Baird Glacier Exploration
Rediscovering New Lands in Southeast Alaska Rebecca at the Baird glacier lake The retreating glaciers of Alaska are leaving behind a moonscape land of boulders, silt, and minerals that have been scraped off the sides of the valleys or scoured from the valley floor. This jumble of dirt, rocks, and silt is left behind once the glacier starts its retreat and is called the terminal moraine. The constant melting of the glacier can build up a lake between itself and the moraine which is what you see in famous inland glaciers like Mendenhall outside of Juneau. The terminal moraine provides a wonderful science experiment in plant succession. Recently uncovered land lies bare until the crypto-biotic soil provides enough nutrients for the pioneering nitrogen fixers to gain hold. Shrubby alder trees come in next and pave the way for bigger trees like spruce, hemlock, and cedar to follow. The whole process reminds me of Hawaii’s lava fields, new land which...