A new project at the Sitka Sound Science Center will closely monitor berry plants throughout the seasons, to help harvesters plan for the future.
Lisa Sadleir-Hart has filled her freezer with berries from her backyard in Sitka for more than 25 years. But this year, that freezer will be emptier. She said her bushes developed differently as spring turned to summer.
In Southeast Alaska, and across the state, climate change is bringing more rainfall, less winter snowfall and hotter temperatures. According to the project’s lead researcher Alex McCarrel, those changes disrupt berry development because a berry plant’s life cycle is precisely tuned to its environment. “When the leaves are budding out, or when the flowers are going to be blooming,” McCarrel said. “When can we expect the berries to ripen? Or when is that best week you want to be picking berries.
Each camera is placed next to a monitoring device that records precipitation, humidity and soil temperatures across a variety of microclimates in Sitka. McCarrel can pair that climate data with the photographs at the end of each summer to see how changes in the environmental conditions shape berry development.
That data is especially valuable for protecting food security. Sadleir-Hart, an educator for the Sitka Local Food Network, said that many rural Alaskan households rely on wild berry harvests.
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