Cold War Origins of Long-Term Ecological Research in Alaska

Abstract

This chapter examines the history of ecology in Alaska leading up to the creation of two Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) projects in Alaska in 1987, the Arctic LTER at Toolik Lake, and the Bonanza Creek LTER in Alaska’s interior boreal forest. Starting with the founding of the Navy’s Arctic Research Laboratory at Point Barrow, Alaska, in 1947, the chapter explores how Cold War imperatives, as well as programs such as the International Biological Program (IBP), and concerns about the environmental impact of energy development, all helped to support basic and applied ecological research in the Arctic. The evolving multidisciplinary research program at Barrow embraced human ecology, as well as physiological ecology, population ecology, and ecosystem ecology. When the Alaskan projects were added to the LTER network in 1987, many of the ecologists involved had substantial experience at Barrow, both in connection with the IBP and with research that preceded the IBP. Using a long-term historical perspective demonstrates how LTER projects built upon a solid foundation of earlier ecological work. I examine in particular the place and role of human ecology in such enterprises.