frolicking in forests.: in the belly

Friday, August 26, 2011

in the belly

8.23.11 I crawled into my sleeping bag here on the rooftop of the ferry at 4:30am this morning after loading all our gear together one last time. Kate left by plane last night. We all took her together, “family style.” Odin was supposed to leave two days ago, but the fast ferry is in for repair. Paul and I got delayed too. I have been aching, aching, aching, to get to Juneau, to stop tackling checklists and logistics and be with community and friends again. Time is too short. I have to leave Alaska all together in just two days. I just want to pause and be here with people I miss.

The broken ferry was ironic to say the least. I was thinking we made it through summer by foot, kayak, float plane and boat in the big swells all clear. Then there we were stranded again by the most reliable form of local transportation – the monster ship. In Sitka we cruised around town in Charlie’s rig these last few days. In the spirit of small town Alaska, he tossed me the keys to his ancient truck after we hit the docks at Ceiling Cove on our last trip out. Said he’d be going out of town and we could probably put that thing to use. Unreliable breaks and a gas guzzling rusted beauty of a ride. Loved that beast. Kind of the perfect end to our summer.

I slept hard on the ferry, woke up to the cold air on my face and the grey light glowing, that thing that happens only here in Southeast, and I still don’t know how to describe. One kind of just has to experience it. I miss it already. Layers of cloud blanket the forested islands as we move through the passage. I realize that I’m looking at a the same route I’ve traveled before differently now. I know what it feels like to be deep in those forests. I can imagine what life they hold. As I peeled back the cocoon of my sleeping bag to unveil the solarium view through sleepy eyes, I remembered a story that a dear friend and mentor sent me when she saw some photographs from our summer. Years back, she was working on a book in the American West and venturing into open landscapes there, and she spent an day visiting with a Zuni. After sharing stories of place, he put his hand upon her stomach and told her “You are in the belly of the earth. ” She told said the same for our summer.

I’ve been in the belly, and I’m watching in fade into the distance before me now through sleep eyes.

The grey shifts to white then it all disappears at the horizon. I’m afraid of what I might forget.

The boat’s engine is purring. My body is still warm in depths of my bag. There’s a slow vibration around me and the gentle feeling of moving forward bit by bit. Raindrops are falling on the deck, splattering. The American flag is flapping in the wind on the stern. Its stripes provide the only color breaking the blue and grey in 360 degrees. I can almost make out the sound of it snapping back and forth above the ferry’s hum. I’m thinking about the belly. I suppose it’s what this is all about – being in the belly of wilderness, figuring out how it’s changing, and what that can teach us. I have a lot to sort out, but this has been a start.

The compass points north, but I'm headed home now. -Lauren

2 comments:

UnknownSeptember 14, 2012 at 1:26 AM
The author must be very deeply loves the life. Thank you so much for sharing! I can't wait to take a peek, love your blog and stylebridesmaid dresses by color
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UnknownJuly 1, 2013 at 3:30 PM
You clearly described the experience as depicted in your forest adventure.
wildlife habitat design pa
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Lauren is pursuing her PhD through Stanford’s Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources. She is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and the 2011 recipient of the Wilderness Society's Gloria Barron Scholar Award. Her work stands at the interface of ecology and land change science to address questions of resource management and conservation in a changing climate. In addition to the geek stuff, Lauren has always been captivated by the power of narrative and visual media to document land use changes. She often considers archival photographs and oral accounts of forest uses equally important to the biophysical data she collects. Lauren believes scientists should share their stories, even if it means writing late night under a tarp in the rain. This research project is the center of her dissertation, and the book is work in progress, one day combining the science with photography and narrative. The fieldwork comes together with quite a team...

