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The Alsek Watershed is a river system that branches off the tributaries of the Kaskawulsh River and the Tatshenshini River, flowing from the southwestern Yukon Territory of Canada into the state of Alaska, USA (USGS Alaska Science Center, 2017). It continues into Alsek lake, which meets and empties into Dry Bay, in the Glacial National Park region, in Yakutat county, Alaska, where it mixes with the Pacific Ocean (Tukker, 2016). The watershed includes glaciers, a river system, lakes, creeks, forests, and national parks.

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Alsek River image credit USGS GOV Alaska Science Center

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Provisioning Services: Food, Hunting, Lumber, Medicinal Plants                                                              

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Provisioning Services: Food, Hunting, Lumber, Medicinal Plants                                                              

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Food and hunting: The Alsek watershed is the 5th largest river system letting out into the pacific ocean on the western coast of the North and South America continents (Alaska Channel, 2022). The river offers provisioning services in the form of food during fishing season, including a variety of salmon, along with hunting large game, like bears, for meat.

Lumber: Trees can be found in many areas of the Alsek watershed, especially within Glacial Bay National Preserve near where the Alsek river opens into the pacific ocean. In some areas, trees could potentially be utilized for lumber.

Freshwater: Like many rivers and lakes, some areas of the Alsek watershed have good water quality, with both residents and campers utilizing these sources as a resource for cooking and cleaning. Boiling is a good option to prevent bacteria. Still other areas would have too much silt and sand mixed in, so rafters and hikers alike might opt to bring filter straws on trips for emergency water sources.

Medicinal Plants: A number of plants grow along the river and lake, and in the national reserves within the Alsek watershed. Some good examples of types of plants within the Alsek watershed are listed on the Glacier Bay National Park website. Click on the links for some wonderful information about the types of
-forests
-plants
-plant communities
and plant succession in this area (U.S. Department of the Interior, 2015).

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Icy Alsek River USGS Photo Credit Jamie Pierce public domain

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Supporting Services: Genetic Diversity, Habitat

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Supporting Services: Genetic Diversity, Habitat

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The video above includes an excellent look at the varying landscape and habitat of the Alsek river region. The video shows some of the tree and plant diversity, along with humans, but does not show animals, which are vast and diverse within this region. Bears, moose, birds, fish, elk, otter, beaver, seals, whales and more make up an amazing assortment of biological lifeforms within and around this river system.

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Regulating Services (Protective Ecosystems): Glacier Bay National Park

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Regulating Services (Protective Ecosystems): Glacier Bay National Park

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This video about Glacier Bay National Park is a good example of regulating services within the Alsek watershed. This area is a full ecosystem which self protects through causal feedback loop systems, and when working efficiently, helps to sustain the life, pollinate vegetation, keep water and air clean, and remove carbon dioxide from the environment.

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Enjoy a beautiful montage of the spectacular sights, sounds, and meanings of Glacier Bay National Park.

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King's Throne Trail, Kluane National Park, photo credit Gov. of Canada, public domain, from: https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/yt/kluane/visit/services/kathleen

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Regulating Services: Kluane National Park and Preserve

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Regulating Services: Kluane National Park and Preserve

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Kluane National Park and Preserve is another area with the Alsek Watershed that provides a regulating and protective ecosystem to the landscape, offering visitors a variety of hiking, rafting, glaciers, mountains, fishing, and more (Government of Canada, 2022).

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King's Throne Trail Parks Canada Ca Kluane National Park public domain

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Regulating Services: Dry Bay (Glacier Bay National Preserve)

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Regulating Services: Dry Bay (Glacier Bay National Preserve)

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Another unique aspect of the Alsek river watershed is the outlet called Dry Bay, a part of the Glacier Bay National Preserve, which lets out into the Pacific Ocean. The Alsek River begins to break into smaller fractals onto Dry Bay's 80 square mile delta (U.S. Department of the Interior, 2022). This area is also a small community hub for tourism and trade, includes an air strip, and is a local hotspot for hunting (U.S. Department of the Interior, 2022).

