Week III Landscapes

Module III...part I & II
I was born and raised in the mountain west. I spent much of my free time in the very mountainous country north of the small town where I was raised. After using Google Earth to do some "exploring", I now realize that those mountains were even more steep and rugged than I remember. I was astonished as to the amount of mountains that I had never heard of, let alone been anywhere close to. There are also many more watersheds that I remember. To the east and west of the community is high plateau, rolling hill/desert type terrain. My biggest surprise from GE was the terrain to the south of town...I thought it was just a flat, "desert" landscape and now know that it is every bit as rough and rugged, though not as high in elevation, as the area to the north. Looking at the surrounding areas of my home town helped me to realize why a settlement started there back in the late 1800's. Not only is it a valley, nestled in a mountainous area, but the largest river in the area flows nearly through the middle of town. Being a relatively dry environment, early settlers would have found more game near the river and had the water resource, along with large relatively flat floodplain areas, which would ease the growing of crops.
It is interesting also to note that 280 miles to the south(the GE ruler is handy), in the Grand Canyon, the geologic time layers are the same but "upside down". In the Grand Canyon the farther down you go from the top, the older the layers...law of superposition. My home town it is just the opposite. The higher you go up the mountains the older the rock layers. A great folding took place there millions of years ago, literally turning over the mountains from "uplift" and the result today is the turnover of the rock layers. The rock layer in my home town is the same layer you find on the rim of the Grand Canyon and at the top my home town mountains, at about nine thousand feet, is the same layer found in the bottom of the Grand Canyon! Very interesting to a Geologist!
We are fortunate today to have GPS, Google Earth and LandSat, etc., to give us the information on a chosen scale that was not available to us just a few decades ago. These technologies allow us to know where we are, what it looks like and using Google Earth, allows us to explore virtually anywhere we want on earth from a computer screen. I am excited for next years Geology with lessons that will enable my students to become intimately associated with Google Earth on both a local and global scale! I begin my course with map reading and what a fantastic way to learn latitude and longitude...select "view", then "grid" on GE(for those who may not know already) and the lat/long grids are now on the globe...really cool!

I chose to explore Hoonah, as the southeast is an area I have yet to physically visit. The community is nestled among mountains and is right on the side of a bay. The mountains between Hoonah and the Pacific Ocean provide a "break" from the vast storms that come off of the Gulf of Alaska. There would be plentiful berries, fish, crustaceans, deer and bear as food and clothing resources locally which would benefit indigenous people. Early people here would have relied heavily on boating for travel and food gathering. GE assisted me in becoming familiar with an area that I had only heard of. What a wonderful tool to use while teaching about the early inhabitants of Alaska and particularly Alaska as it is such a huge area!
Module III, part III
Living on the Kenai Peninsula and being fortunate to teach Geology I now see what I have been missing by not using GE in my lessons. We live on the edge of the Pacific subducting plate and thus the folded/uplifted Kenai mountains to the southeast and the "line" of volcanoes on the northwest. I find particular interest in the ability on GE to show what is going on right under our feet! Among the many lessons I found on TD were "1964 Alaska Earthquake" and "Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot!"...these are geared to high school level and very well designed. The visual aids, rather than my verbal aids, will be much more effective as I describe why our local geology is the way it is today.
Module III, partIV
In Alaska, I believe that most cultural connections to physical landscapes are those of fishing. I am sure that hunting plays a key role also, but water systems and salmon cycles seem to be the main connection with the people and where the communities are located. Elders instruct and edify their stories and history today as it was done for their generation. I found it interesting how the "school teachers" in Chevak were taught the same traditions and customs by the native elders that the elders would pass on to their native progeny. Non-native teachers are brought into the bush schools to educate mostly native students and native ways were important enough to the native people that they would educate non-native "new teachers" about thier ways. I am sure with the intent of having the "new teachers" realize that native ways were as important, if not more, than western ways. I know living in an urbanized area here on the Kenai, young people do not have the respect for the land and it's resources that youth who are raised in the "bush" have. We just go to the local supermarket and buy what we need for the most part...very little is taken naturally and for the most part, I know our youth have little respect and "understanding of nature" that students living mostly off of the land would present!