The Program

• Hands-on academic excellence and research experience in the ice, alpine and boreal environments of Alaska’s Wrangell Mountains

• June 22-August 10, 2025

• Based in McCarthy, Alaska, the heart of the largest U.S. National Park: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve

• 6 semester units of upper-division Earth/Climate Sciences field research credit from the University of Maine

Our Curriculum explores geophysical, ecological and cultural landscape processes from perspectives of sciences, humanities and public policy, accessible to undergraduate students. Our Location is exemplary for learning about change and stability in far-from-equilibrium conditions. Studies inquire into energy and material flow, tectonics, ecological succession and adaptation in the context of climate change. The program is taught as a collaborative learning community by interdisciplinary Faculty, preparing participants for careers engaging complexity in a rapidly changing world.

Based at the Wrangell Mountains Center in McCarthy, four of the program’s seven weeks are backpacking on and above the Kennecott Glacier and in adjacent valleys. Wilderness skills are taught; previous experience not required. Most students are upper-division undergraduates with majors in diverse fields, though others also participate successfully. The program may meet academic field camp and capstone project major requirements.

Students interested in climate-oriented field studies will be interested in both the Wrangell Mountains Field Studies and Juneau Icefield Research Program curricula. We encourage students to consider participation in both programs as the experiences are complementary. In the broadest strokes, the WMFS field season focuses on linked alpine, glacial, and boreal systems, including their ecology, geology and social contexts. The JIRP field season focuses more closely on the glaciological, climatological, and geomorphic environment of the alpine, high-elevation of the Juneau Icefield. For the motivated student, these two curricula could fit together to present a comprehensive study of complex glacial systems, and the climatic, ecological, geological, and social processes that comprise them. Staff at WMFS and JIRP are eager to discuss options with students weighing participation in either or both programs.

Tuition, Fees and Scholarships

2025 Application Form

• Location in a premier showcase of dynamic biophysical evolution, where ecological and Earth processes are strikingly evident and provide context for personal, social and professional life.

• Immersion in a learning community in which disciplined observation is daily practice, distraction is minimized and sustained focused attention supported.

• Academic emphasis on seeing through lenses of multiple disciplines, including hypothesis-testing biological, geological and social science and creative writing and visual arts, in the natural history tradition.

• Empowerment through understanding of issues of real-world significance, with faculty guidance.

• Engagement with faculty who have multi-year local knowledge through research, participation in public policy, involvement in community governance, and living in the place.

• Rooted in a human-scale community, enabling experience of interdependence and collaboration in the context of a challenging physical environment.

• Living for an extended time in a dynamic wilderness.

• Opportunity for personal transformation through interpersonal trust and mutual support in situations where physical, social and academic demands create life-altering challenge.

Fireweed sketch by Kristin Link, WMFS Instructor

A puzzling combination of glaciers and rock glaciers erodes this basin near the Lakina River headwaters, not previously studied. Exploring on-site, program participants develop and test hypotheses regarding evolution of such landscapes. We use the disciplines of Earth science, ecology and visual arts to develop skills of focused attention. Students have the opportunity to engage in original research with faculty support.