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Boats on the shore of the Alsek River NPS pubic domain

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Video: Infamous Whitewater: Kayaking Alsek & Stikine | Water & People, Ep. 4 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6zs6wHLmz8&t=9s

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Cultural Services: Rafting, kayaking, and tourism

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Cultural Services: Rafting, kayaking, and tourism

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Whitewater rapids rafting and kayaking are popular on the Alsek river. This, along with fishing, hunting, and scenic tourism are the major cultural services the Alsek watershed provides access to Nahanni River Adventures is an example of just one of many river adventure tour companies that book guided rafting, hiking, and camping trips along the Alsek river, which also runs through the Kluane National Park and Reserve.

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Infamous Whitewater: Kayaking Alsek & Stikine | Water & People, Ep. 4

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Sport fishing is popular along the Alsek river. From the upper river areas which run through the Kluane National Park and Reserve, to Alsek Lake, Dry Bay and Glacial National Park, the Alsek river watershed has much to offer in terms of fishing (U.S. Department of the Interior, 2017).

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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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Halibut fishing in Glacier Bay photo from NPS Gov public domain

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A Young Angler Fishing in Glacier Bay image from NPS Gov public domain

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Sport Fishing: Glacier Bay National Park Halibut Release Video

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Sport Fishing: Glacier Bay National Park Halibut Release Video

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Watch local fishermen release a large halibut.

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There are a wide variety of system parts that make up the Alsek Watershed. These include, but are not limited to:

Alsek Lake

Alsek Ranges (mountains)

Alsek Glacier (feeds Alsek River)

Alsek River (feeds Alsek Lake)

Alsek floodplain

Tatshenshini-Alsek Park

Glacier Bay National Park (regional outlet of river)

Dry Bay (Glacier Bay National Preserve and main outlet of Alsek River)

Haines Junction

Kluane National Park and Reserve

Yukon Territory (locally relied upon inlets along river)

Alaska (inlets along river)

Grand Plateau Glacier (a dam keeping Alsek Lake separated from Grand Plateau Lake)

Alsek area fisheries (who rely on fishing season)

Alsek River Chinook and Sockeye salmon population Number of Alsek river rafters, tourists, visitors

Number of Alsek regional hunters who rely on seasonal food

Amount of glacial runoff silt deposited into river

Number of animals who rely on the river water

Amount of vegetation that can grow along and within the Alsek River and surrounding territory

Animal population that relies on the vegetation along the Alsek River and surrounding territory

Amount of pollution that enters the river system

Climate change (local temperatures)

Amount of glacial melt

The amount of annual precipitation

Legislation (laws and limitations on local fisheries)

Annual volume of Alsek river and lake

Wildfire seasonal effect on surrounding trees

Disease (trees, fish, vegetation, animals)

Toxic algae bloom population

Regional river management conflicts/organizational trends (hiring, etc)

Commercial development along the Alsek river

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This map from the United States Geological Survey offers a good look at the boundaries of the Alsek watershed. The solid red line is the US-Canada border, while everything within the solid dark gray line is the watershed (USGS Alaska Science Center, 2017). The system parts listed in the slide above are included within these boundaries.

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Alsek River image credit USGS GOV Alaska Science Center

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Benke, Arthur C.; Cushing, Colbert E. (2011). Rivers of North America. Academic Press. p. 771. Digital image Google Books. Rvd Dec 3 22. ISBN 978-0-08-045418-4.

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Physical Parameters, Drainage, and Precipitation

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Physical Parameters, Drainage, and Precipitation

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Physical parameters: The Alsek River watershed crosses two countries (Canada and the United States) and two Canadian provinces (Yukon and British Columbia). The watershed drains into the Pacific ocean after flowing from Yukon, Canada through South Central Alaska.

