by Katherine Meyr, of Weber State University
photos by Adam Spencer, Round River Instructor
Over the course of our 6 weeks in B.C. we’ve been working on GLORIA (Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments). GLORIA is an internationally recognized methodology of surveying alpine plants in order to observe the impacts of climate change. We collect data on species abundance, diversity, and distribution as well as daily soil temperatures. Our work will be submitted to the GLORIA initiative to contribute to a model for future global climate change projections, especially for predicting the effects of climate change on alpine environments. Over time, results from our study will contribute valuable information towards understanding climate change in the North and potentially be used to inform future land use policies to ensure healthy wildlife populations in the Atlin area. Round River students in 2013 collected baseline data at 4 summits. We got to survey the same spots, and in 2024 another great team will do it all over again!
Pink Fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium) contrasts the rainy, dreary day we endured for one of our GLORIA surveys.
Apline wildflowers along a meandering alpine creek.
Tall larkspur stands above a glacially-carved cirque valley high in the mountains.
Of the 6 summits, the 3rd was my favorite. We got to camp next to a pristine alpine lake in a lush meadow teeming with wildflowers and wildlife. Within the first 15 minutes of being in the valley we saw 4 mountain goats and 4 stone sheep, each less than 300m away. We hiked up to Sentinel Mountain the next day for GLORIA. We scrambled up to the rocky summit, reaching 1920m and got the view to prove it! The sections we covered didn’t have many vascular plants but the ones that were there were some of my favorite. The most difficult identification we had to do was for the different lichens on rocks, but they’re so distinctive that after you know one, you’ll start to see it everywhere. One of the most surprising finds was a river beauty plant just barely in our summit area section. I haven’t seen river beauty at these elevations anywhere else. Usually it grows in rocky subalpine areas next to water sources, so this was highly unusual. The best feeling comes when you’re searching high and low for a plant found by the group in 2013 and finally see one tiny flower poking out of a rock (I’m talking to you Stellaria longipes).
Mountain Goats! This was our first sighting of the semester, and then we promptly hiked way above them to summit our GLORIA peak.
Kyle Weber (Truman State University) hikes up the alpine.
Our last 2 GLORIA days were on the 29th and 30th. We set up camp east of Atlin. We had leftover salmon and pork from the Ha Kuusteeyi celebration the night before which gave us an amazing and quick dinner while packing! I was also happy to pack more of the salmon for sandwiches the next day. It was our first time car camping of the whole trip and it felt so luxurious! We got to pack salmon, fresh veggies and fruit, and extra blankets for sitting by the fire; things you tend to leave behind when you have to carry them on your back. Good food helped keep our spirits up for the next day while we were at the first summit. The wind was blowing us around and making things pretty chilly, but just when we least expected it, the sun came out and it was gorgeous! We did 2 GLORIA summit surveys in 2 days with the icefields in the background cheering us on. After finishing the second night, we rewarded ourselves with marshmallows and games around the campfire.
Rain Keating (Westminster College) looks out over the Juneau Icefield across Atlin Lake.
Kat and Calla (University of Vermont) work on their GLORIA plot.
Our group on top of the High Alpine summit!
It was such a great experience to contribute to climate change research. We are still analyzing our data but we saw several lower elevation species creeping upwards most likely due to warming temperatures in the boreal. I’ll always be grateful to Round River for giving me this opportunity to take action on such an important issue for our world today!