LUTHERAN QUILTERS – Members of the Quilts for Comfort Group stand between pews draped with some of the 205 quilts they made, in the Sitka Lutheran Church Tuesday. The group made the quilts for five local non-profits and one in Anchorage. The remaining quilts are sent to Lutheran World Relief which  distributes them to places around the world in need, such as Ukraine, as part of Personal Care Kits. Pictured are, from left, Helen Cunningham, Kathleen Brandt,Vicki Swanson, Paulla Hardy, Kim Hunter, Linda Swanson and Sue Fleming.  (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

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Daily Sitka Sentinel

Scientist Shares Landslide Research with Sitka

By ARIADNE WILL

Sentinel Staff Writer

Dr. Brian Buma started researching the occurrence and predictability of landslides in Southeast in 2013.

Then came the August 2015 landslides, which claimed the lives of three Sitka residents.

“It made (studying landslides) much less academic and much more unfortunate,” Buma said in an interview with the Sentinel. “It went from being what was a very broad-scale project ... to all of a sudden being very specific and important, down to the address.”

He said the scope of his landslide studies narrowed following the Kramer Avenue slide in 2015 that killed three Sitkans. It went from covering all of Southeast to really focusing in on Sitka.

At present Buma is a scientist in residency fellow at the Sitka Sound Science Center. He’ll be in town for three more weeks.

Buma is an associate professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Colorado, Denver, and an affiliate professor with the University of Alaska Fairbanks. From 2013 to 2018 he taught at the University of Alaska Southeast.

Buma says there’s still a lot to learn about landslides.

“It’s pretty easy to say, ‘that hill is going to slide,’” he said. “It’s really hard to say what part of the slope is going to slide and where that slide’s going to go when that happens.”

This is because landslides often have a small origin.

“When those things start, something small happens,” he said. “Something happens at a very specific point on the hill.”

And this is all before the possible trajectory of the landslide comes into play. Buma says that even if you knew where a landslide’s origin would be, you would then have to predict which direction it would go and how far down a mountainside the debris would extend.

But Buma says he’s not super involved with the prediction side of Sitka’s landslide studies. (That work was done by the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, which issued a 2019 report titled “Landslide Hazard Evaluations for Multi-Hazard Risk Mapping in Sitka,” including a “landslide susceptibility map” of Sitka between Katlian Bay and Blue Lake.)

Buma said he’s interested in the impact landslides have on the forests in which they occur.

He says studies show that forests are often more productive when they’re situated in areas with regular slides.

“Regular” means a landslide that comes through an area about once every 500 years.

Buma says these slides can free up nutrients that were stuck in the ground as the forest aged and can shake up the soil. And the forest begins to recover pretty quickly.

“Within the first year or two, everything will come back,” he said. “You’ll have baby trees, you’ll have grass, you’ll have salmonberries.”

Around Sitka this recovery is helped by the relatively “skinny” nature of Sitka’s landslides.

“Because they’re so skinny, (the slide areas) recover really well.”

Even so, what’s good for the forest isn’t always positive for the community. Buma said he appreciates working in Sitka, and knows that Sitkans are engaged in his work in part because of tragedy of 2015.

“Working with the Science Center is wonderful because you have this engaged community and you have some slides to work with,” he said. “It’s a good spot to work, despite the tragedies that started it.”

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20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Advertisement: Tea-Licious Tea House & Bakery 315 Lincoln Street Grand Opening! Freshly Baked Scones, Cakes & Pastries Innovative Salads, Soups & Sandwiches Harney & Sons Tea. Lunch * Afternoon Tea * Supper.

50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Photo caption: National Republican Chairman George Bush takes a drink of water offered by Jan Craddick, Sitka delegate, during the Republican convention held here. Mrs. Craddick explained to Bush that the water was from Indian River, which means, according to local legend, that he will return.

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