Alsek River mean discharge: 783 m³ s−1 (Shugar et al., 2017)

Alsek River high discharge: 1,470 m³ s−1 (Shugar et al., 2017)

Alsek River Basin area: 28,023 km² (Benke et al., 2011)

Current precipitation and projected changes in precipitation: According to Rivers of America by Benke et al., in 2011, a mean estimate of annual precipitation for the Alsek river area was 30.6 cm (Benke et al., 2011). However, this is likely far higher with the albedo effect on glaciers due to climate change over the last decade.

As a whole, there is little in terms of "just the facts by year" information online about the specifics of the Alsek watershed weather and river flow data available for student access. This is, after all, a large, remote area where access and mobility can become an issue for researchers to collect and publish this type of data during the colder months. Along the river, a popular data collection area appears to be where the river meets Dry Bay.

Here are some links to sites for data from Alsek River at Dry Bay:

-National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service, Alsek River at Dry Bay

-USGS Water Data for the Nation, ALSEK R AT DRY BAY NR YAKUTAT AK

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People reliant on the Alsek watershed system: From what we've read up to this point on this Padlet presentation, we can see that the people most dependent on the Alsek watershed are those who live and work in the area (indigenous peoples, fisheries, national park employees, tour guides, scientists, forestry service workers, eco services management teams, etc.), along with seasonal visitors and tourists - mainly those who fish for sport or recreation, along with hunters, hikers, mountain climbers, rafters and kayakers, etc.

How is water used in this system: Water is used both recreationally and to sustain life.

Threats to water security: As glacial melt continues due to climate change, rivers that funnel between and around glaciers risk piracy by other rivers. Rivers like the Alsek could move significantly in short periods of time, threatening full ecosystems which rely on their current location (Shugar et al., 2017).

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Over the centuries, much of the land encompassing the Alsek Watershed is historically indigenous. The Tatshenshini-Alsek Park was historically occupied by the Aishihik and Champagne Nations (Ministry of Environment, 2022). However, this traditional land use has changed over time such that currently, only Klukshu, Yukon is occupied by First Nations (Ministry of Environment, 2022).

Similarly, what is currently known as Glacier Bay National Park and Reserve, was once the homeland of the Huna Tlingit (U.S. Department of the Interior, 2022).

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Welcome to Xunaa Shuká Hít - Huna Ancestors' House

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Everyone is welcome to Xunaa Shuká Hít, the Huna Ancestors' House, a gathering place where tribal members, park visitors, and the National Park Service are inspired to learn about and preserve Tlingit history, culture, life ways, and traditions.

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Photo credit USGS Alaska Science Center, public domain, from: https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/alsek-river

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Land use across the Alsek Watershed includes a combination of very small-scale urban and residential areas like Dry Bay and Glacier Bay National Park where people live and work in the region, along with tourism, protected parks, and recreation. There are varying levels of access to this land in the form of roads and highways. Different levels of access are further available by foot, air, and water.

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Alsek Watershed System Connections, Nicole Burrow, student WSU Global

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Alsek Watershed Feedback Loops, Nicole Burrow, student WSU Global

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Alsek Watershed, Causal Loop, Nicole Burrow, student WSU Global

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Video: Time-lapse of Earth's glaciers over 48 years from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he5QzhE7_g4

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Time Lapse Video of Alaska's Glaciers, Including Alsek Glacier and Grand Plateau Glacier

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Time Lapse Video of Alaska's Glaciers, Including Alsek Glacier and Grand Plateau Glacier

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Time-lapse of Earth's glaciers over 48 years

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Alsek River Relocation due to Glacier Retreat, photo credit Loso et al., 2021, from: doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2021.107701

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Threats to the Alsek Watershed Ecosystem

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Threats to the Alsek Watershed Ecosystem

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Glacial Retreat: As climate change creates glacier melt, the albedo effect will cause the pockets and valleys that once guided the river flow to drop (Frostenson, 2017). As the glaciers melt, rivers begin to rapidly shift location and combine with other rivers, creating something called river piracy (Frostenson, 2017).

