Nancy Tarnai
907-474-5042
9/30/10

A celebration of public/private partnerships was held despite blustery wind at the Georgeson Botanical Garden Sept. 17.

With the completion of a new cordwood shed, the GBG joined forces with Summer Sessions to dedicate the structure in an informal ceremony.

“When I saw this beautiful shed I wanted to bring the class back to see it and acknowledge all the partners,” said Michelle Bartlett, director of Summer Sessions, sponsor of the workshop held July 27-29.

Bartlett originally invited Rob Roy, cordwood construction expert, to give a lecture at UAF and he asked why he would come all the way to Alaska just to give a talk when he could offer a workshop also.

She noted that Roy said he had never seen a site as well prepared as the one at GBG. That was due to the diligent efforts of Agriculture Lab Assistant Grant Matheke, who did the framework and all the other preparations. “I was pleased to do it,” Matheke said. “I liked it because there were no architectural drawings, no change orders and no trying to fit things that didn’t fit. It all came together nicely.”

Matheke participated in the class when he had time and donated the door and windows for the structure. Bartlett said that the building should be named “Matheke House” to recognize his efforts for the project.

“It’s too nice to be a shed,” said GBG Director Pat Holloway. While the original intention was a place to keep garden tools, she might find another use for it. “You guys did a good job,” Holloway said. “It’s a nice addition and it’s a good conversation piece for this part of the garden.”

Next spring the building will get a sod roof, screens and more paint.

Bartlett recognized the project’s partners: Jenny Campbell (UAF Design and Construction project manager}, Norcon Inc. and IBEW 1547. “Everybody worked hard to make this a reality,” Bartlett said.

announcements and research highlights from the UAF School of Natural Resources & Agricultural Sciences

By Ned Rozell
907-474-7468
9/30/10

At the end of this century, more graceful white bodies of migrating trumpeter swans will glide over Alaska. Alpine

slopes will be quieter, with less piercing whistles from the Alaska marmot. Caribou will find fewer patches of tasty lichen and other favorite foods. A lanky grass will invade the Seward Peninsula and explode along Alaska’s road system. This may be the Alaska of 2099.

Or it may not.

However, this is the best-guess scenario of researchers who used climate models and all the relevant information they could find to predict the future of Alaska landscapes, how the state’s ecosystems may change, and how all that could affect four different species in Alaska. Karen Murphy and John Morton of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Nancy Fresco and Falk Huettmann compiled the report with the help of many others.

The team used data from Alaska weather stations to prime the best computer models representing climate. The data was combined with the knowledge of scientists with years of field experience. Murphy, Morton, Fresco and Huettmann chose to look at caribou because those animals exist all over the state and so many people depend upon them for food; Alaska marmots because they can probably thrive nowhere else but their high-country habitats in Alaska; trumpeter swans because they are a migratory bird that can choose their own places to nest based in part on ice-free days; and reed canary grass because it is an invasive weed species that already has a toehold on the Kenai Peninsula.

With many cautionary notes in their report about the reliability of attempting to predict the future with computer models (which is problematic, just ask your weatherman), the researchers drew maps showing the predicted future ranges of caribou, Alaska marmots, trumpeter swans and reed canary grass.

Their predictions for 2090-2099 show less ideal Alaska habitat for the Alaska marmot and caribou, and more for trumpeter swans and reed canary grass. The report is for “anyone who has to make decisions about long-range management planning, primarily land managers,” said Fresco, network coordinator of the Scenarios Network for Alaska Planning at UAF.

She advised against people taking the predictions as the way things are going to be.  ”It was the best we could do given the data at the time,” she said. “All the projections have to be taken with all the caveats. These are possible scenarios, but we’re not trying to lock ourselves into saying it’s going to happen this way or that way.”

The report, “Connecting Alaska Landscapes into the Future,” is more of a new way to look at things than a management tool, said Tom Paragi, a wildlife biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game who helped group members compile information about caribou.  ”It’s a way to test hypotheses,” he said. “In the next 10 to 20 years, let’s see if there’s evidence of change toward these scenarios . . . It’s a different way of thinking long-term, but it’s nothing we take and run with right now.”

Fresco said group members are now working on more detailed reports for both Alaska and Canada.  ”We’re trying to do more of the same with better and more data,” she said, adding that even though the projections aren’t perfect, they might inspire people to look ahead.  ”All planning involves uncertainty,” she said. “Using uncertainty as an excuse to avoid thinking about the future is not usually the best option.”

This column is provided as a public service by the Geophysical Institute,
University of Alaska Fairbanks, in cooperation with the UAF research
community. Ned Rozell is a science writer at the institute.

