Recovery following the 1977 tundra fire at the Kokolik River
Collaborators:
Chuck Racine - US Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory - Hanover, NH.
During the very dry summer of 1977 tundra fires were extensive throughout northern Alaska. One of the fires occurred near the Kokolik River (69' 32"N,161' 51"W) just East of Point Lay on the North Slope of Alaska. Following the fire, several research plots were established in the area by Les Viereck, Larry Johnson, Jerry Brown and Dorothy Hall. These were visited by these researchers for several years following the fire but were last visited in 1982.
We re-visited these sites by helicopter in July 2001 with Chuck Racine of the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) at Hanover in New Hampshire. During the 4 day field trip, we resampled as many of Viereck et al.'s sites as we could and made extensive notes on the decadal patterns of vegetation succession following the fire.
Our preliminary analyses suggest that there has been an expansion of shrub tundra and a subsequent decrease in the extent of tussock tundra in the region. We are currently preparing a manuscript for publications.