Alsek River Mouth Relocation: As the Alsek Glacier melts, the Alsek river has begun to shift (Loso et al., 2021). When glacial melt occurs, river mouths can shift rapidly, leaving a bare dust plain where a once thriving ecosystem was flourishing (Frostenson, 2017). The Alsek Glacier is not the only glacier at play in the Alsek river mouth relocation. The Grand Plateau Lake is currently held in place due to its own glacier, called the Grand Plateau Glacier (Loso et al., 2021). As the Grand Plateau Glacier begins to melt, the two lakes will merge, and when they do, the Alsek River mouth will move from its current outlet in Dry Bay to an area of the wilderness located within the boundaries of Glacier Bay National Park (Loso et al., 2021).  When these lakes merge, any recreation, livelihood, tourism, and sports fishing and rafting will end, as the new area of the river mouth would now be in a protected national park, with new rules and regulations for human use (Loso et al., 2021).

Glacial silt runoff: Another issue within this system is silt runoff from the Alsek Glacier. When the glacier does not have enough runoff into the river system, the silt is unable to accumulate, which would typically create a sun filter for the salmon to thrive, therefore, when there is less glacier melt, this protective layer of silt cannot flow and function properly (Tukker, 2016).

Loss of habitat, species, and economy: As the glaciers melt and the Alsek Lake and Grand Plateau Lake merge, the river mouth will move, leaving the current Dry Bay delta in drought. Any habitats and species that aren't able to move as the river moves and which thrived on the current location of this river outlet will likely be lost (Loso et al., 2021).

Pollution: Pollutants get trapped in glaciers, and as they melt and flow into the river system, they add pollutants to the water. Animals and humans are then exposed via the water to this pollution.

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Science Direct Alsek River Mouth Glacier Retreat

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Challenges for Alsek Adventure Tourism in the Face of Climate Change

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Challenges for Alsek Adventure Tourism in the Face of Climate Change

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Thankfully, scientific research is addressing the issue of glacier retreat and how it affects watersheds across the world. This article by Dr. John W. Colton is one of many which speak to the issues the Alsek watershed will face in the coming decades. Indeed, as glaciers around the area melt, river piracy will follow, meaning an end to adventure tourism in many areas which were once frequented and beloved by visitors (Colton, 2021).

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Water Resources, Water Availability, Access and Quality

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Water Resources, Water Availability, Access and Quality

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Water Resources: The Alsek Watershed offers an abundance of water resources to humans, wildlife, vegetation, forests, and marine life. The river, lake, creeks, and glaciers provide a variety of options for use.

Water Availability: The water in the Alsek Watershed is accessible when not frozen or too remote to venture to.

Quality: Based on an upper river study by the Government of Canada, Yukon territory, the water quality of the Alsek River was good between 2017 - 2019, with excellent being the next highest ranking (Government of Yukon, 2019). Further studies downriver near Dry Bay can be accessed here: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/15129120/#parameterCode=00400&period=P365D

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U.S. National Park Services Regional Map, public domain, from: https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/index.htm

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Land Management: The land located within the boundaries of the Alsek Watershed is mostly protected via national parks, reserves, or preserves. For example, Glacier Bay National Park and Kluane National Park have their own national park management teams. Between two countries, two provinces, and one state, there is much to keep track of and clean in terms of land management for this watershed.

In the United States, the National Park Services would take care of the land management aspects of Glacier Bay National Park (also known as Region 11) through their knowledgeable National Park Service employee team members (U.S. Department of the Interior, 2022).

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Food Security: The best way to protect food security in the Alsek Watershed region is to combat climate change in order to keep its ecosystems thriving. Anything less means a loss of marine and wildlife, which is a loss to those who hunt and fish in the region.

Alaska residents harvested approximately 46 million pounds of wild food sources in 2014 (Fall et al., 2018). In rural areas, 31.8% of these sources were from salmon (Fall et al., 2018). Though many of Alaska's residents are food secure, not all households can harvest, and since the state is remote it must still have much of its main food supplies driven, flown, or shipped in (Fall et al., 2018).

