by Marianne Stolz | Jul 31, 2025
Projects Voices of the Wilderness “Voices of the Wilderness” is an artist-in-residence program in Alaska that partners participants with wilderness specialists to engage in projects focused on research, monitoring, and education in a remote wilderness...10″ x 13″ x 1″
local aspen wood, fire blackened plywood
Do we need scientific evidence to know that the connection between humans and nature is real?
18″ x 9.5″ x 1.75″
repurposed spalted bug-eaten local spruce wood, cotton yarn, fire-blackened
Viruses are the most abundant biological entity in aquatic environments and are essential to the regulation of saltwater and freshwater ecosystems. They are major players in nutrient recycling, community structure (including algal bloom termination), gene transfer, and the evolution of aquatic organisms.
8″ x 11″ x 1″
repurposed construction lumber, charred plywood, paint
Sharing food and stories with a diverse community is a part of living under the northern sky.
18”x6”x1”
local aspen wood, paint
I have hiked many miles on trails made not by men but by caribou. I have watched their movement through valleys and passes. With every step, they create or maintain a network of trails, appreciated and used by hikers and many other animals.
6″ x 10″ x 1.5″
recycled construction lumber, acrylic paint
Lichens, which grow at the edge of life, on rock or bark, are genuine pioneers when it comes to soil formation. From rainforest to tundra, more than 20,000 species of lichens cover up to 6 percent of the Earth’s surface.
To stay true to the lichen-spirit, I use reclaimed wood for my lichen carving.
8″ x 14″ x 0.75″
local aspen wood, acrylic paint
Prior to leaf drop, many of the critical nutrients in the leaves are reabsorbed back into the tree and stored to be available for spring growth.
17″ x 12″ x 2″
local aspen wood
Faster Food
In addition to ground lichens, caribou eat the lichens growing on trees in the boreal forest, which in winter are easier to get to then the food under the snow.
14”x 9.5”x 1”
spruce wood, acrylic paint, fire
11” x 9.5” x 1”
local aspen wood, plywood, fishing line, paint, fire-blackened, 24K gold leaf
Our culture favors a consumptive lifestyle that requires material goods and services, including roads. In Alaska, most roads cross numerous streams and rivers. Each crossing can introduce unfavorable changes to fish habitat by altering water quality, quantity, or drainage, or even block fish from moving up or downstream altogether. For instance, road runoff containing chemicals originating from car tires and other sources is harmful to fish and other aquatic animals.
28″ x 18” x 2”
local aspen wood, plywood,acrylic paint, fire-blackened
Within the water cycle, rivers link mountains to oceans, water to land, land to air and upstream to downstream. This influences transport, cycling, and transformation of organic material and inorganic nutrients. As an example, the migratory life cycle of salmon disperses nutrients upriver from the rich ocean, supporting species from birds to bears who move through, taking and leaving their part. Bugs and microorganisms recycle material left by others.
11” x 20” x 2″
reclaimed spruce wood, plywood acrylic paint
The essence of a river is water. Seen as a chemical, water, or H2O, is constructed of 2 hydrogen atoms and one oxygen, arranged in a tetrahedral* shape. What makes water really special is the way these molecules interact. The distinctive and uncommon chemical properties of H2O and the way it moves, have fascinated scientists for centuries, yet many of its unique behaviors remain a mystery.
* a tetrahedron is a pyramid with a triangular base
7.5” x 12” x 1.5”
reclaimed spruce wood, fire-blackened, mirror, oil paint
The barcode image in this carving came from a single-use water bottle I found sticking out of the Tanana River mud. Its jarring appearance on this still mostly-wild river compelled me to reflect on my position in the spectrum between individual convenience and sacrifice for the good of the community of life.
The river section in this carving depicts the Tanana River between Fairbanks and North Pole.
8″ x 19” x 2″
local aspen, wood, plywood, acrylic paint, fire-blackened
The world underneath the river bed where river water percolates between grains of gravel and sand, is called the hyporheic zone. A myriad of microscopic creatures make their home in these dark depths. Though still poorly understood, emerging research suggests the hyporheic zone has a cleansing and regulating function comparable to the human liver. It removes toxins and excess nutrients, filters the water, moderates extreme water temperatures, thus nurturing life in the waters above.
