WKU Scientist Assists U.S.
Forest Service In Alaska Projects

November 13, 2003

Bowling Green, Ky. - Dr. Chris Groves, director of Western Kentucky University's Hoffman Environmental Research Institute, will travel to Alaska's Tongass National Forest next week to address about 40 U.S. Forest Service hydrologists and fisheries managers about protecting karst water resources in southeastern Alaska.

The deep and extensive cave systems of the remote national forest, located primarily on remote islands off Alaska's Pacific coast, are a key element of the region's hydrology and ecology. Many contain important archeological and fossil remains that may record the first passage of humans into North America, and the large springs emerging from them, also provide the region's most productive salmon spawning rivers.

Dr. Groves has been asked to attend the conference to help the federal managers better understand karst hydrology in general, and how these concepts relate to protecting the ecology of Tongass, America's largest national forest at 19 million acres.

"Chris' visit will enhance the collaboration in karst research and education that continues to develop between the Forest Service and Western Kentucky University," said Forest Service Hydrologist Katherine Prussian. "We appreciate the experience in karst and hydrology that the University's faculty and geoscience students bring to our efforts to protect these resources."

After the conference in Ketchikan, Dr. Groves and Forest Service scientists will travel by floatplane to remote Prince of Wales Island, where they will continue a program of water sampling and analysis designed to understand geochemical interactions between the region's naturally acidic waters and limestone of the cave systems that influence the productivity of salmon spawning areas.

They will sample water along the underground river in Beaver Falls Cave for full chemical analyses, at locations determined during preliminary reconnaissance sampling during an expedition to the cave earlier this year.

Dr. David Keeling, head of the Geography and Geology Department, noted that "Dr. Groves' research on karst water resources is an excellent example of how the department's faculty and students are addressing issues that influence the quality of life of communities and individuals both locally and internationally."

Research relationships such as this, according to Dr. Keeling, are "an important component of building Western's reputation as one of the finest comprehensive institutions in the nation."

For more information, contact Chris Groves at (270) 745-5974. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via E-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

-WKU-