June 4, 2024, by Zofia Danielson

Spring in Southeast Alaska:

Snow melting from mountain slopes, herring in Sitka Sound, sprouting yellow skunk cabbage in forest pools, and plants beginning to bud…

Along with bright berry blossoms across Sitka’s road system, trail cameras have also sprouted near several berry bushes across town. The third year of SSSC’s berry monitoring project is underway. In April, SSSC Research Coordinator, Zofia Danielson, and USFS Biologist, Kathryn Baer, deployed 11 trail cameras across Sitka’s berry patches.

Berry camera installation with Kathryn Baer, USFS. 

Over the year, these cameras will track phenological phases—leaf budding, blooming, fruiting, and leaf die-off. This year, the Science Center research team plans to install temperature and light loggers to track differences in berry patch microclimates across Sitka.

Sitka High School Intern, Felix Myers, checks on camera settings during 2024 camera installation at the Sitka Sound Science Center. Berry camera images are captured during the day and night.

The research team also plans to use a refractometer to explore sugar content in salmonberries and blueberries this summer. This device, commonly used by juice manufacturers and viticulturists, measures the amount of light passing through a liquid sample to determine the amount of a material in a solution.

This project grew from regional concerns about the impacts of climate change on wild berries, which are important to food security and culture in Southeast Alaska. Though berries are an integral part of Southeast Alaskans’ lives, there is little data about berry health and phenophases available. The Science Center is taking part in conversations in the community to determine future directions for this project.

“Monitoring and experimental studies are needed to determine how environmental change may affect wild berry abundance…”

(Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Climate Change Adaptation Plan, 2019)

Stay tuned this summer for more information about community harvest survey participation!

For more information about this project, contact SSSC Research Coordinator Zofia Danielson: zdanielson@sitkascience.org