8″ x 15″ x 1″
reclaimed spruce wood, plywood, acrylic, paint, fire-blackened
The slippery slime that grows on river rocks is called biofilm. A biofilm is a complex biological system comparable to a forest. Instead of trees, moose, and shrews, the biofilm is a community of microscopic life like algae, bacteria, fungi, single-celled and other microscopic organisms. Just like a forest, it is a living factory providing food, shelter and many other vital functions for the base of the food web.
12″ x 19” x 1.5”
local aspen wood, plywood, acrylic paint, fire-blackened
Snow compressed to ice flows slowly down the slopes of North America’s tallest mountain, Denali, in massive glaciers including the Muldrow. At its terminus, meltwater runs out in torrents to form the McKinley River, which eventually joins the Yukon River. Glaciers feed and influence nearly all major rivers in Alaska.
Worldwide, more than one-sixth of the human population depends on glacier-fed rivers for drinking water and irrigation.
16″ x 14” x 1.75”
local aspen wood, plywood, acrylic paint, fire-blackened
Flowing water erodes the river’s bed. Faster water of outside bends picks up material (including rocks with their own history) then drops it off in slower-moving inside bends. This creates ever-evolving meanders. Over time, a river moves back and forth across a valley floor creating old, dry river channels, oxbow lakes, and wetlands among strips of dense forest. Where modern engineering has not erased it, the history of such river sections can still be observed.
You see this pattern on a flight south from Fairbanks over the Tanana Valley.
7″ x 16” x 1”
local aspen, wood, plywood, pyrography, oil paint
River mud is alive with invertebrates like worms and insect larvae that burrow into the moist sediments. Shorebirds take advantage of this protein-rich food source by probing the shoreline mud with their long bills. The bill has tiny sensory receptors sensitive to pressure waves, a bit like echolocation. Shorebirds also utilize a food source less obvious to the naked eye. They scoop up biofilm, a layer of microscopic life covering all moist areas. Biofilm may constitute as much as half of a shorebird’s diet.
18″ x 12” x 1.75”
reclaimed spruce wood, fire-blackened, acrylic paint
Our atmosphere traps just the right amount of heat to create the right conditions for liquid water circulating as rain, rivers, and oceans. The deep oceans are responsible for Blue Earth, absorbing all wavelengths of light except blue, reflecting it back out into the Universe. How and when water appeared on Earth and when it occurred in liquid form that could flow as rivers into oceans, supporting life – is still being studied.
16″ x 7.5” x 1.75”
local aspen wood, acrylic paint
Cosmopolitan rotifers survive around the world, needing only a small film of water. As tiny as the width of a human hair, rotifers may be among the smallest animals known yet contain a brain, primitive eyes and a complete digestive tract. They feed mostly on decomposing organic materials and tiny microorganisms, but are preyed on by many. A balanced population of rotifers indicates a healthy aquatic ecosystem.
One group of rotifers, the Bdelloid rotifers, reproduce asexually. Since they have a female-only population, they have likely reproduced without sex for many millions of years.
22″ x 11.5” x 2”
local aspen wood, plywood, oil paint, fire-blackened
Fresh waters around the world, from the tropics to the High Arctic, teem with chironomids (non-biting midges). In most streams and lakes over 50% of the aquatic insects are chironomids. These tiny insects dominate arctic streams and provide a key food resource for fish and birds. The short-lived males have big, feathery antennae that help them find females during mating season.
6.5” x 14.5” x 1″
local aspen, wood, plywood acrylic paint, fire-blackened
The flow of water is directed by gravity and the contour of the land. At the same time, the energy held by river water can literally move mountains. Rivers erode their banks, alter their paths, and transport and deposit sediment along their way resulting in changes to the landscape along the river, both small and massive.
17″ x 11” x 1”
local aspen wood, plywood, acrylic paint, fire-blackened
When leaves fall into a river they are devoured by a multitude of lifeforms. It feeds microorganisms like fungi and bacteria as well as insect larvae such as caddisflies and black flies. This dead plant material constitutes 90% of the organic detritus supporting headwater stream communities. Like bread and butter, leaf litter provides sustenance for the entire aquatic food web.
