19 January 2026
We welcomed a new team to the Fresh Eyes on Ice community this week with a visit to Dot Lake School! Principal Karen Deeter, teacher Kristi McGatlin, and their students are partnering with Travis David at the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge to monitor ice on Dot Lake.
Fresh Eyes on Ice researchers Allen Bondurant and Sarah Clement visited Dot Lake School in mid-January to help kick off the project. Allen and Sarah were joined by Travis and Bruce Ervin, another member of the Fresh Eyes on Ice team who is an assistant professor of language and culture at the UAF campus in Tok. Over the two-day visit, we exchanged ice stories, talked about the importance of monitoring ice, and learned about the tools we use to collect ice thickness and snow depth measurements.
Dot Lake students shared a wide variety of ice stories, including snowmachining on local lakes, ice fishing, and playing a game called Fox & Geese that is best played in the snow. We welcomed community member Charlene Cleary to share her experiences with being safe on the ice and memories about how the ice has changed since she was a child growing up in the region. As with every community who has joined the Fresh Eyes on Ice project, we felt grateful to learn and share stories with the students and teachers in Dot Lake, and we appreciated the perspectives they had around ice and ice safety in their community!
Dot Lake students' ice stories
On our first afternoon, we reviewed the ice safety testing protocol with the students and all set out to test the ice thickness on Dot Lake. Allen, Bruce, and Travis demonstrated the “strike-and-step” method of testing ice for safety, and the students helped drill a hole to confirm the ice thickness. We found it was ~43cm thick, and we brought up several little shrimp with the ice auger!
Allen coaches one of the Dot Lake students in measuring snow depth. Credit: Sarah Clement
The following morning, we reviewed our data collection protocol with the students, and Travis shared pictures and information about interacting with ice on the Tetlin NWR. We headed out again in -15F temperatures (even though the weather forecast told us it was supposed to be 11F above!) to collect data. We didn’t find any shrimp this time, but the students got a lot of practice using the handheld auger to drill three holes. We noticed at each hole the water had a distinct “stinky” smell - perhaps a topic for the students to investigate in the future! After a few exciting rounds of Ice Bingo, we packed up and drove back to Fairbanks. We’re excited to see what students in Dot Lake will discover collecting data for the Fresh Eyes on Ice project this year!
Dot Lake students and Fresh Eyes on Ice team members at Dot Lake. Credit: Allen Bondurant