during the long winter, piled up. Giggy informed us that if we wash our hair with the lichens, it will get shiny, and that the sap from the spruce would be good chewing gum. I don't think I'll try it.
One of the neat things we found was a Chocolate Lily, which will have brown flowers later on, and according to V. Pratt's Field Guide to Alaskan Wildflowers, is edible, but smells bad. We saw a few plants, though, that were definitely not edible and in fact poisonous. For example, we saw False Solomon's Seal, and Devil's Club, and Cow Parsnip, all of which are nasty in various ways. . . gorgeous plants. . . but nasty. Another neat thing was the Skunk Cabbage we saw. They have the most beautiful yellow lily- like flowers, and although they smell like skunk, I think I like them most of all.

We saw a "nurse tree," which is a rotting felled tree, acting as nurtition and safe harbor for new baby trees (in this case Sitka Spruce), mushrooms, mosses, and lichens. It's just a wonderful reminder that from death springs life, and we are all interconnected in the circle of life.
Lastly, we found the remains of what we think was a Bald Eagle- the feathers were all over the place. We figured they must have been from an old or infirm eagle, and they were very scattered and well picked over, meaning they helped nourish other animals. It is illegal to own the feathers or other parts of the Bald Eagle, so we left them there. Indeed, I called Animal Control just to let them know about the site.