As the climate changes so does the Alaskan landscape. During this summer of record heat Dr. Roman Dial hiked and packrafted from the Dalton Highway, aka “The Haul Road,” to Canada studying vegetative changes near and at treeline. Roman had a group of APU and Princeton students along to help out and learn along the way. Each week during their five week outing they called in via Satellite phone to share their experiences with Outdoor Explorer. Hiking the Brooks Range is a series of interviews starting before the trip, then three field interviews with the group. Tune in to learn what a research trip in the Brooks Range is like.
Julia Ditto and Ben Weissenbach count seedlings at an alpine treeline. Photo: Roman Dial. 
Russell Wong descending into the Sheenjek Valley by Double Mountain. Photo: Roman Dial. 
Russell Wong packrafting on the Junjik River. Photo: Roman Dial. 
Julia Ditto paints an orchid while Duncan Wright plays the ukulele during a break along the East Fork of the Chandalar River. Photo: Roman Dial. 
“Your Creek” painting by Julia Ditto.
HOST: Paul Twardock
GUESTS:
LINKS:
BROADCAST: Thursday, September 5th, 2019. 2:00 pm – 3:00 p.m. AKT
REPEAT BROADCAST: Thursday, September 5th, 2019. 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. AKT
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Eric Bork, or you can just call him “Bork” because everybody else does, is the FM Operations Manager for KSKA-FM. He oversees the day-to-day operations of the FM broadcast. He produces and edits episodes of Outdoor Explorer, the Alaska-focused outdoors program. He also maintains the web posts for that show. You may have heard him filling in for Morning Edition or hosting All Things Considered and can still find him operating the soundboard for any of the live broadcast programs.
After escaping the Detroit area when he was 18, Bork made it up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where he earned a degree in Communications/Radio Broadcasting from Northern Michigan University. He spent time managing the college radio station, working for the local NPR affiliate, and then in top 40 radio in Michigan before coming to Alaska to work his first few summers. After then moving to Chicago, it only took five years to convince him to move back to Alaska in 2010. When not involved in great radio programming he’s probably riding a bicycle, thinking about riding bicycles, dreaming about bikes, reading a book, or planning the next place he’ll travel to. Only two continents left to conquer!