Diana Campbell
907-474-5221
9/29/10

The University of Alaska Fairbanks will study how the genetics and diet of Yup’ik Eskimos affect the blood-thinning properties of a common drug used by heart and stroke patients.

The research could lead to personalized drug prescriptions. The UAF Center for Alaska Native Health Research will conduct the research as part of a $1.02 million National Institutes of Health sub-award through the University of Washington.

“We’ll be looking at the genetic code that contributes to the rate the body breaks down the blood thinner warfarin,” said Bert Boyer, acting CANHR director. “Knowing this information may eventually help physicians find a safe and effective dose.”

CANHR researchers will team with UW professors Wylie Burke and Ken Thummel and others to create a Northwest-Alaska center to study pharmacogenomics—how genetics affects a person’s ability to process drugs—in rural and underserved populations. UW received a five-year, $10 million grant from the NIH Pharmacogenomics Research Network and is one of 14 awardees nationally.

Pharmacogenomics researchers are looking to identify how genes could be used to tailor drug prescriptions to make them more effective and safer for patients.

Warfarin is a successful, but hard-to-manage, blood thinner, especially for people with limited access to health care like Alaska’s Yup’ik Eskimos in the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta, where the CANHR study will take place. Too much of it could cause hemorrhaging and too little leads to blood clotting and blockage, Boyer said. A patient has to be monitored closely.

Genes have a substantial effect on the way the body processes drugs, he said. “If we know how genetic changes contribute to warfarin breakdown, perhaps physicians could prescribe a safe and effective dose more quickly.”

Previous research in the United States has documented warfarin’s interaction with genes in the Caucasian population, but Alaska Natives and Native Americans have not been studied.

CANHR researchers will also look at how polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamin K interact with warfarin among the Yup’ik people. Their marine-based diet is rich in the fatty acids, but not foods with a lot of vitamin K, which is commonly found in green, leafy vegetables. The fatty acids are believed to act as a blood-thinning agent while vitamin K encourages blood clotting, Boyer explained.

The project will also offer a chance to use an isotopic measurement tool developed by CANHR, said Diane O’Brien, a scientist at the center. Typically, researchers studying diet ask participants questions about what and how much they eat and analyze the answers. However, O’Brien found that the stable isotope nitrogen 15 can be found in hair and blood samples and is an accurate measurement of how much polyunsaturated fatty acids a person has eaten.

“It’s a quick, inexpensive and easy way to measure fish intake,” O’Brien said. “It was CANHR-developed and now being applied. It’s exciting.”

CANHR, part of the UAF Institute of Arctic Biology, was established in 2001 by a NIH National Center for Research Resources grant. CANHR’s mission is to build and increase research capacity to improve Alaska Native health.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Bert Boyer, CANHR acting director, 907-474-7733, [email protected]. Diane O’Brien, CANHR associate professor, 907-474-5762, [email protected].

ON THE WEB: http://canhr.uaf.edu

DC/9-29-10/059-11

Debbie Carter
907-474-5406
9/28/10

The Anchorage Cooperative Extension Service office is moving to a new location.

The office at 2221 East Northern Lights Boulevard will close Sept. 30. The new location in the Kaloa Building at 1675 C Street will open Oct. 5.

The new location will offer more space, videoconferencing for distance-delivery classes, easier access and better parking. Office phone numbers are expected to remain the same.

The public is invited to attend an open house on Oct. 30 at the new location. For information, contact the Anchorage office at 907-786-6300.

MEDIA CONTACT: Debbie Carter, Extension information officer, 907-474-5406, [email protected].

ON THE WEB: www.uaf.edu/ces

DC/9-28-10/058psa-11

Marmian Grimes
907-474-7902
9/28/10

Download a map of UAF recycling dumpster locations

The University of Alaska Fairbanks will launch its renewed paper-and cardboard-recycling program this week with a barbecue Thursday, Sept. 30 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. outside Wood Center on the UAF campus.

The recycling program is the first major project of the new UAF Office of Sustainability. The office coordinates campuswide sustainability efforts, which are supported by the chancellor’s office, UAF Auxiliary and Business Services, Facilities Services and the Student Initiative for Renewable Energy. The initiative, passed by students in 2009, levied a $20-per-semester student fee to support sustainability efforts on the UAF campus. After students passed the initiative, Chancellor Brian Rogers agreed to match the fee. The match and the fee will provide about $400,000 a year for sustainability programs at UAF.

