M. Syndonia Bret-Harte Institute of Arctic Biology University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK 99775 ffmsb@uaf.edu
John E. Hobbie Ecosystems Center Marine Biological Laboratory Woods Hole, MA 02543 jhobbie@mbl.edu
We propose to locate the NEON Core Wildland Site for the Tundra Domain (domain 18) at Toolik Lake, Alaska (68° 38’ N, 149° 36’ W, elevation 720 m; see shapefile), in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range, in arctic Alaska. This location allows researchers access to three major physiographic provinces of the Tundra Domain: the Brooks Range (73,600 km2), the arctic foothills (62,400 km2), and the arctic coastal plain (71,000 km2). The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) established the Toolik Lake Research Natural Area (RNA), comprising 77,447 acres, where scientific research is acknowledged as the primary land use. The Toolik Lake RNA and adjacent lands have been a major site for research in the North American Arctic since 1975. Much of what is known about the structure and function of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems of the Arctic and the effects of climate change and feedbacks to global climate comes from the long-term, process-based, ecological research projects in the Toolik Lake RNA, including the Arctic Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program. Research based at Toolik Lake has also resulted in a showcase of discoveries on the adaptations of organisms to the Arctic and population-level changes in animal and plant phenologies and distributions.
The vegetation within the Toolik Lake RNA is characteristic of much of the Tundra domain, with ecosystems representative of the foothills, mountains, and coastal plain. The Toolik Lake RNA also contains adjacent landscapes of three different glacial ages, providing a diversity of soils characteristic of the Tundra domain within close proximity. The Toolik Lake RNA includes the headwaters of several low-order and well-studied streams (the Kuparuk River and the inlet stream for Toolik Lake), as well as a large number of lakes of different sizes, supporting different trophic structures. No other wildland site in the Alaskan Arctic offers such easy access to so many types of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
The University of Alaska’s Toolik Field Station (TFS) is located within the Toolik Lake RNA, and provides year-round infrastructure and logistic support for research, including laboratory space, housing, meal service, electrical power, water, heat, communications (telephones, T1 and wireless internet access, satellite phones and radios), shipping, receiving and storage, and waste disposal (including HAZMAT disposal). TFS also provides a wide range of scientific support services for research, including local transportation, carpentry and electrical support for building scientific equipment, scheduling and maintenance of general-use scientific instruments, GIS services, and collection of baseline environmental data of interest to the entire community. TFS will be the flagship terrestrial site for the US Arctic Observatory Network (AON) to be established as the US contribution to the International Polar Year (IPY), and will be closely linked to other arctic observatories in Russia, Sweden, Greenland, and Canada, in a coordinated network using common data management and collection protocols. TFS is accessible by road from Fairbanks or Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. There are no other field stations in northern Alaska along the road network.
The Toolik Lake RNA is a wildland site. Aside from TFS, there is no development near the Toolik RNA except the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline (TAPS), located west of the Toolik RNA, the Dalton Highway (which provides access) and TAPS Pump Station 4, located just south of the Toolik RNA. The nearest village, Anaktuvuk Pass (an Alaska native community), is located approximately 90 miles to the west, and is accessible only by air. The nearest developed areas accessible by road are mining settlements on the south slope of the Brooks Range and the industrial development at Prudhoe Bay to the north. It is very unlikely that the area around the Toolik RNA will be urbanized in the next 30-50 years.