Nine acres torched in Yellowthroat Carr
A carr is a scrub wetland with woody-stemmed dominants—a term we hear more often in Britain and the eastern US but which’d be nice to establish here, where we have so many of them. In Lingít Aaní it’s typically dominated by willows and scrub alder. Structurally, it’s tempting to include Ledum (bog tea) and the lowbush blueberries, but formal definitions for carr are usually in the range of 1 to 3 meters tall. Shorter plants are lumped with herbaceous species even if they aren’t. In 2026, When mapping vegetation of flood-exposed parts of Áak’w Táak, (Mendenhall Valley) for SAWC (Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition) I introduced carr as one of 3 wetland types in the sprawling undeveloped flats west of the River. Bigger stuff is forested wetland—soggy small-hemlock woodland for example—and smaller stuff is fen.
Since 2014, SEALT (Southeast Alaska Land Trust) has owned 128 acres of this wetland mosaic, Currently named Montana Creek Wetlands, I’ve recommended a less colonial name, Yellowthroat Carr, after a characteristic warbler of the fen-carr transition. In early May, 2023, somebody’s bonfire escaped here and burned 9 acres before TEMSCO and CCFR contained it with aerial waterbags.
Three years later, on the 5th annual SEALT-Discovery exploration we call Wander the Wetlands, our bushwacking team revisited this burn. we only had time to investigate one corner, but could find zero evidence that a fire had occurred here. Dan and I told folks about this report, and he agreed it would be okay to load it to JuneauNature, so others outside of the Land Trust could learn learn about this unusual disturbance type.
dcover of my 2023 report to the Land Trust
In my nearly 5 decades here, I’ve only experienced a handful of meadow fires. All were in early May. Here’s my report on the last one, at Asx‘ée, twisted tree (Eagle River delta)
