a r Sitka KAKE Baranof


Kupreanof Island


Kuiu Island a


Outer island survey


0 30 km GULF YUKON OF


Whitehorse Juneau


BRITISH COLUMBIA


Detail area


PACIFIC OCEAN ALASKA


Maurelle Islands


Island CRAIG


Coronation Island


Warren Island


P r inc e of Wales


Island r t


EXTREME SCIENCE TIP#01 DO YOUR RESEARCH


Make finding scientific opportunities a part of your trip planning. “Is there a friends group? Is there a land manager? Usually the answer is yes, but most people don’t plan ahead or make contact,” says conservationist Adam Andis.


W


ant to know if the deadly fungus Batrachochy- trium dendrobatidis is affecting the Boreal toads and rough-skinned newts on Alaska’s Coronation Island? To find out, here’s what you have to do:


Kayak the foggy and swell-battered outer coast for six days. Land through surf and wrestle with maddening thickets of devil’s club and alder to reach the alpine zone. Catch the elusive amphibians in chilly ponds. Rub a swab along the squirming creature’s belly, then break off the swab’s tip and attempt to air-dry it for five minutes in the notoriously soggy climate. Place the swab in a tube and label it. Bushwhack back down to the coast and launch through the surf. Paddle another 10 days to reach a post office. Then mail the samples to a lab in Ohio for analysis.


The hardships of conducting field ecology in remote and rugged places like Alaska are legendary. But that same ruggedness draws kayakers from all over the world. The brainchild of Adam Andis, Wilderness Stewardship Director of the Sitka Conservation Society (SCS), the Outer Island Survey partnered experienced kayak- ers with the Society and the U.S. Forest Service. The expedition represents part of a growing strategy for extending science into wild places using sea kayaks as the vehicles.


46 | ADVENTURE KAYAK


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