Paul believes that environmental integrity and human quality of life depend on critical improvements to our stewardship of natural resources. To this end, he is finishing his MS in sustainable forestry and a MPA in environmental policy at the University of Washington. His research focuses on forest carbon sequestration under improved management practices in the Pacific Northwest. As a lover of northern climates and wilderness adventures, Paul is excited for his return to Alaska this summer. Secretly, his favorite part of forestry field work is stealing hugs as he wraps diameter tape around tree trunks – Paul’s hug diameter is about 20 inches. After completing our work in Glacier Bay National Park this summer, Paul (Captain DBH) will be the only person to have hugged more than 3000 trees in this study.

Tomás Ward studied literature and was a student horticulturalist at U.C. Berkeley. With a keen interest in the natural world, Tomás has served as a field researcher for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, a watershed science consulting firm in Oregon, and a conservation non-profit in Alaska. He has also worked as a construction laborer, cook, teacher's assistant, and writer. A lover of fresh air and sunshine, Tomás splits time between the Great Lakes and Pacific Northwest regions. Working with the Sitka Conservation Society in 2011, Tomás helped relieve many logistical challenges. He back-loaded our float planes and moved kayaks while conducting Wilderness monitoring surveys with local volunteers. He will be the mainstay for the 2012 full season measuring understory in Glacier Bay and assisting in West Chichagof.

Kate studies forestry and art practice at the University of California - Berkeley. There are a few things that stand out about Kate: 1) she has a lovely voice that is useful in fending off bears; 2) she can eat more citrus than is humanly possible and experiences fruit deprivation on the outer coast; 3) she always has dirt or ink stains all over her clothes (we are grateful for both in the field). Her favorite tree is the redwood (though love of yellow-cedar is growing); her favorite bark beetle in the western pine beetle. Her favorite stage of forest development is the understory reinitiation stage, and she is champion of the laser for measuring tree heights. Following her second season of field work on this project, Kate will begin her Master's degree in Forestry at UC Berkeley.

Gregg Treinish is the Founder and Executive Director of Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation (ASC), a non-profit organization out of Bozeman, MT that links outdoor enthusiasts with scientists to collect data in remote places. ASC’s partnerships around the world contribute valuable information for researchers, from Bar-headed geese observations in the Himalayas to sediment samples in the Caspian Sea, and inspire adventurers to use their time in the “wild” by giving back to the areas they visit. Gregg will be joining the trip to West-Chichagof this summer to help develop a protocol ASC can carry forward in 2013 for continued collection of temperature data across the study area and ongoing wilderness character monitoring. He also hopes we see a bear wresting a shark out there.

Sarah is PhD candidate in the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology at Colorado State University. Her research addresses the distribution of, connectivity between, and genetic diversity among forests of western North America. Sarah is currently working on a fine scale study of conifer distributions across a hydrological gradient in Southeast Alaska, with support from the George W. Wright Climate Change Fellowship. She believes it her responsibility as a scientist, forest ecologist, and lover of natural ecosystems to work to characterize and understand how, where, and why trees grow. Sarah strives to advance scientific knowledge and conservation of these the landscapes where she works and inspire future generations of ecologists.
As another lover of Southeast Alaska, Sarah will be sharing some of her stories of her own ongoing research through the Forest Frolic blog.

Caitlin is a Sitka native and has lived with the cedar decline in Southeast her whole life. She met Lauren at Stanford where she is an undergrad. She has been exploring architectural design and earth sciences at Stanford and often leads backcountry trips. During the 2011 field season, when she was not entering tree data or making yet another trip to the hardware store for the team, she was picking blueberries or climbing mountains. We call her "Captain Sitka," and she has been known locally for her car full of stinky researchers. Back at Stanford, Caitlin continues works as a research assistant during the academic year, helping with data, tree cores and all the other little pieces involved in what she calls "making the magic happen."

Odin grew up hiking, camping and sea kayaking in southeast Alaska in a family involved in the salmon troll fishery. His fascination with the geography and indigenous cultures of the Circumpolar North has directed his adventuresome path at high latitudes. Odin's latest endeavor took him to Siberia, where he helped collect data on methane ebullition for NSF’s POLARIS and Thermokarst Lakes projects. Odin led the charge on understory measurements during the 2011 field season, while speaking Russian to the trees.