As part of the new paper-and cardboard-recycling effort, the university has distributed 30 green recycling dumpsters throughout campus. Departments and residence halls will appoint a person or team to promote recycling in their area. Students and staff and faculty members will be asked to empty their recycling bins into the dumpsters each day. Twice a week, all the waste paper will be taken to K&K Recycling to be used in a biomass heat and power plant.

“Recycling paper saves both landfill space and dumping fees,” said Michele Hebert, UAF sustainability coordinator. “It is a win-win situation. We are not longer talking waste stream, we are talking resource stream.”

Hebert and her team of student employees are planning other sustainability projects, including a thermostat program to reduce energy use by cars, energy conservation competitions in campus residence halls and the addition of more gardens on campus.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Michele Hebert, UAF sustainability coordinator, at 907-474-2423 or [email protected].

MG/9-28-10/057-11

Marmian Grimes
907-474-7902
9/27/10

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ceaser Williams will give a free public lecture Wednesday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center in downtown Fairbanks.

Williams’ lecture, “Iron Williams: Life and Times,” will chronicle his four decades of work as a writer and editor at papers like the Kansas City Star, Philadelphia Inquirer and Atlanta Journal-Constitution, as well as his work to support minority journalists.

The lecture is part of the University of Alaska Fairbanks journalism department’s C. W. Snedden Guest Lecture Series.

MEDIA CONTACT: UAF journalism department at 907-474-7761. Marmian Grimes, UAF public information officer, at 907-474-7902 or via e-mail at [email protected].

MLG/9-27-10/056psa-11

Nancy Tarnai
907-474-5042
9/27/10

If the lifestyle of true woodsmen appeals to you, mark your calendar for the 13th annual Farthest North Forest Sports Festival Oct. 2 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The day’s activities include ax throwing, log rolling, bow saw and crosscut sawing, fire building and more. Everyone is welcome to participate as individuals or as teams of four to six. Observers are also invited to this free event. Awards will be granted to individuals, teams and the “Bull of the Woods” and “Belle of the Woods.”

Faculty members and students at UAF’s Department of Forest Sciences developed the competition as a way to commemorate old-fashioned forest festivals. While high-technology tools are the norm for forest professionals in today’s world, the festival pays tribute to a time when traditional woods activities were the basis for work and play, survival and revival.

The morning events begin at 10 a.m. at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm fields across from the Georgeson Botanical Garden. At 1 p.m. the games move to Ballaine Lake on Farmers Loop. A warming fire and hot drinks will be available at the lake. Participants are advised to dress warmly.

The festival is sponsored by the UAF School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Sciences and the Resource Management Society, a student organization.

For more information, contact John Fox at 907-474-7084 or [email protected].

CONTACT: John Fox at 474-7084 or [email protected]. Nancy Tarnai, UAF School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences public information officer, 474-5042 or [email protected].

NT/9-27-10/055-11

Nancy Tarnai
907-474-5042
9/24/10

Tickets are now on sale for the sixth annual Chena Fest dinner, which is planned for Saturday, Oct. 2 at 5:30 p.m. at Chena Hot Springs Resort.

The event is a celebration recognizing agricultural production in the Tanana Valley and is a fundraiser for local Future Farmers of America chapters, including Effie Kokrine FFA, North Pole FFA and Fairbanks FFA. The University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences coordinates statewide FFA activities.

The dinner, prepared by the chefs at Chena Hot Springs, is an all-Alaska meal. Soups and salads feature Alaska-grown ingredients, with entrees of beef and poultry. Vegetables dishes will feature locally grown potatoes, broccoli, green beans, cauliflower, squash, carrots, celery, onions, radishes and corn. Breads and a strawberry dessert complete the menu.

Tickets are $25. Call 907-978-6455 to purchase or e-mail jwwer[email protected]. Door prizes include Chena Hot Springs Resort ice museum and pool passes and admission to the Tanana Valley State Fair in 2011.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Jeff Werner, Alaska FFA advisor, 907-474-6932, [email protected].

NT/9-24-10/054-11

Amy Hartley
907-474-5823
9/23/10

The United States Navy has awarded the University of Alaska Fairbanks up to $47 million to test and evaluate payloads aboard small, unmanned aircraft.

The UA Unmanned Aircraft Program, part of the UAF Geophysical Institute, will lead the research. The program will test unmanned aircraft and how they perform in harsh conditions. In addition, they will evaluate payloads, which are packages of data-collection instruments carried on the aircraft.

The program currently has a fleet of four unmanned aerial systems. Each weighs about 40 pounds and has a wingspan of 10 feet. The aircraft are Insitu ScanEagles — relatively compact models — that can fly more than 20 hours at a time, boosting their versatility for working in remote and often extreme conditions. The fleet will soon expand in size and diversity, adding new models of aircraft that are both larger and smaller than the ScanEagles.

