Huslia

Location - Richard's Spring Camp Lake

The ALISON study site at Huslia was located on a lake that was once a channel of the Koyukuk River. Long since cut off from the river and surrounded by spruce forest, this particular lake is popular for swimming in the summer (like Shageluk Lake). Access to the study site is from Richard’s Spring Camp, so we call this Richard’s Spring Camp Lake. The coordinates are 65.5966°N, 156.3590°W and the water depth is roughly 4 m.

The image shows the changing position of the river. Over time, the channel has moved, leaving stranded water in the form of elongated ponds.

The red arrow indicates the location of Richard's Spring Camp Lake where the ALISON site was set up.

People

The people that helped to set up the study site at Richard’s Spring Camp Lake on Monday 15 November 2004: Shawn Huffman, Floyd Vent, Ed Vent, Sharon Strick (back row); Danielle Ballard-Huffman, Lois and Alex Vent (front row). Martin Jeffries behind the camera.

The ALISON study site at Huslia was run by Sharon Strick and some of her middle school students, specifically Lois and Alex Vent, and Danielle Ballard-Huffman. Other students joined later.

Originally from Seattle, Sharon has been teaching for a little over 16 years in Alaska: Hollis, SE Alaska (2 years), Akiak (near Bethel, 2 years), Huslia (9 years) Nikolai (2 years) and back to Huslia (a little over 1 year). Like a number of ALISON teachers, Sharon joined via the UAF Observing Locally, Connecting Globally program (OLCG). Martin participated in OLCG as lake ice advisor, and has recruited a number of ALISON teachers from that program.

Teacher Geoff Johnson (front row, second from left) made measurements at Huslia with these students. Martin is at the left end of the back row.

The Huslia study site was run by Geoff Johnson and his students this winter, 2005-06. Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Geoff has lived in Alaska since 1995. He studied Chemical Engineering for over three years at UC Santa Barbara, then switched to education at Humboldt State University in Arcata, just up Highway 101 from Eureka on California’s Redwood Coast.

Since arriving in Alaska, Geoff has taught at Petersburg Elementary School for five years, Ambler School for one year, and is now in his sixth year of teaching at Jimmy Huntington School, Huslia. Sharon Strick, who ran the ALISON study at Huslia last winter, 2004-05, convinced Geoff that he and his students would benefit from running the study this winter.

Data

Download data for these graphs and other ALISON data.