Mountain Voices | Are Alaskan Huskies a Vulnerable Species? Climate Impacts on Sled Dog Teams

Photo credit: AParadis photography

‘They used to have that sled dog race…’ is a comment mushers hear often, ‘back when we had snow.’ But lack of snow cover isn’t the only threat to the world of mushers and their sled dogs: heat waves, high rains, humidity, ice. Many of these changes have occurred rapidly in the last 10 years, requiring endless adaptations by mushers to keep dogs running. View these climate impacts through the chronicles of a competitive sled dog team, a team of athletes whose ancestral purpose is to run on snow.

Sally Manikian has 17 years of mushing experience, competing in diverse race formats from the iconic Laconia World Championship open class sprint race in NH to the Can Am Crown 250 mile (ME) and UP200 (MI) races. She currently competes in, and sometimes wins, 100 mile races. Sally’s day job is as The Conservation Fund’s NH and VT State Director, where she works to conserve high priority lands for diverse purposes including climate resiliency, offering an overlap with her climate-threatened passion for mushing. You can learn more and follow her team via Shady Pines Sled Dogs: www.shadypinessleddogs.com and on Instagram and Facebook.

This event will be hybrid. To receive a Zoom link, please register HERE.