Something Previously Unknown For Alaska Natives - Firebreaks - MSNBC

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Fire breaks protecting homes were never part of the traditional culture in Huslia, an Athabascan village on the Koyukuk River. But recent forest fires have burned hotter and more frequently, a change most people blame on global warming, and Huslia has had to adapt, said William Derendoff, 61, the traditional chief.

A day after scientists presented research findings on how warming is melting sea ice and changing marine ecosystems in the Arctic, Derendoff and other village leaders at the Alaska Forum on the Environment on Tuesday told how climate change is hitting their rural communities.

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As in Shishmaref, permafrost — ground that stays below freezing for a minimum of two years — has melted and no longer provides a barrier against Koyukuk River erosion, Derendoff said. Lakes that traditionally flooded with river water no longer are doing so, Derendoff said, changing where villagers fish. Huslia residents traditionally use gillnets in winter to catch pike, whitefish and sheefish through river ice. Thinner ice and unpredictable snow conditions have made winter travel across ice less predictable. "A lot of places, it's kind of unsafe," he said.

Short-term adaptation to warming even is showing up in recreation. Sled dogs, now mostly used for racing, are bred with short-hair hounds that render dogs able to run better in higher temperatures, Derendoff said.

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11233308/