FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2011 | 5THE GLOBAL EDITION OF THE NEW YORK TIMES. . . .

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Jaeger-LeCoultre, a benchmark inSwiss fine watchmaking, is asupporter not only of World Heritagemarine sites but also of worldculture, notably of cinema. Thewatchmaker has been a partnerwith the Venice International FilmFestival for seven years, and thisyear began partnerships with theShanghai International Film Festivaland the Abu Dhabi Film Festival.

At the festival, which was held inAbu Dhabi Oct. 13-22, the Indianactor and producer Saif Ali Khanreceived the Jaeger-LeCoultre Gloryto the Actor Award in recognition ofhis achievements and his efforts inthe development of the Bollywoodfilm industry. Cinema is familyheritage for Kahn; he is the son of theacclaimed Indian actress SharmilaTagore and the late India cricketcaptain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi.

A longtime watch aficionado,Khan wears a personalized edition ofJaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso GrandTaille with the Pataudi family crestengraved on the reverse of the case.

‘‘We are very excited about this

partnership,’’ says Eissa SaifRashed Al Mazrouei, director ofspecial projects for the Abu DhabiAuthority for Culture and Heritage,‘‘because Jaeger-LeCoultre sharesour dedication to cinema as an artform and to the recognition of theachievements of gifted actors fromaround the world. There are manyways our efforts complement eachother, and we look forward toworking with Jaeger-LeCoultre inthe years to come.’’

Jérôme Lambert, chief executiveofficer of Jaeger-LeCoultre, notes hiscompany’s ‘‘longstandingconnection with the film industryand strong commitment tosupporting and promoting cinematicculture. As a major player inwatchmaking history, Jaeger-LeCoultre is a true watchmakinglegend, respected for upholdingwatchmaking traditions andmaintaining the spirit of invention —a perfect fit in a region with sharedregard for tradition and heritagemixed with modernity.’’

C.F.

Jaeger-LeCoultre expands its support of cultureGLACIER BAY NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE | A diverse land- and seascape

Alaskan marine wilderness faces threats from climate change and tourism

G rowing up in a small town in the American Mid-west, Scott Gende didn’t have much contact withwildlife, whales or glaciers. His hometown of

Rock Island, Illinois, was ‘‘about as far away from acoastal environment as you can get,’’ he jokes. His onlyreal exposure to the outdoors came once a year, whenhis father took him fishing in Northern Ontario.

‘‘I immediately fell in love with being in the forest, onthe water, all things biology,’’ recalls Gende, who iscoastal ecologist and senior science adviser for theNational Park Service in Alaska, including Glacier BayNational Park and Preserve.

As a biology student at Iowa State University, Gendediscovered ecology as a course of study. A summer jobin Juneau, Alaska, after graduation led to studies for amaster’s degree in fisheries and ocean sciences at theUniversity of Alaska.

His interest was initially in the ecology of coastalforests, but he realized there was such a strong connec-tion between land and oceans that it was almost im-possible to separate the two. So his interests expanded

to encompass marine systems as he pur-sued his Ph.D. at the University of Washing-ton School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciencesin Seattle. He then worked with the NationalMarine Fisheries Service in Alaska before ac-cepting his current position with the NationalPark Service in July 2003.

The park system he helps oversee con-tains the largest non-polar ice field in the worldand some of the world’s longest and mostspectacular glaciers. It is unique in part be-cause of its wide variety of ecosystems (mar-ine, coastal forest, mountain, subalpine, alpine tundra).

Gende describes the area as ‘‘a global hot spot forhumpback whales that migrate from Hawaii to Alaska tofeed during the summer and then migrate back for re-productive activities in Hawaii.’’

One of the biggest challenges for Glacier Bay is balan-cing the number of visitors that come to the park with con-servation of the wildlife and other resources. Touristscome to the park almost exclusively during the summer

months, and 95 percent come aboard cruiseships, an important way for people to experi-ence the wonders of Glacier Bay. Cruise ships’impact on marine life there is minimal in nearlyall cases, but in rare cases it can be deadly.

Cruise ships have been known to strikeand kill humpback whales. ‘‘Collisions are arare event,’’ explains Gende, ‘‘but they almostalways result in the death of the whale.’’ Lessdramatic but more frequent is the noise cre-ated by ship propellers, which affects howwhales communicate, forage and orient them-

selves. ‘‘It’s important,’’ he says, ‘‘to understand how andto what extent ship visitation will impact whales and othermarine mammals, such as threatened Steller sea lions.’’

The conflicting interests of finned versus limbedmammals is not exclusive to Glacier Bay, of course. AsGende admits, the interests of tourists and theprotection of natural resources are often in conflict.‘‘You always want to balance access to a world resourcewith the potential impact of that visitation,’’ he says,

adding that scientific research is an important tool forhelping to achieve that balance. He says that the park’ssuite of scientific studies aimed at understanding the im-pact — both positive and negative — of tourism helpmake Glacier Bay ‘‘one of the best-managed naturalareas in the world for balancing tourism and accessversus protection of wilderness and wildlife.’’

Carrying out this strategy, he adds, are ‘‘biologistsand managers at Glacier Bay who have dedicated theirlives to preserving this area and using science to guidetheir management decisions.’’

One research project focused on placing observerson cruise ships entering Glacier Bay. ‘‘This is the first andlargest project to record large-ship, large-whale inter-actions by shipboard observers,’’ says Gende. ‘‘The proj-ect has been successful in helping us understand how of-ten ships encounter whales, how close they get and whatmeasures can be taken to minimize the potential for col-lision, such as slowing ships down. It’s really exemplifiedthe science-based management framework that GlacierBay has undertaken over the last six years.’’ C.F.

