March 2025 Outlook

Note from Director Jodie Anderson:

Cultivating our own gardens

At our Institute, we pride ourselves on service. Whether it’s teaching a skill in a small community, helping 4-H youths learn about the world around them or seeking scientific knowledge for our farmers and communities, we are all working every day to enrich the lives of Alaskans. 

Last month our IANRE family lost one of our consummate helpers, Dr. Steve Brown. Steve was a fixture of the gardening and Extension community in Palmer, and known around the state for his work in the Master Gardener Program, as an avid outdoorsman and for his popular Chicken University class. We share a collective grief for Steve and his family. 

As the weather warms and your minds turn to summer plans, know that our Institute is hard at work for you. Take a look at our calendar and join us for a class or workshop, or download a publication to help you get started on a project. We are all helpers, and we know that our work allows you to contribute in your communities as well.

Be well,
Jodie

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Remembering our colleague, Stephen Brown

Stephen Brown, IANRE’s Palmer-based agriculture and horticulture Cooperative Extension Service agent, passed in his sleep at home on Feb. 23. .

Steve was an integral part of the agricultural community in Alaska, known for his kindness, endless supply of practical information, sense of humor, spirit and sense of adventure, which led him to the top of mountains around the world. Heidi Rader shared the following column Steve wrote after the two met up at the 14,000-foot camp on Denali in 2009. She said, “he will be missed. I wanted to share one of his gardening publications that may have never been officially published that still cracks me up.”

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Passing of retired forestry professor emeritus John Fox

Dr. John Fox passed away from complications from Parkinson's disease and dementia on Jan. 27, 2025. . 

John began his career at �պ����� in 1973 and retired in 2011. Jodie Anderson points to an excerpt from his obituary that stood out to her. 

“As an associate professor at �պ�����, John did decades of research on both the Harding Lake and Spinach Creek watersheds, but his favorite part of the job was teaching. His classes included computer simulation, watershed management and his favorite — environmental ethics. John was truly a philosopher at heart and he loved helping students learn how to approach ethical dilemmas with honesty, logic and integrity. His passion for teaching earned him two National Association of College Teachers of Agriculture Teaching Awards and the 2009 Usibelli Teaching, Research, and Service Award. He also supported �պ�����'s students as the NCAA faculty athletics representative. He was honored nationally for his work with his election as a Fellow to the Society of American Foresters.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with this loss, please don’t struggle alone. Students can contact Student Health and Counseling Center for support or counseling. Call 907-474-7043 to speak with someone, or, for more information, visit the

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Support the Georgeson Botanical Garden and OneTree Alaska on Giving Day

 

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Are you an experienced leader with a passion for community outreach? Are you looking to advance your leadership skills to statewide and national relevance? The �պ����� Cooperative Extension Service (CES) is seeking a motivated candidate who can provide vision and direction for Alaska's land-grant mission. Visit or .

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Save the date! Arctic Research Open House is May 15

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Students, farmers and researchers gather for the 53rd annual Delta Farm Forum

   — Laura Weingartner
A group of students wearing dark blue corduroy jackets sat in the front row in Delta’s Junior/Senior High School gym early on Saturday, Feb. 22. Members of the Delta and Midnight Sun chapters of Alaska’s Future Farmers of America were there to introduce the day’s speakers and learn about more about the agriculture industry at the 53rd annual Delta Farm Forum,  

“It’s a great opportunity for the more introverted of us to get up and talk and meet farmers,” said Isabel Orona, president of the Midnight Sun Chapter. It’s her fourth year attending and helping with introductions. 

The day featured various presentations from financial resources for farmers to research in veterinary science and a discussion on Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposal to transition the Alaska Division of Agriculture into a state Department of Agriculture.

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Kenai farm visits highlight the diversity of livestock feeding strategies

A group of 4-H youth, parents, producers and Farm Bureau members gathered one early spring evening to learn more about livestock nutrient requirements and how those requirements change depending on the time of year and the animals’ stage of life.

Jim Vinyard, a livestock nutritionist with the �պ�����’ Institute of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Extension, explained how those requirements are different depending on the breed, sex and age of the animal and whether it's maintaining, growing, lactating or gestating.

