This summer (2019) the North Pacific Stepping Stones (NPSS) team from Western Washington University (WWU) will be investigating the flora of the central Aleutian Islands. This year, the team consists of scientists and volunteers, ranging from those that did their graduate work in the Aleutians decades ago to those who have just graduate from Western with a bachelors degree. Half of the team is departing Bellingham, WA today and the remainder will join them in Adak in a few days.

Eric DeChaine is a Professor of Biology at WWU and the Curator of the Pacific Northwest Herbarium (WWB). He is the PI on the National Park Service Shared Beringian Heritage Program NPSS Project. DeChaine is a naturalist interested in the evolution and biogeography of arctic-alpine plants and fungi. He studies the effects of historic and future climates on the distribution and diversity of these organisms with the goal of identifying processes underlying speciation and endemism around the North Pacific Rim.

Mike Williams is a botanist with expertise in western North America. In the late 1970’s while working towards a graduate degree for  Univ. Tennessee, he examined the potential of native dune grass (Leymus mollis) for revegetation plantings in the central Aleutian Islands.  Mike’s other interests are ethnobotany and systematics of the Berberidaceae. He lives in Bellingham, WA and is a lecturer and research affiliate with the Biology Dept. at WWU. He has never lost his love of the Aleutian Islands and is looking forward to his return there.

Thomas Ruszkowski, a.k.a. Hawkeye, is a Geographic Information System Anaylist III at the State of Alaska Division of Forestry in Fairbanks. He is an avid dog-sledder and mountaineer, and has joined Eric on many botanical expeditions throughout the Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountains, and the Arctic. He is a volunteer researcher on the NPSS project with Eric this season.

Thomas Barlow, is a recent graduate from WWU with a B.S. in Biology. He loves working in the field with just about any organism. He is looking forward to experiencing the unique ecosystems on Adak. He hopes to learn about the natural history of the Aleutians and how the native people lived with the land. Tom spent last spring in the backcountry of Chile for a study term abroad. His home is in another windy location, Chicago, Illinois. In the summer of 2019, Tom is a volunteer on the NPSS Project, working with Mike Williams on Adak.