Quantify changing environmental conditions to inform decisions about allowed means of winter access to subsistence resources

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Snow and ice conditions strongly influence winter access to subsistence resources in WRST. Only two roads enter the park, and the Copper River separates many of the park¿s resident zone communities from park lands. Several other rivers cross the park, further creating significant barriers to access. In years past, trappers were able to cross frozen rivers in winter to access park lands; however this is reportedly becoming more difficult. Environmental changes ¿ specifically rivers freezing later (or not at all), thawing earlier, and with unpredictable and unstable ice persisting throughout winter ¿ are perceived by some as a significant threat to subsistence access and thereby subsistence opportunity, which has implications for subsistence management. To inform management decisions about allowed means of winter subsistence access as well as to foster safer and more predictable winter access, this project will quantify temporal and spatial patterns of river freeze-up, winter ice conditions, and break-up (building on previous research conducted in the Yukon River basin) using remote sensing data, and evaluate the implications of changing environmental conditions for temporal and spatial patterns of winter subsistence access in the park.

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