The Great Alaska Adventure! by Jeff Corwin

Author:Jeff Corwin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group

Real scientists might not be reading their work quite yet. But the kids would be visiting with real scientists on the next part of their trip. Before they explored Glacier Bay National Park, Mrs. Baxter needed to check in with her student, Hope, who was studying wolves in the park. After Mrs. Baxter had confirmed that they’d all be safe, she’d invited the whole family to join her.

Will decided to come along, too. “I’ve known your parents since their very first classes in grad school,” he said. “Back then, we didn’t know they’d become such experts in their fields.” Will winked at Mr. Baxter and said, “At times, it seemed like your dad might only become an expert on eating pizza and watching football on TV!”

Part of Benjamin wanted to hear more stories about his parents before they had kids, but Will had already moved on to telling them about the park. They followed him out of the Glacier Bay Lodge, where they’d left their belongings in a small cabin, and headed toward a dock. Mrs. Baxter’s student would be meeting them with a boat to take them out to her research station.

“Here’s what you need to know,” Will said. “Two hundred years ago, this park was covered by a glacier. Since then, the glacier has retreated nearly sixty-five miles, exposing open water and earth where nothing had grown for thousands of years. The environment here is changing every day.”

“But it’s not climate change, exactly, is it?” Lucy asked, looking at her brother.

“Climate change may change the way it happens here,” Will explained. “But, no, this movement is part of the natural life of glaciers.”

Mr. Baxter took it from there. “One way to think of it is that glaciers wipe the earth’s slate clean. Nothing grows when the earth is covered in ice; but as the ice moves, plants crop up first, then animals begin to move in.”

Mrs. Baxter pointed to a forested area near the water. “Here, where the glacier has been gone for many years, you can see mature trees. As you travel farther inland, the trees are smaller and younger, until you get to an area where the glacier has permanently melted or moved out and new growth is beginning.”

“So where do the wolves come in?” Benjamin asked.

His mom made it all sound so simple. “As the new forests grow, animals see new habitats and new places to feed. The smaller ones come first, and the larger ones follow. The first moose were spotted in the park the year I was born. Now the park is full of other large animals, too, like brown bears and wolves—the natural predators of moose. Hope and her team are trying to identify the number of wolves.”

“And what have they found?” Benjamin asked eagerly.

“Let’s go and see!” his mom said with a smile, waving to a young woman in a boat. “There’s Hope now.”

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