Garrett Miller, Josephine Lewis, Sig Decker, Reyn Hutten, Alex Angerman and Tymon Teat pose for a photo with the Chief Shakes Glacier in the background. The Wrangell High School students were participating in an ongoing study of the glacier's recession, heading upriver Oct. 5.
Wrangell High School's annual study of the Chief Shakes Glacier is wrapping up its study measuring the mass of ice's steady retreat into the mountains.
"We're in our fifth year right now," explained teacher Jenn Miller, who has coordinated the study each year since its start in 2011. With the cooperation of the United States Forest Service, the group lands close to the glacier's face and takes measurements, which are then compared to the previous year's.
Miller explained R&M Engineering provides close to $100,000 worth of its surveying equipment for the group to use. The company shows the students how to use their tools, provides technical assistance and helps interprets data.
This year's study group was given field assistance by a former student, Delton Claggett, now an intern at R&M who attends University of Alaska – Anchorage.
There is a career exploration element to the high school program as well, Miller said, giving students an opportunity to see one of many fields where mathematics and science skills are used first-hand. The study is also an opportunity to appreciate changes in the environment in a measurable way.
The study is given logistical support by Eric Yancey of Breakaway Adventures, who conveys students up the Stikine River to the glacier. Only once has the group been unable to get near enough to the glacier to take measurements, due to excessive ice.
Yancey is also credited with developing the study program, which is similar to one Petersburg High School has been conducting for over three decades.
In launching its program, Miller said Wrangell received technical advice from Petersburg High School's Vic Trautman, a science teacher running its program. First started by geology teacher Paul Bowen, the Petersburg program has been measuring the nearby LeConte Glacier since 1983, collaborating with the University of Alaska Southeast.
The long-running study gives students the chance to learn basic surveying skills and practice trigonometric functions, all on their own time. Six students participated in Wrangell's study this year, heading up to Chief Shakes on Oct. 5.
Miller's students also began work on a website last year to publicize the group's findings, but it is still in development.
"It is receding a lot, every year," Miller said, though specifics were unavailable for this year's measure.
Davies said she will meet later this fall with the program's collaborators and review the past five years' work before deciding how best to move forward.
"I definitely foresee it continuing," she said. "We haven't had any specialists yet, but in the future I'd like to have an expert with the university come up."
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