By understanding the different factors affecting nutrient requirements, people can make adjustments when needed ,like when a cold spell hits or when the animal is lactating, which is the life stage when nutrient demands are highest. 

Vinyard traveled to Kenai to talk to 4-H students and other interested parties. He also visited farms raising livestock, which highlighted the many different strategies people use to meet their animals’ nutrient needs. 

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Check out the new videos on the

Heidi Rader has published a in your garden, and which varieties grow and produce well in Alaska. 

Gooseberry Peter and Gino Graziano teamed up to film two integrated pest management-themed videos. The first so that Cooperative Extension Service experts can identify them for you and answer your questions. The second . Learn the origin and purpose behind the mysterious cardboard cartons that are set in trees across Alaska each summer by Cooperative Extension Service technicians, and why monitoring for defoliator moths is an important tool for protecting Alaska’s forests from invasive species.

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Kawerak story on reindeer project in Northwest Alaska

A . highlights a major reindeer project Jackie Hrabok has been contributing to beginning in 2014 as joint faculty with the Sámi Education Institute in Finland and �պ����� Northwest Campus High Latitude Range Management Program. 

This spring, Jackie will join the project again (as HLRM-CES Faculty) with colleague Bonnie Scheele to provide training in the use of Savoonga’s new slaughterhouse for commercial reindeer meat production. She also is offering to develop and deliver a high school reindeer husbandry curriculum.

Kawerak is a nonprofit tribal consortium that provides over 40 different programs to the Inupiaq, St. Lawrence Island Yupik and Yup’ik people who reside in 16 communities of western Alaska and represents the 20 federally recognized tribes in the Bering Strait Region.

SNAP-Ed Program Manager Reina Hasting, left, and remote travel nutrition educator Allison Bruchhaus in Dillingham, where they held nutrition workshops with residents during the town’s annual Beaver Round-Up festival.

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SNAP-Ed travels to Dillingham

— Reina Hasting
SNAP-Ed remote travel nutrition educator Allison Bruchhaus and program manager Reina Hasting traveled to Dillingham last month for the Beaver Round-Up. It is a five-day festival and an exciting time for residents in the Bristol Bay region to come together for a variety of community activities. Allison had a workshop on how to identify added sugars using the nutrition facts label. Participants had the opportunity to help make a healthier smoothie and ride the smoothie bike. Allison also joined the �պ����� Bristol Bay Campus float.

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The National Land-Grant Impacts Database (NIDB) Communications team consists of professional agricultural communicators from across the land-grant system. In early 2025, the team, including IANRE’s Jenn Wagaman, reviewed over 1,000 recently submitted impact statements and selected exemplary impacts to highlight in educational articles, fact sheets, and a video. APLU, USDA NIFA and others use these materials throughout the year to promote the work of the land-grant university system.

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4-H Youth in Governance testimony in Senate Finance Committee

Marla Lowder accompanied nine youths to Juneau in February for the annual Youth in Governance 4-H Program. While there, they met with Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom and legislators, learned about how bills are introduced and move through the legislative process, and spoke to the Senate Finance Committee. You can .

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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’s happening on the IANRE online calendar. Scroll to the bottom of the page.

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In the News

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  Jim Vinyard talked to Alaska's New Source about the potential impact of volcanic ash on livestock: 
• Leslie Shallcross is a co-author of a paper titled
• Deanna Baier’s 4-H programs in the Bristol Bay region are highlighted in this and in the newsletter for the after-school program, right. 
• The Alaska Beacon featured Tribes Extension Program in this March 6 story:
• , published by the Tanana Chiefs Conference, featured Heidi Rader’s story
• The News-Miner has a story and photo package covering the Tanana District’s 4-H open house in the Feb. 11 paper:
• Marla Lowder’s March 9 column in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner:
• Heidi Rader’s March 2 gardening column in the News-Miner:
• Leslie Shallcross's Feb. 23 column in the News-Miner:
• Heidi Rader’s Feb. 16 gardening column in the News-Miner:
• Art Nash’s Feb. 9 column in the News-Miner:

 

(Note, if you don't subscribe to the News-Miner, you can read Extension columns on the )