11″ x 34” x 0.75”
reclaimed spruce wood, dowels, oil paint, pyrography
For successful spawning, hatching, and growth, salmon require specific water temperatures, turbidity, chemistry, and gravel size. Additionally, unobstructed waterways are essential for migration to the sea. When these conditions are met and predation avoided, salmon return to their home streams to renew the cycle.
To illustrate this balance, easily disrupted by human activities, the carving consists of individual pieces held together solely by red skewer sticks, without glue.
8.5” x 17” x 1.5”
reclaimed spruce wood, plywood, paint, fire-blackened, 24K gold leaf
The sun drives the water cycle, fueling water evaporation. Condensation then leads water – as rain or snow – to fall to earth and flow as rivers pulled by gravity back to the oceans.
18″ x 11” x 2.5”
local aspen wood, plywood, oil paint, fire-blackened
Caddisflies play a vital role in freshwater ecosystems. The larvae consume various types of organic matter including algae, leaves, microbes and small invertebrates. In turn, they become an essential food source for fish and birds like shorebirds. The larvae glue sand grains, bits of twigs, or other debris from their riverbed homes into a protective case. Since they have low tolerance for pollution, biologists use their numbers as an indicator of river health.
36″ x 12” x 3”
local alder sticks, plywood, plastic, paint, fire-blackened
As water flows downstream, the river’s energy moves material such as silt, rocks and debris. This is called the load of the river. Since industrialization humans have added a slew of new materials to the load, ranging from agricultural waste to industrial toxins. An emerging component is microplastics. Smaller than a strand of DNA in width, they can enter cells, where their effects are as yet undetermined.
15″ x 15” x 1”
Local aspen wood, plywood, acrylic paint
Over millennia, human cultures arose and flourished around rivers and major waterways. Rivers supplied not only fresh water but transportation routes for goods and ideas. Ancient cultures reflected their dependence on rivers in their legends and myths of gods, nymphs and other spiritual beings. In modern times rivers have fallen from the center of cultural activities, treated more as obstacles to expanding development and sewers for our waste.
Watching water flow and freeze around a rock inspired thoughts of an ice nymph at play in the stream.
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13” x 16” x 2″
local spruce and aspen wood, plywood acrylic paint
As their great journeys to Earth’s oceans draw to an end, rivers slow and deposit enormous quantities of sediment, forming deltas. Fueled by the continuous supply of nutrients in the sediments, deltas rank amongst the most biologically productive areas on Earth. Two very different habitats connect here, freshwater and marine, allowing enormous biodiversity. This natural richness attracts not just wildlife but also people, from time immemorial.
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11” x 9.5” x 1”
Local aspen wood, plywood, paint, fire-blackened, 24K gold leaf
Our culture favors a consumptive lifestyle that requires material goods and services, including roads. In Alaska, most roads cross numerous streams and rivers. Each crossing can introduce unfavorable changes to fish habitat by altering water quality, quantity, or drainage, or even block fish from moving up or downstream altogether. For instance, road runoff containing chemicals originating from car tires and other sources is harmful to fish and other aquatic animals.
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24″ x 12” x 2”
reclaimed spruce wood, plywood, acrylic, paint, fire-blackened
A braided river constantly converges and diverges in its efforts to find the most efficient route across its valley. High water events like spring snowmelt lead to combinations of both extreme erosion and deposition of loose sediments. This creates an endlessly changing pattern of channels, islands and sandbars, and consequently, of habitats. Everything that lives here is adapted to this high rate of change.
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14″ x 21″ x 2″
local spruce and aspen wood, plywood, paint, fire- blackened, 24K gold leaf
Birds act as mobile links, transferring nutrients between different habitats. For instance, a fish-eating bird like an eagle catches its meal in the river and then brings the food to its nest in the forest to feed its young. The bird’s droppings, rich in nitrogen, feed the plants in the forest, far beyond the reach of the river.
28″ x 28″ x 2″
local aspen wood, fire-blackened, 24k gold leaf
Nearly 50% of the 700 species of birds that regularly occur in the US and Canada rely on the Boreal Forest for their survival.
dimension eg:12″ x 16″ x 2″
material eg:local aspen wood, fire-blackened plywood, acrylic paint
Paragraph about inspiration
12″ x 16″ x 2″
local aspen wood, fire-blackened plywood, acrylic paint
As houseflies and their larvae feed, they consume nutrients in rotting organic matter. They leave behind picked-over remains that other organisms, bacteria and enzymes can further break down, fulfilling an important environmental role as scavengers.
