Natural history of Goatlandia
Jánwu of Áak’w Aaní On Feb 6, 2026, I gave a talk in the Fireside series at Glacier Visitor Center.…
2026 | Richard Carstensen | 30 minute slideshow
Alpine & subalpine habitats
Subalpine herbs wilt and turn yellow in late September. Granite Basin in Dzantik’i Héeni watershed.
- Above the coastal forest dominated by western hemlock, a sequence of elevational zones includes:
- small-tree subalpine forest;
- subalpine parkland; and
- alpine tundra.
Wildlife values change accordingly.
Forest limit is the upper limit of closed subalpine forest. Conifers above this are just scattered clumps of stunted elfinwood. Highest of these dwarf conifers at tree limit may reach 3,500 to 4,000 ft on some mountains.
Here’s a diagram of elevational belts on typical Southeast mountainside. Communities also respond to topography; transitions are lower in valleys and higher on convex slopes.
My best effort so far to summarize mountain habitats is this ‘zones’ chapter from Summit to sea.
In this section
Rut is on
Mountain goats are courting, and it gets kinda rough Since starting the Goatlandia project in 2020, we haven’t seen snow…
Highlander report, 1983
For Rita O’Clair’s Alpine Ecology class, UAJ In the predigital dark ages, before University of Alaska Juneau became UAS, I…
1983 update 2024 | Richard Carstensen | 24 pages
Mountain zones
Chapter in Summit to sea Preparing for the Goatlandia class coming up, June, 2023, seems high time I got this…
2023 | Richard Carstensen | 12 pages
Cusp of summer and fall
Insights from tele-views of Jánwu What an amazing place we live in! From afar, scoping in valley bottom, or up…
2021 | Richard Carstensen | 7 minute slideshow
Whistlers on the mountains
Hoary marmots by Armstrong & Hermans In 2006, inspired by the amazing photo library Bob Armstrong had been accumulating, mostly…
2006 | Bob Armstrong & Marge Hermans | 33 pages
Chilkat journal, 20190706-08
A first visit with LCC In July, 2019, Jessica Plachta, director of Lynn Canal Conservation, offered to host my family…
2019 | Richard Carstensen | 61 pages
Mid-May on Shaa Tlaax
Goats, geology & zonation on Shaa Tlaax, moldy top (Mt Juneau) Video-journal of the flora, fauna, and geomorphology that hikers…
2019 | Richard Carstensen | 4 minutes
Skiing at Spaulding Meadows
Skiing at Spaulding Meadows, above Auke Bay. spaulding from Discovery Southeast JuneauNature on Vimeo.
2017 | Richard Carstensen |
Eaglecrest aerials
In September, as deer cabbage turned gold, I flew some of the new trails on ridges above the lifts. eaglecrestaerials…
2017 | Richard Carstensen | 2 minutes
September in Granite Basin
Vignettes from an evening visit to Granite Basin, just a couple hours above downtown Juneau. Thoughts on the connections between…
2017 | Richard Carstensen | 2.5 minutes
Southeast glaciers from IfSAR, ArcGIS Online
On receipt of the new DSM (digital surface model) from IfSAR missions at 5-meter pixel resolution, it became possible to…
2018 | Richard Carstensen | 1 page
Héen Latinee high country
Excerpt from a lengthy scoping document on Héen Latinee Experimental Forest, at the northern edge of Áak’w Aaní. Geography, geology,…
2010 | Richard Carstensen | 11 Pages
2006 winter newsletter. Sitka deer: Thoughts and field notes
Excerpts from 25 years of journals Feature on Sitka black-tailed deer: habitat relations, stotting, mountaintop bachelor gangs, differential wariness of…
Winter 2006 | Richard Carstensen | 12 pages