Mapping Observations of Changing Ice Conditions

Background:

Maps have special power to both visualize data, and serve as a starting point for telling a story. It is no surprise that many novels have maps on the first page. They are very valuable in science as well. For example, the map below visualizes the changes in bedfast ice and floating ice through time for lakes on Alaska's Seward Peninsula.

Maps can also be used to show people’s personal observations of the changing environment. They serve as a jumping off point for people to share their own stories of their relationship with the land and their ecological knowledge. The photos below show notes made on a map after interviewing elders about environmental changes they have observed and how their use of the land and rivers (including winter ice travel) has changed through time.

Activity Instructions:

1. Read the background information above.

2. On a piece of paper, draw a map of a freshwater body (lake, river, slough, pond, etc.) you know really well and have observed over a period of time.

3. On the map, draw the changes that you have observed in or around that freshwater body. You can represent these in any way you want. Use arrows to label the changes you drew on your map with a few sentences so someone else would be able to understand it. Include as many changes as you can think of, but not so many that other people won’t be able to read your map. Besure to include changes you have observed in the winter season.

4. Be as creative or as simple as you want. Don’t spend more than 15 minutes on the map. It doesn’t need to be professional quality!

5. Share your map with 2 or three people in a small group. Did any patterns or trends emerge across the changes observed in differenet places?