6″ x 6″ x 1″
local aspen wood, fire-blackened, plywood, acrylic paint
Being much lighter than seeds, the microscopic spores of fungi can hitch a ride with the wind far beyond the boreal forest, into the globally-encircling jet streams.
12″ x 24″ x 1.5″
local aspen wood, plywood, acrylic paint
In the cold, nutrient-poor environment of the boreal forest, trees can grow taller along rivers, the riparian zone, due to greater nutrient levels, added moisture, and greater soil temperatures provided by the river.
28″ x 28″ x 2″
local aspen wood, fire-blackened, plywood, 24k gold leaf
Spruce trees don’t shed their needles in winter, and often support a covering of snow, creating a more favorable microclimate for ravens and chickadees to roost at night, increasing their survival at extremely low temperatures.
8.5″ x 27″ x 2″
local aspen wood, plywood, fire-blackened
Adaptation is a key to survival in northern climates. Black-capped chickadees are a quarter larger than their southern cousins, allowing bigger body mass relative to surface area for better heat retention.
18″x 13″ x2″
repurposed local spalted spruce wood, plywood, fire-blackened
Carpenter Ants perform a valuable recycling service in the boreal forest, where decomposing is slow.
They shred wood, leaving piles of sawdust and tunnels behind, creating more surface area for organisms that actually digest wood, such as fungi and bacteria.
Some of the decomposed material will be washed into a pond and replenish much needed nutrients.
21″ x 9.5″ x 1.5″
local aspen wood, acrylic paint
AT YOUR SERVICE
Willows are able to clean water, including our drinking water. They can filter out the finest dirt particles with their dense, fast-growing roots while stabilizing the soil. They are also capable of detoxifying water and soils by absorbing toxins like cyanides and arsenic and modifying them chemically into non-toxic forms. In addition, willows encourage survival and growth of their neighbor plants by contributing immune-boosting chemicals and growth-boosting nitrogen fertilizer fixed in their bark.
12″ x 17.5″ x 2″
local aspen wood, fire-blackened plywood, acrylic paint
Carrion Beetles bury small carcasses in the forest soil to feed their young. This activity greatly speeds up the release of nutrients into the soil compared to if the carcasses were left to decay on their own.
12″ x 16″ x 2″
Fire-blackened local aspen wood and plywood, acrylic paint
House flies are able to process what they see and react accordingly at amazing speeds. Human brains process around 60 images a second, whereas a fly can process around 250 in a single second.
17″ x 18″ x 2″
local Aspen wood, plywood, acrylic paint
Stink bugs overwinter in the litter of the boreal forest floor as adults. In fall they produce an antifreeze-like compound that prevents the formation of ice crystals in their bodies, hence they can withstand temperatures down to -25 degrees Celsius.
16.5″ x 16.5″ x 2″
local aspen wood, fire-blackened plywood, acrylic paint
The peak abundance of mosquitos in the boreal forest is in sync with most of the baby birds hatching, creating a direct relationship between mosquito density an
16″ x 16″ x 1.5″
Local aspen wood, plywood, acrylic paint
They are ubiquitous in nearly all freshwater habitats of every continent except Antarctica.
Some mosquito species have been found to be parasitized by larval water mites, which can reduce the survival and reproductive success of mosquitoes.
11″ x 7″ x 2″
repurposed local spruce, wire, fire-blackened, acrylic paint
Phosphorus to algae is like white sugar to humans. Its natural occurrence is scarce, limiting over-indulgence. Mining phosphorus brings an unnatural amount of phosphorus into the biosphere. Phosphorus is used, for example, in fertilizer for agriculture, lawns and garden, and in detergent. A pond fed with phosphorus-rich run-off from fields or failing septic systems increases algal growth. This proliferation can lead to algae blooms and ultimately dead zones.
local aspen wood, plywood, bamboo skewers, fire-blackened
18″ x 10.5″ x 1.5″
Mayflies spend their youth in water. The external gills on mayfly nymphs beat to control water flow through the body, which also controls the amount of oxygen and salt that flows through the body. Nymphs in still water generally have larger gills, and those in running water have smaller gills. This strategy allows the nymphs of each habitat to optimize their flow of water.