For more information about Alaskan harvesting and food security, read this study by the Alaska Food and Game Department's Division of Subsistence: https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static-f/home/subsistence/pdfs/food_security_whitepaper.pdf

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Alsek river salmon fishing photo credit Fish Alaska Magazine

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Bear walking along the Alsek River in the Kluane National Park area, public domain, from https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/yt/kluane

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The best solution to keep the Alsek Watershed thriving is to combat climate change in order to keep the ecosystems within the watershed boundaries strong. If this fails, especially due to glacial melt, then food security will diminish, ecosystems will crumble, and the watershed will ultimately cease to function efficiently.

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Alaska Channel. (n.d.). Alsek River. ALASKA.ORG. Retrieved December 3, 2022, from https://www.alaska.org/detail/alsek-river

Benke, Arthur C.; Cushing, Colbert E. (2011). Rivers of North America. Academic Press. p. 771. Digital image from Google Books. Retrieved December 3rd, 2022. ISBN 978-0-08-045418-4.

Colton, J. W. (2021, July 9). Climate Change and Impacts to Adventure Tourism on the Tatshenshini-Alsek River. Scholarworks UMass Edu. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1012&context=ttracanada_2021_conference

Fall, J. A., & Kostick, M. L. (2018, July). Food security and wild resource harvests in Alaska. Division of Subsistence. Retrieved December 3, 2022, from https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/home/subsistence/pdfs/food_security_whitepaper.pdf

Frostenson, S. (2017, April 24). In 4 days, a river that had flowed for millennia disappeared. Vox. Retrieved December 5, 2022, from https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/4/24/15379046/4-days-river-millennia-disappeared

Government of Canada. (2022, November 27). Kluane National Park and Reserve. Parks Canada Agency. Retrieved December 2, 2022, from https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/yt/kluane

Government of Yukon. (2019). Water Quality of the Alsek River. Yukon. Retrieved December 1, 2022, from https://yukon.ca/sites/yukon.ca/files/env/env-water-quality-alsek-river.pdf

Loso, M. G., Larsen, C. F., Tober, B. S., Christoffersen, M., Fahnestock, M., Holt, J. W., & Truffer, M. (2021). Quo Vadis, Alsek? climate-driven glacier retreat may change the course of a major river outlet in southern Alaska. Geomorphology, 384, 107701. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2021.107701

Ministry of Environment. (2022). Tatshenshini-Alsek Park. BC Parks. Retrieved December 1, 2022, from https://bcparks.ca/explore/parkpgs/tatshens/nat_cul.html

Shugar, D. H., Clague, J. J., Best, J. L., Schoof, C., Willis, M. J., Copland, L., & Roe, G. H. (2017, April 17). River piracy and drainage basin reorganization led by climate-driven glacier retreat. Nature News. Retrieved December 3, 2022, from https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo2932

Tukker, P. (2016, June 17). Retreating yukon glacier makes river disappear | CBC News. CBC News. Retrieved November 17, 2022, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/slims-river-dries-yukon-kluane-glacier-1.3639472

U.S. Department of the Interior. (2022, March 24). Dry bay: Glacier bay national preserve (U.S. National Park Service). National Parks Service. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://www.nps.gov/places/glacier-bay-national-preserve.htm

U.S. Department of the Interior. (2015, April 14). Forests. National Parks Service. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://www.nps.gov/glba/learn/nature/forests.htm

U.S. Department of the Interior. (2022, April 6). Glacier Bay as Homeland. National Parks Service. Retrieved December 5, 2022, from https://www.nps.gov/glba/learn/historyculture/glacier-bay-as-homeland.htm

U.S. Department of the Interior. (2017, December 4). Sport fishing. National Parks Service. Retrieved November 29, 2022, from https://www.nps.gov/glba/planyourvisit/sport-fishing.htm

U.S. Department of the Interior. (2022, August 19). What we do (U.S. National Park Service). National Parks Service. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/index.htm

USGS Alaska Science Center. (2017, December 7). Alsek River. Alsek River | U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved December 3, 2022, from https://www.usgs.gov/centers/alaska-science-center/science/alsek-river