Published Sep 20, 2023 by Jack Barnwell

Twelve Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly and school board candidates fielded questions Tuesday afternoon at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Wood Center.

School board candidates included incumbents Tim Doran, Maggie Matheson and April Smith and challengers Bobby Burgess, Michael Humphrey and Meredith Maple. Assembly candidates included incumbents Jimi Cash and Tammie Wilson along with challengers Nick LaJiness and Liz Reeves Ramos, and Seat H candidates Aaron Gibson and Scott Crass.

Questions largely revolved around policy, education funding, balancing fiscal responsibility with community needs, and the best way to ensure that young people stay in Alaska. All questions were developed by UAF students.

Published Sep 20, 2023 by Emily Schwing

The expedition set out to advance what little is known about the prehistoric Far North. Over 16 days, the team traveled more than 100 river miles looking for the “right kind of rocks”: sandstones, shale and siltstones layered like a cake and exposed in bluffs that tower over the river’s swift current. Armed with a geologic map of Alaska and an academic paper published on a survey of the area’s sedimentary geology almost 40 years ago, the team hoped to find evidence that dinosaurs once roamed this part of Alaska and did so in abundance. “Finding dinosaurs in Alaska challenges everything we think we know about dinosaurs,” Fiorillo said. “They’re described as warm-climate, swamp-going things. It’s clear they were way more adaptable than I think we appreciate.”

One hundred million years ago, Alaska’s location on the globe wasn’t much different that it is now, but it was considerably warmer — similar to today’s climate in Portland or Seattle, thousands of miles south. McCarthy, a geologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said they can nail down what the landscape — the dinosaurs’ habitat — was like, based on his work measuring hundreds of meters of exposed sediments. It’s likely similar to the Yukon River landscape of today: A deltaic system, with lots of braided channels, swamps, ponds and thick forests. “We don’t know how much precipitation there was quantitatively,” he said, “But there’s enough clues in the rocks that there was plenty of water around.”

Many rocks held giant fossil leaves and cones from coniferous trees. In one spot, enormous petrified logs lined the riverbank. Kobayashi, who is a professor of paleontology at Japan’s Hokkaido University, used a shovel to dig one out of the riverbank’s silty sand and gravel under an unseasonably hot sun. “I’m not a tree person, I’m a dinosaur person,” he joked. Kobayashi, an expert on dinosaur bones, said finds like this can help answer questions about the dinosaur species that lived here and the kinds of plants they may have eaten. “This was probably a dense forest,” he said, pointing to at least four other large petrified logs protruding from the riverbank. Eventually, Kobayashi’s shovel revealed a roughly 3-foot-by-3-foot length of petrified wood, its rings clearly defined. The team took a sample, hoping that a colleague who specializes in ancient plants — a paleobotanist — can identify this and other fossil species.

Published Sep 20, 2023 by https://www.kyuk.org/people/emily-schwing

A team of scientists at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks just released its first “berry booklet.” It's part of a larger project that digs into the future of Alaska’s wild berries as the climate warms.

Berries, regardless of species, are a huge part of rural Alaska’s subsistence lifestyle. They are often the only fresh, local fruit available in remote villages. Their value is not lost on the Alaska Climate Science Center’s tribal resilience liaison, Malinda Chase.

A warming climate means where and how people harvest berries is changing. And over the years, communities across Alaska have developed climate change adaptation and mitigation plans.

Two years ago, Chase’s colleague, University of Alaska Fairbanks Research Association Professor Katie Spellman, started reading them.

“Malinda told me: ‘you go read all the climate adaptation plans and start there, because that’s where the important research needs to be,’” Spellman said.

Among dozens of plans she read, Chase said that she only found two references to scientific research specific to berries.

“It made it really clear that the science on berries, which is a topic that Alaskans care a lot about, was not accessible,” Spellman said.

