Measuring Muskeg Puddle Depth

From looking at the surface, it’s hard to know how far you might sink down into the slurry of decaying organic matter that makes up the bottom of muskeg puddles if you had the adventure of falling in. Though I am sure it varies from puddle to puddle, earlier this year Connor took advantage of … Read more

Hairy Butterwort (Pinguicula villosa)

Hairy Butterwort (Pinguicula villosa) is a small plant found on relatively dry hummocks in muskegs. Easy to overlook because of its size, this plant, with its delicate purple flower, is worth the effort to find and take a closer look at. Like its larger and more common relative Common Butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris), this species is … Read more

Winter Weather

I had heard this year was going to be an El Nino year, which seems to correspond to relatively mild winters in Sitka, so it was interesting to see winter season getting started relatively early this year, with snow beginning to fall last week. In fact, there is an El Nino developing in equatorial Pacific … Read more