Module III: Landscapes of Life

I am beginning to recall information from my college days in a science course at UAF: Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Glaciers. Throughout my life--I haven’t been strong with the area of science....I was so excited to begin to teach place-based learning and it allowed me to shine with my LOCAL experiences...and as I reviewed the resources we were assigned this week, It also brought back a lot of stories that were told while I was growing up in Kodiak. My family was affected by the 1964 Alaska Earthquake and the devastation that was to follow on Kodiak Island. The whole IDEA of a tsunami WAS/IS real for my family as they all were involved in the 1964 Kodiak Tsunami.

On another note, throughout the past few years, many teachers within our school district (and other districts) have been field testing some awesome teaching units in the Alaska Tsunami Education Program. This was a grant funded project through the University of Alaska Fairbanks that really brought to light the whole world of earthquakes and tsunamis. (The website is listed under great resources.)

And when we talk about erosion and landscape changes, we see it in Kodiak quite regularly. We are an island in the Gulf of Alaska and we are in the midst of a lot of tidal activity and change. In fact, the two villages in which my families were born/raised are experiencing such change. My mom was born on the westside of our island in a village called---Karluk.

As a child I remember visiting my grandparents home and seeing the historical buildings throughout the many faces of the village. Well, to put it blankly---much of Karluk has FALLEN into the lagoon. The old village was built on the side that experiences a lot of wind and tide change. The erosion has caused the OLD side to fall into the lagoon. And to relate to my mom’s side of the family--my dad’s village is experiencing much of the same landscape changes. In fact the area or POINT that was named for it’s purpose---Graveyard Point----is now eroding so that the buried are beginning to fall into the water. Both places I speak of are experiencing erosion problems.....ones that the originators had no idea of. That makes me wonder-----has erosion increased? Or did people assume that building so far off the coast would allow for SECURITY? 

When I talk with students about erosion and change with the landscapes around our island---I bring up two particular locations. These are the Buskin River and the Pasagshak River. These two locations are great salmon fishing rivers where people are often found from May until September. The discussion we often have include--WHY DO THE MOUTHS OF THE RIVERS LOOK DIFFERENT EVERY YEAR? Each of these rivers hang off of the main waters and do not have shelter to protect their shores....therefore the mouths change each year....great discussion on erosion and landscape,etc.