20″x16″x 2″
local spruce wood, plywood, fire-blackened, acrylic paint
Though water is their preferred element and diving is their main mode of locomotion, diving beetles are able fliers. They use reflectance off surfaces to identify landing spots, which often leads to errors — landing on wet pavement or shiny cars. When this happens they are stuck because they can only take flight from the water.
20″x 8″ x 1″
repurposed local spruce wood, acrylic paint, plywood, fire-blackened
Ponds of all sizes provide important stopover sites for migratory birds to rest and refuel. Each wetland ecosystem is a link in a chain of stopover sites creating what is known as a flyway. An example is the Pacific Flyway which spans south-north from South America to Northern Alaska. Ponds along the flyway are like gas stations along a highway. If enough stations are closed, it breaks the chain.
7″ x 14″ x 1.25″
repurposed local spruce, local aspen wood, plywood, fire-blackened, acrylic paint
Cattails are among the first wetland plants to colonize areas of newly exposed wet mud. A stand of cattails can provide cover for waterfowl. The roots are food for wetland mammals such as muskrats, who also use leaves and stalks to construct feeding platforms and dens. This further offers nesting and resting places for waterfowl
16.5″ x 14.5″ x 1.5″
local aspen wood, plywood, acrylic paint, pyrographed
Continual exposure to noise can cause stress, anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, or heart disease. If one takes the time to listen, one service a pond can contribute to our lives is to provide a soothing soundscape. This can counterbalance the ill-health effects of noise pollution in our modern life.
18″ x 10″ x 1″
repurposed local spruce, fire-blackened, plywood, acrylic paint
Every pond is connected to Earth’s hydrological system, the global movement of water. Human modifications of ground and surface water, like rerouting drainages for road building, withdrawal of water for domestic and agricultural use, or draining water to create housing, alter water flow. These changes can lead to disruption in connectivity and a decrease in habitat and diversity. Worst case scenario: a dry pond.
18.5″ x 10.5″ x 2″
repurposed local spruce, fire-blackened, acrylic paint, 24k gold leaf, wire
A pond does not stop at its shores. It is connected to the Earth’s recycling system or biogeochemical cycles. Geologic processes form the landscape, and climate affects water flow, which, in turn, impacts the delivery of minerals and nutrients from the surroundings. The availability of nutrients in a pond influences the community that will thrive and disperse from there. Technological advances allow humans to manipulate these cycles and affect pond life.
11″ x 8″ x 1″
recycled local spruce, fire-blackened and acrylic paint
CROWDED HOME
Wetlands are important bird habitats. Birds use them for breeding, nesting, and rearing young. More than half of the original wetlands in North America have been lost since the 1950s. As wetlands continue to shrink even in Alaska, bird species such as shorebirds and waterfowl are crammed into tighter spaces causing reduced breeding and proliferation of avian diseases. Over 50% of bird populations dependent on wetlands have declined.
9″x 12″ x 2″
recycled local spruce wood, plexiglass mirror
Microorganisms in a pond create a fizzy cocktail of gasses, including carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and more, each pond creating its own, personal mix. Changes to the components of the pond, natural or man-made, alter its flatulent emissions.
17″ x 22″ x 2″
repurposed local spalted spruce wood, plywood, fire-blackened, acrylic paint
Balance is not a state, but a dynamic equilibrium, like a teeter-totter. Cycles in a pond, like everywhere in nature, can last a day, several thousand years, or longer. Things change, some disappear, and some get replaced. Science gives us something akin to a black and white glimpse into the colorful dynamics of nature.
15″ x 5″ x 0.75″
local aspen wood, plywood, wire, fire-blackened
In Tree Swallows, chicks that have been fed aquatic insects have much greater fledging success than those fed a diet of terrestrial insects. This success has been linked to the consumption of highly unsaturated omega-3 fatty acids (HUFA), present in aquatic insects. Algae, the original producer of HUFA, gets eaten by microorganisms, and HUFA works its way up the food chain into aquatic insects. Land plants do not produce as much HUFA as algae.
