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Because Southeast Alaska is one of the last remaining wild ecosystems on the planet, local students are fortunate to live and grow up in this awesome land. Numerous challenges will face local residents in the coming decades including increasing human populations (more tourists), increasing demand for natural resource extraction, the need to develop sustainable local economies, changing climate that will impact ecosystem function, increasing toxins, emerging pathogens and a host of other issues. Enlightened management of wildlife and responsible development of natural resources in Alaska will depend on a mix of new and traditional ideas and these will be implemented by the next generation of local leaders.

Education is one of the keys to appreciating our local cultures and environment and developing new solutions to challenges. To assess the impacts of biotic change we must start with understanding our surroundings.  Modern inventory studies and long-term monitoring programs, when tied to freely accessible databases and a variety of investigators, provide the critical foundation for assessing environmental change. Ideal partners for local monitoring efforts are public school teachers and students from around the region interested in working with museum staff to develop curricula aimed at filling archival needs while educating young people as field naturalists, budding biologists, and citizen scientists.

Student programs could include:

•  Education Modules

•  Workshops/Presentations

•  Monitoring programs

•  Mentoring

•  Student research

Interested high school teachers and students from around the region are encouraged to participate in the ISLES effort.

For more information, contact us at the museum here.

Module 1

• Species Diversity and Body Size Variation Across a Northern Latitude Archipelago (PDF  838 KB)...