Preparations

Working on the north slope of Alaska is a challenging undertaking. We are just finishing up a week of preparations in Anchorage and getting ready to head out for a month of field work in the wilderness. This trip to the Teshekpuk Lake area of the National Petroleum Reserve will be the first time a thorough survey has ever been conducted of this important shorebird breeding area. But before we begin our work, we must prepare carefully, so that our crew of 10 people has everything they need to survive in the field, and all the gear necessary to complete our survey work.

This week three of us worked alongside one of the Fish and Wildlife Service staffpeople to get the food and gear ready. It's hard work, and we filled many long days trekking back and forth across Anchorage taking loads of supplies to the warehouse. Buying all the groceries also requires careful planning. We spent $2500 for 18 days on the ground for a hungry crew of 10. That's about 7 very full large shopping carts, including 25 lbs of peanut butter, 40 lbs of trail mix, 10 lbs of various kinds of chocolate, 7.5 lbs of coffee, and 27 boxes of instant oatmeal. Dinners are mostly "kits" - noodles, rice, stuffing and so forth, to which we'll add canned chicken or turkey, or envelopes of tuna or salmon. We eat well, but we do crave fresh food after the first few days. We also sorted and tested all the camping gear, because once you're on the tundra you have what you brought, and everything has to work!

The gear preparations ended with a marathon packing and loading session. We loaded up five pallets with stacks of containers six feet high, and wrapped them in plastic for the journey. Because the loading dock was too high for the truck, we all heaved mightily to get the loaded pallets onto the truck's hoist, and breathed a mighty sigh when they were all safely aboard.

Tomorrow we rise at 4:00 AM to leave for the airport, and will be on the North Slope by 9AM. From there we will coordinate loading gear, and it will take four flights on a chartered plane to get all the people and gear to our field site. Two days of hastily setting up camp, training the crew, and then we will be off to survey the tundra for shorebirds and test them for avian influenza.

Our next posting will be relayed back from the tundra by satellite phone in about a week. Stay tuned for updates on our adventure.