About World HeritageThe aim of the World HeritageConvention, adopted by Unescomembers in 1972, is ‘‘to encouragethe identification, protection andpreservation of cultural and naturalheritage around the world consideredto be of outstanding universal valueto humanity.’’

‘‘Tides of Time’’ is a partnershipamong Jaeger-LeCoultre, Unesco’sWorld Heritage Centre and theInternational Herald Tribune. Theseries presents some of the peoplewho are helping preserve marinesites on the World Heritage List.

To see videos about World Heritagemarine sites, visit the ‘‘Tides of Time’’archive at whc.unesco.org/tidesoftime

A fter voyages of discovery along theAlaska coast in 1879 and 1880, JohnMuir wrote: ‘‘How wonderful it seems

that ice formed from pressed snow on thefar-off mountains two or three hundred yearsago should still be pure and lovely in color.’’

More than a century after the grandfatherof the environmental movement’s visit, thechilly coastal wilderness of Glacier Bay, Alaskais a prime slice of one of the planet’s singlelargest conservation areas: the Kluane/Wrangell-St. Elias/Glacier Bay/Tatshenshini-Alsek Unesco World Heritage Site.

Covering 98,391 square kilometers, ornearly 38,000 square miles, in Alaska andthe Yukon and British Columbia in Canada,the vast area is noteworthy for a number ofreasons: copious wildlife, wild rivers, ex-tremely high peaks and the world’s largestnon-polar ice fields.

On the area’s southern fringe, GlacierBay’s marine wilderness comprises a num-ber of distinct landforms: snow-cappedmountains, deep fjords, freshwater riversand lakes, coastal plains and the blue-tintedtidewater glaciers about which Muir waxedeloquently more than 130 years ago.

Within the park, says Scott Gende, thepark’s senior science adviser, ‘‘There are a

number of places where you can go thatreally represent true wilderness. You don'thear anthropogenic sounds, you don't seeother people. You are really at the edge ofwilderness and at the center of being aloneand being at one with nature.’’

The area has always been remote. TlingitIndians lived around Glacier Bay in the distantpast, and the area was no doubt frequentedby Russian fur traders. In the latter part of the19th century, there was sporadic mining, fish-ing and fur trading in what is now the parkarea, but the region remained largely uninhab-ited and untouched through the 1920s, whenPresident Calvin Coolidge put the glacier-choked bay under federal protection.

Together with extreme isolation, this longhistory of conservation makes Glacier Bayone of the most pristine of any World Herit-age Sites. In addition to the park’s glaciers,visitors also encounter a variety of coastalplant communities, and both marine and ter-restrial wildlife in large numbers: humpbackwhales, orcas, sea otters, Steller sea lions,harbor seals, grizzly and black bears, mooseand wolves.

That’s not to say that it hasn’t changed atall. Some glaciers have retreated up to 40miles since Muir first observed them. A little

more than a century before that, as late as1760, glaciers covered the entire area ofGlacier Bay.

‘‘Climate change is certainly a concern,’’says Gende. How its influence will be mani-fested, however, is not clear, he adds. ‘‘Weknow so little about tidewater glacier dynam-ics. We know that climate change is going tohave a dramatic impact on the parks. Thechallenge will be separating out and under-standing how that will play out, and its im-pact to ecosystems and what we can do.’’

Glacier Bay’s primary management con-cern (other than climate change) is minimiz-ing the impact of tourism while affording ac-cess and enjoyment by visitors.

Although the park has a large land area,there are no roads in or out. It is possible forvisitors to access the park via a nearby airstrip and a short drive to the visitor center,

but nearly all arrive via water, primarily incruise ships.

In 2003, the U.S. National Park Serviceupdated quotas for all vessels entering thebay (including cruise ships and privateboats), operating requirements that governwhere they can go and what they can dowithin the park. An independent panel offederal, state and tribal scientists advises onthe potential impact of increasing or chan-ging cruise-ship numbers in Glacier Bay.

Without doubt, the ships will keep bring-ing in people who yearn to see the rawnature that Muir wrote about: ‘‘Out of thecold darkness and glacial crushing and grind-ing comes this warm, abounding beauty andlife to teach us that what we in our faithlessignorance and fear call destruction is cre-ation finer and finer.’’

J.R.Y.

Tides of time: Glacier Bay National Park and Preservewas produced by the IHT Creative Solutions department and didnot involve the newspaper’s reporting or editorial departments.It is the 30th in a series on Unesco’s World Heritage marine sites.The next installment, about the St. Kilda archipelago in Scotland,will be published Dec. 9. Text by CLAUDIA FLISI and JOSEPH R.YOGERST. For information on the IHT Creative Solutions program:www.nytimesglobal.com

The shores andislands of Glacier Baywere covered in ice asrecently as 200 years

ago. Today, it is thelocation of the world’s

largest non-polarice fields.

Scott Gende.

PEOPLE | Scott Gende, coastal ecologist and senior science adviser, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska

A scientific research project to limit whale-watching ships’ impact on sea mammals

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Glacier Bay National Parkin Alaska is part of a WorldHeritage site that includes theU.S. Wrangell-St. Elias NationalPark and the Canadian nationalparks Kluane in the Yukon andTatshenshini-Alsek Park inBritish Columbia

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