April 2025 Outlook
From IANRE Director Jodie Anderson
I am dedicating this column to highlighting some of the amazing activities we are supporting around the state. I tried to limit myself, and it鈥檚 already longer than it should be. The short of it is, IANRE faculty and staff are spread out across Alaska, working hard to enrich the lives of community members. Take a look at our calendar and find something you鈥檙e interested in, or read our and learn a little bit about the work that fuels our outreach. This list is by no means comprehensive, so I encourage you to take a few minutes searching our website to find out how we might serve you.
- This spring, we will plant more research projects at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm than we have in more than 10 years.
- Tanana District is gearing up to train a new cohort of StrongPeople trainers and host the State 4-H Horse Contest.
- Kenai 4-H will be holding its annual tree sale in May at the Soldotna Creek Park.
- Mat-Su Extension agents are headed to Valdez, Copper River and Talkeetna to provide pressure gauge testing, while in Palmer our livestock nutritionist will teach an array of animal nutrition classes.
- The birch sap is flowing, and workshops and outreach events are being held in Fairbanks, Anchorage and Palmer.
- Tribes Extension is headed to eight communities in the next four weeks, including three in the Glennallen area, and five in the Koyukuk/Yukon area (Ruby, Huslia, Beaver, Hughes and Galena). Workshops include soil and composting, gardening basics and growing berries.
- Juneau Extension has food safety, emergency preparedness and health classes going strong throughout their region. Stay tuned for the maritime extension program schedule coming soon!
- Dillingham 4-H is working on plans for its summer culture camp for kids throughout the southwest region.
- SNAP-Ed is headed to Nome to hold nutrition programming and classes.
- Nome will soon provide training in the use of Savoonga鈥檚 new slaughterhouse for commercial reindeer meat production and develop and deliver a high school reindeer husbandry curriculum.
- In Sitka, 4-H pH, an ocean chemistry education project, allows 4-H students and educators to collaborate with 日韩无码 researchers to monitor ocean chemistry. This project will include 4-H summer camps throughout Southeast Alaska in the summers of 2025 and 2026.
- Delta Junction is holding a bear safety class that will include practice in using (inert) bear spray and responding to bear encounters.
- Anchorage Extension has been planning an array of online classes and making them available to folks anywhere in the state on topics ranging from gardening in Alaska to soil testing to pesticide application.
- We鈥檒l be at the annual Arctic Research Open House on 日韩无码鈥檚 West Ridge on May 15. Come visit us, have some ice cream and chat with our researchers.
- The lumber grading program is hosting workshops in Palmer, Ketchikan and Fairbanks.
- Over 100 people signed up for an orange hawkweed seminar. Zoom was down, but we鈥檝e rescheduled it for May 21.
Be well,
Jodie
Celebration of life
A celebration of life for Steve Brown, CES agricultural and horticultural agent, will be held on Saturday, May 10, 2025, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Lazy Mountain Bible Church, 16005 E Shawn Drive in Palmer, Alaska. Refreshments will be offered after the service. Feel free to bring finger food to share. The event will also be available via .
Learn about our work at Arctic Research Open House
Join IANRE and 日韩无码 research programs for the Arctic Research Open House on Thursday, May 15, from 4 to 7 p.m. on 日韩无码鈥檚 Troth Yeddha Campus, West Ridge.
Discover 日韩无码鈥檚 extraordinary research groups. Stop along the way for fun, interactive activities that will bring you face-to-face with researchers in physical, biological and social science. To celebrate the Fairbanks community and a successful school year, the 日韩无码 vice chancellor for research will host a free ice cream social as one of the stops along the open house.
Access to events and parking will be free across West Ridge. Look for the signs!
For more information about the 2025 Arctic Research Open House, or email questions to 日韩无码-Research@alaska.edu.
Trapper cap publication is back in stock
Alaska Harvest Collaborative expands activities
鈥 Cathy Turner
The Alaska Harvest Collaborative is an experiential learning program housed at the
Fairbanks Experiment Farm on the Troth Yeddha鈥 Campus. You may have noticed the beautiful
raised bed garden in the old reindeer pens, an outdoor classroom we call the "Reindeer
Garden."
In 2025, we will offer a wider array of , with help from Glenna Gannon, assistant professor for sustainable food systems. These additions are a response to continued student interest in business-building skills and to make AHC more self-sustaining. More information and registration links will be coming soon. The AHC will continue to focus on biweekly training sessions, run in collaboration with the Nanook Grown student gardening mentors, to meet our original mission of serving student needs/interests in agricultural education and workforce preparation.
This summer, check out the AHC and Nanook Grown harvest stand at Music in the Garden on Thursdays at Georgeson Botanical Garden.
