Alaska Vocab Lesson: Tundra

I know you're probably saying "I already know what the tundra is", but it is much more than the biome you half-learned about in fifth grade.

Any wildly grown area is tundra.  Kind of like how back home in Connecticut we have woods or fields.  The tundra does not just have permafrost and lichen, it has scrub brush and is full of little flowers like fireweed and tundra grass (what the title picture is on the top of the blog), and berry bushes.  There is tundra outside of the "city limits", in people's backyards, in between buildings and developments, etc.

The tundra is also WET and swampy because of the muskeg.  Hence all the bugs (which have thankfully been low since I got here).  You have to wear boots when you walk through tundra, preferably high ones. 

Muskeg is essentially a bog and is what the tundra is covered with.  According to people on the internet, walking through muskeg is a lot like walking on a wet mattress.  So far, so true.  Between 1 to 2 feet down (maybe even less) is permafrost.


Example:

"I went berry picking on the tundra."

"Did you check the tundra behind the cultural center?"