Module III - The Landscapes of Life,

Essential Question: How are landscapes formed and how, in turn, are cultures shaped by their landscapes?

Introduction - The Landscapes of Life
We all live on a landscape that was and is shaped by geologic forces--fast or slow, enormous or minuscule. Scattered across Earth’s varied landscapes, we all tread upon a natural history that is varied and fascinating if we take time to explore some of its secrets - secrets about how and when the landscape took form and the forces that continually shape its contours.

For economic reasons, landscapes are called upon to sustain the lives of the people living there. And for ecological reasons, every landscape is connected to its human economy, its culture.

Consider the village of Koyukuk along the Yukon River. Among other important purposes, residents use the river for transportation, whether frozen or flowing, though freeze and break-up seasons may limit its use.

Or consider Fairbanks along the Chena River. Mountains many miles away were/are weathered and eroded, their sediments transported, sorted and deposited over eons, providing rich mineral resources for the dredge mining economy in Fairbanks.

The list goes on and on for every place where people live. From fish, timber and tourism in Southeast, to the precious metals and fossil fuels found further north, Alaska landscapes provide much more than human transportation corridors or material commodities.

The living systems (biomes) – tundra, ocean, alpine, wetlands, forests -- also provide biological resources that have sustained human societies for many thousands of years. And not surprisingly, cultures thrive where there are ample resources to sustain them.

Each year salmon return to the myriad rivers that drain and erode Alaska’s great watersheds. Swarming herds of caribou migrate across vast arctic plains. Pods of bowhead whales follow ice leads as they migrate to northern feeding grounds each spring.

These biological systems are vitally connected to their physical landscapes and to the people who are sustained by them. While recognizing the vital role of related biological systems, for this module we will focus primarily on the relationships between physical landscapes and the cultures that inhabit them.