Published Sep 20, 2023

Make sure you can enjoy your garden goodies all winter with proper storage methods. Check out the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service for information on safe canning and food preservation. Or for those wanting to go low tech, join Larry in bag-sucking season. ;)

The work's not done yet! Now's the time to get garlic bulbs planted, and start cleaning up your garden before freezing overnight temperatures leave you cold!

Published Sep 19, 2023

Fishing is Alaska’s favorite pastime. And while much of our state’s reputation as a premiere angling destination revolves around trophy-sized catches in famous rivers and remote locations, Alaska — and even the city of Anchorage — have a lot more to offer adventurous anglers.

The South Fork of Chester Creek, a mispronunciation of its Dena’ina name, Chanshtnu, “Grass Creek,) is familiar to anyone who has visited UAA. It flows under the Spine that connects the Student Union to the east end of campus and past the residence halls. Mostly ignored as a fishery by residents and visitors alike, a few diehard anglers on the Anchorage campus have discovered that it offers an opportunity to pursue beautiful — albeit small by Alaskan standards — wild trout and Dolly Varden in picturesque surroundings in the heart of our city and campus. 

UAA Department of Automotive & Diesel Technology Director Darrin Marshal, Diesel Power Technology Professor Nate Berry and others from the Transportation and Power Division have made an annual tradition of “fishing UAA” together in the fall. This is when the creek’s resident trout congregate around spawning salmon to eat their eggs, which makes for exciting fishing. This year, the crew invited UAA Marketing and Communications Photographer James Evans along to document and join the fun. 

Remember, if you fish Chester Creek at UAA: Respect the land, the stream and its fish. Much work has been done to restore salmon runs in Chester Creek and it seems to be helping. Their numbers continue to improve, but salmon fishing is completely off limits and will likely remain so. Trout may be fished from June 15–April 14 and up to five may be kept, but everyone who fished this day practiced catch-and-release and asked that you do the same. They would like UAA to maintain its quiet status as a university with an awesome trout stream. 

Published Sep 19, 2023 by Pam Dunklebarger

While reading a CNN article, I was made aware of how robust the emergency preparedness sales market is in terms of prepackaged kits to help people ride out a day or two of having no transportation or power at home. Yet there were an important couple of sentences mentioning that while money can buy the supplies, there are “‘intangibles” that are just as important. When confronted with either having to stay sequestered at home or office without electricity, or, when having to leave your home with only what you and your family can carry with them, there are certain variables that will help most situations.

For instance, communication is a key factor. Sit down with the whole family and talk about evacuation routes, how to turn off water or gas, or how to navigate a home when it is dark and things have been dumped from receding floodwaters or earthquake after the fact. In addition, talk through who will be responsible for collecting important documents or cash.

It isn’t just rehearsing or understanding within the house that is important for coordination during disrupting events, it is wise to talk with those on your street or in your neighborhood to figure out who knows CPR and who has medical training. It’s important to have a rapport with these folks, who you may need to rely on when you get to the bottom of your driveway during an unraveling disaster.

Many people go to fairs, conferences, trade shows and pick up meaningful materials or promo gizmos. Yet are they read, or are the items used ahead of time after reading through instructions to understand what tasks and for how long the gadget is safely used? Set up and try out the item to see if it will be operational before you have to use it in a tenuous situation. It is important to practice techniques such as loading button cell or triple A cell batteries into a flashlight while you are calm, your fingers are steady and you have good light to see what you are doing. Owning the goods doesn’t guarantee that the job will get done under urgent conditions unless they are tested and confirmed beforehand.

Published Sep 19, 2023

It has been a year of global extremes, with record breaking heat, severe drought, and unprecedented flooding. The switch to the weather pattern known as El Niño generally signals a turn toward more warming and NOAA reports that warmer than average sea surface temperatures will likely continue and may strengthen by mid winter. What might this mean for Alaska’s fall and winter storm season? We discuss the outlook and preparations on this Talk of Alaska.

GUESTS:

• Taylar Sausen – Regional Director of Communications, Red Cross of Alaska
• Bryan Fisher – Director, Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
• Rick Thoman – Alaska Climate Specialist, International Arctic Research Center, UAF