Having performed flights based aboard ships in the Bering Sea and flying the ScanEagles through dense wildfire smoke blanketing Interior Alaska, the UA Unmanned Aircraft Program has a demonstrated history of operating systems in less-than-ideal conditions. In addition, the program has maneuvered through the complex web of policies and permits needed for flying unmanned aerial systems through various types of airspace.

This experience was key to landing the Navy contract, said Greg Walker, manager of the UA Unmanned Aircraft Program. “The Navy was looking for proven performance and we believe our experiences in harsh environments secured this award.”

To boost the program’s ability to meet a broad spectrum of challenges, the program has partnered with 27 industry leaders, including large corporations, small businesses, not-for-profit corporations and other universities. The diversity achieved by so many partners allows the team to address a multitude of research scenarios the Navy could assign as part of the contract.

“With well over 400 years of combined experience, the University of Alaska team has an understanding of today’s challenges facing unmanned aerial system platform and payload use and development,” Walker said. “With the historical knowledge and direct experience, our team is thoroughly familiar with safety, technical, and risk challenges and airspace usage.”

The University of Alaska Unmanned Aircraft Program was created in 2006. The program’s fleet is based at Poker Flat Research Range, located north of Fairbanks on the Steese Highway.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Greg Walker, UA Unmanned Aircraft Program manager, 907-455-2102, or [email protected]. Marmian Grimes, UAF public information officer, at 907-474-7902 or [email protected].

AH/9-23-10/053-11

Ned Rozell
474-7468
9/22/10

Attracted by some of the smallest creatures in Alaska, dozens of the state’s largest gathered last week off Point Barrow. Bowhead whales in groups of almost 100 were grouped a few tens of miles from Barrow to take advantage of one of the richest whale feeding hotspots off the coast of Alaska. Steve Okkonen was there to see them in the shallow waters above the continental shelf north of Barrow.

“The whales we saw Friday and Saturday were in eight meters of water,” said Okkonen, a research associate professor with the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. “That’s an eight-meter (-long) animal in eight meters of water, sometimes up to a 15-meter animal in eight meters of water.” The creatures, weighing more than 100 bull moose, were congregating off Point Barrow because of a staggering concentration of one of their favorite foods, krill.

Krill, shrimplike organism about an inch long, are so small it would take a few hundred to fill a cereal bowl. Okkonen and researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the University of Rhode Island, the North Slope Borough and others are studying the Barrow whale-feeding hotspot to determine how unique and important it is, a question developers will be forced to ponder when considering which areas to alter in the search for oil and gas.

From the Annika Marie, a 43-foot research ship, Okkonen and his colleagues witnessed a phenomenon common offshore of Barrow in the fall. Strong east winds help create a current that forces krill toward the shallow continental shelf from the depths of the Beaufort Sea. These east winds also push the krill-infested waters westward along the Beaufort coast toward Point Barrow. When the east winds settle down, another current flowing northeastward up the Chukchi Sea coast acts as a wall. “The krill will tend to stack up,” Okkonen said. Sometimes swimming in an echelon formation reminiscent of migrating geese, bowhead whales plow through the stacks of krill, filling their bathtub-size bellies with tens of thousands. Okkonen and his coworkers want to find out how the Barrow hotspot compares to other great feeding areas along the whales’ annual migratory path through cold northern waters. Bowheads spend their entire lives in the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas.

“In Alaska (the Point Barrow area) is the hotspot, but how important is that spot?” Okkonen asked, adding that areas off Camp Simpson and Kaktovik are also productive for whales. “We also want to find out if krill overwinter (off Point Barrow after the sea ice forms).”

Point Barrow is an important place for bowhead whales, which pass it during spring as they move from the northern Bering Sea to where they spend their summers in the Canadian arctic. Barrow-area Natives have harvested bowheads in both spring and fall for thousands of years.

Researchers including Okkonen wrote a paper detailing the Barrow hotspot and the prevalence of bowheads in the June 2010 issue of Arctic. Here is their conclusion: “Because . . . whales appear to persist despite ongoing climate variability, the fall whale harvest by the Inupiat community at Barrow should be relatively resilient to climate change. The whale harvest at Barrow could, however, be particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic activities such as ship traffic, oil development, or an oil spill.”

This column is provided as a public service by the Geophysical Institute,
University of Alaska Fairbanks, in cooperation with the UAF research
community. Ned Rozell is a science writer at the institute.