11″ x 16″ x 4″
repurposed local spruce wood, alder branches, 24k goald leafe, acrylic paint
Cyanobacteria, formerly known as blue-green algae, are microscopic organisms found naturally in all types of water. These ‘primitive’ bacteria produce oxygen during photosynthesis. They were among the earliest organisms on earth and helped create the atmosphere of today. For 2.45 million years, they have been producing oxygen that we breathe
42″ x 25″ x 3″
repurposed local spalted spruce wood, plywood, fire-blackened, acrylic paint
YOUR INNER CILIATE
Ciliates, microorganisms with many fast-moving hairlike appendages called cilia, can be found among pond scum. A connection with our bacterial ancestor might be seen in the fine hairs that line our bronchi, used to clear mucus from our lungs
11″ x 34″ x 3″
repurposed spalted local spruce, plywood, acrylic paint<p> 24k gold leaf
Our life is based on water and powered by the sun.
22″ x 17″ x 3″
local spruce branches, fire-blackened, acrylic pain, repurposed fiber
KEY TO SUCCESS
Bacteria are key to the functioning of ponds and lakes. Their numbers in a drop of pond water can range in the millions. They power the bulk of nutrient cycles and most nutrients would be inaccessible without them. But their significance goes far beyond the pond. These microorganisms make up the majority of life on Earth and play vital roles in food chains, nutrient cycles, health, and industry. We know comparatively little about microbial diversity, behavior, and ecology because we cannot see them.
5″ x 15″ x 1″
repurposed wood, plywood and plastic
The frozen soil that underlie much of the boreal forest are thawing as the Arctic warms. That releases greenhouse gases as organic carbon from plants and animals, once locked away in the ice, melts and decomposes.
19″ x 9.5″ x 1
recycled spruce wood, fire-blackened, acrylic paint
Ravens have a third eyelid to keep their eyes protected from freezing and drying while they commute from their roost in the forest to their feeding places in town at -40 degrees Celsius.
11″ x 18″ x 2″
spruce wood, fire-blackened
Due to lower oil prices for heating oil, the personal-use firewood sales in the Tanana Valley State Forest declined in 2019 to a total of 758 cords.
18″ x 18″ x 2″
local aspen wood, plywood, recycled cardboard, pop cans, bottle caps
Every year Canada clear-cuts a million acres of the boreal forest, much of which gets turned into paper and paper products, including toilet paper.
8″ x 19.5″ x 2″
local aspen wood, plywood, fire-blackened
The extreme climate in the boreal forest, coupled with the strong soil acidity means that the turnover of organic matter and mineral nutrients, facilitated by billions of organisms, is slow, maybe as little as 1 cm of thickness accumulated in 500 years.
8″x 17″x1″
local aspen wood, plywood, fire-blackened
The mutualistic relationship between soil fungi and the roots of most forest plants is critical for their success in the nutrient poor soil of the boreal forest.
7.5″ x 10″ x 0.75″
local aspen wood, plywood, fire -blackened
The accumulating leaf litter on the forest floor can offer a home, a food source, a caching site, sheltering, or over-wintering cover for many boreal insects, small mammals, and our northern wood frogs
7.5″ x 18″ x 2″
local aspen wood, fire-blackened, acrylic paint
Without the atmosphere no water, without water no plants, without plants no humans.
12″ x 7″ x 3″
local aspen and spruce wood, fire-blackened, 24k gold leaf
Boreal chickadees store birch seeds and other food for winter by gathering spiderwebs in the fall, mixing them with their saliva and creating a glue to paste food caches to the underside of spruce limbs.
7.5″ x 23″ x 0.5″
local aspen wood, fire-blackened, acrylic paint
A full-grown tree has tens of thousands of leaves, every single one requiring valuable nutrients to carry out photosynthesis. In the fall, the tree transfers these nutrients from the leaves into the root and trunk for winter storage, then discharges the leaves.
8″ x 8″ x 1″
local aspen wood, fire-blackened, acrylic paint
The parachute-like tuft of silky hairs at the end of each fireweed seed can transport them far from the parent plant. A reason why fireweed can be one of the first plants to colonize a disturbed area.