SNAP-Ed update
鈥 Reina Hasting
We have some longevity to celebrate! Dana Davis (pictured left in her office) and
Danielle Craven (pictured middle in Bethel during smelt season) both started in the
fall of 2023 and celebrated one year with CES SNAP-Ed. Reina Hasting (pictured right
teaching in early spring 2014) celebrated 10 years with CES.
SNAP-Ed had program activities in Anchorage, Bethel, Dillingham, Fairbanks, Mat-Su, Nenana and Nome this last quarter. We worked with schools, food banks and pantries and other nonprofit organizations to help make the healthier choice the easier choice for our communities.
Welcome to IANRE
Magdi Elsayed
Dr. Magdi Elsayed is a term research faculty with a specialty in weed science who will be working with the grain producers in the Delta area. He has an office in the 日韩无码 O鈥橬eill Building, Room 329.
Elsayed specializes in weed science, agronomy and integrated crop management with a background in applied weed management research. He has experience conducting field-based research, developing evaluation protocols and translating research findings into practical solutions for producers and industry stakeholders.
Zahidur Rahman
Dr. Zahidur Rahman is a research associate in the small grains breeding program. He has a master鈥檚 degree in plant pathology from Shimane University and a doctorate in bioenvironmental science from Tottori University. Both are in Japan.
Rahman led the Double Haploid laboratory and greenhouse operation for the University of Alberta鈥檚 canola breeding program for seven years. He also served as a research scientist for the Kansas Wheat Commission鈥檚 plant breeding and research organization (HPI), collaborating with the internationally recognized WGRC Gene Bank. He is based in Fairbanks.
Milestone for 鈥業t Grows in Alaska鈥 blog
The honeyberry/haskap article is the 75th article Heidi Rader has written for the .
Rader, now professor of Extension and director of the Alaska Tribes Extension Program, has been writing gardening-related articles for the Tanana Chiefs Conference monthly newsletter, The Council, for many years. In 2015, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner also began publishing Rader鈥檚 articles. In 2020, she transitioned all the articles to the 鈥淚t Grows in Alaska鈥 blog, so they were freely available to the public. Rader said she enjoys the blog format, and having a newspaper deadline helps keep her on schedule.
Seeds for Villages
鈥 Heidi Rader
This year, the Tribes Extension Program sent seeds to 26 villages in Interior Alaska
for 514 gardeners. Thanks to Anja Maijala for her hard work in making that happen.
This is funded with help from Tanana Chiefs Conference through funds from the Bureau
of Indian Affairs agriculture program. Marisa Mckasson also sent seeds out to her
region in the Aleutians and Southwest Alaska. Seeds are sent out in bulk along with
small plastic bags so that Tribes can hold a seed distribution program.
Alaska Food Policy Council Conference
鈥 Heidi Rader
The Alaska Food Policy Council Conference in Kodiak was a great success and was sold
out. There were quite a few attendees from IANRE who helped make the conference happen,
presented at the conference or had a booth.
The 2025 Alaska Food Festival: A gathering of minds for food security
鈥 Laura Weingartner
Dramatic weather contrasted with the welcoming atmosphere at the 2025 Alaska Food
Festival and Conference in Kodiak during the weekend of March 28鈥30, 2025. People
from various backgrounds 鈥 farmers, fishermen, business owners, educators and students
鈥 came together to discuss the state's unique food system challenges and solutions.
Nine students who are participating in the U.S. Department of Agriculture NextGen Program attended the conference in person.
鈥淭he primary goal (of students attending the conference) was to expand the awareness for students of the career opportunities that exist with regard to workforce needs in and around the agricultural industry in Alaska and beyond the state,鈥 said DeShana York, the NextGen project director.
New address for OneTree Alaska
OneTree Alaska
Box 756185
Fairbanks, AK 99775-6185
Upcoming activities
The next few months will be busy, with workshops and events planned all over the state. You can keep up-to-date with what鈥檚 happening on the IANRE online calendar. Scroll to the bottom of the page and check out what's happening statewide, in Palmer, Anchorage, Southeast, Fairbanks and Delta Junction.
In the News
- Alaska News Source featured OneTree Alaska's birch sap activities:
- Matanuska Experiment Farm and Extension Center manager Nelson Crone spoke with Alaska News Source about .
- Jim Vinyard talked to Alaska's New Source about the potential impact of volcanic ash on livestock:
- Art Nash's April 20 column in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner:
- Heidi Rader鈥檚 April 13 gardening column in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner:
- Reina Hasting鈥檚 April 6 column in the News-Miner:
- Heidi Rader鈥檚 March 30 gardening column in the News-Miner:
- Adrian Kohrt鈥檚 March 23 column in the News-Miner:
(Note, if you don't subscribe to the News-Miner, you can read Extension columns on the )