Wrangell - St. Elias Research Summit
An interdisciplinary gathering of researchers interested in the landscape and natural history of the Wrangell - St. Elias region
2009 Wrangell - St. Elias Research Summit
July 6-7, 2009
McCarthy Alaska
Hosted by
with support from
the National Park Service and
the Murie Science and Learning Center
Wrangell Mountains Center held the first Wrangell - St. Elias Research Summit this past summer. The Summit brought together academic researchers, NPS resource managers, students, and agency scientists conducting work in and around Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. The entire summit was free and open to the public, and featured numerous sessions appropriate for interested educators, guides, residents, and visitors.
Why?
The Wrangell - St. Elias region is an incredible place, vast in scale and known by few. Those of us fortunate enough to know this place sometimes feel like lucky members of a special club. But we’re a club without a clubhouse. There have traditionally been few opportunities for researchers in this region to share their findings and questions with each other, with regional land managers, or with the public. This Summit is a first stab at changing that. Informal in structure, small in scale, and interdisciplinary in format, the Summit aimed to foster connections within and among disciplines.
Where?
McCarthy is a remote, glacier-side village in the center of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. Most of you already know its small pace and informal atmosphere. Many activities, including group discussions and communal meals, occurred at the Old Hardware Store, a historic mining-era building now serving as the rustic headquarters for the Wrangell Mountains Center, a private non-profit institute founded in 1980. Additional activities, including public presentations, were at the historic Kennicott Recreation Hall. Housing options, at the participants’ discretion, included camping, commercial full-service lodges, and hostel-style accommodations.
Link to more information about McCarthy/Kennicott area.
Registration and more information
The Summit is done for the year. We had a great time. Watch the Wrangell Mountains Center webpage for followup content, to be posted in the fall.
For more information, contact either Summit convener Michael Loso (907.564.8263 in Anchorage, 907.554.4485 in Kennicott) or Wrangell Mountains Center Executive Director Jeremy Pataky (907.554.4464).
