Agroborealis, Vol. 39, No. 2 (Winter/Spring 2007-2008)

Abstract

Bonita J. Neiland remembered: The woman instrumental in founding the School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences was a scientist ahead of her time. / Dorren Fitzgerald / Biomass for biofuels: not all trees are created equal: Alaska has vast stretches of forest: woody biomass that could be investigated for its potential as biofuel. Basic research is needed to determine the chemical composition and characteristics of the state's vast stores of the only renewable resource available capable of producing complex hydrocarbons. SNRAS researchers are conducting preliminary research into this potential through liquefaction of different tree species. / Andres Soria -- Muskox husbandry: Three commercial muskox farms and the University of Alaska Fairbanks are working on developing best practices for raising, feeding, and caring for muskoxen. / Deirdre Helfferich -- Boreal forest soils: nutrient cycling, microbes, and the fate of oil: In a long-term research experiment begun in 1977, a deliberate oil spill was created by researchers to study the effects of terrestrial oils spills on arctic and subarctic soils, microbes, and vegetation. In 2004, the experiment took an abrupt jog into uncharted territory when a wildfire burned through the closely-monitored study site. Yet, the destruction of one set of conditions laid the groundwork for new insight into nitrogen cycling and fire effects on boreal forest soils. / Doreen Fitzgerald, based on Jessica Garron's End of an Era of Experimental Oil Spill Sites -- Conflicting wildlife mandates: A new legal analysis finds that Alaska's wildlife management statute directly conflicts with the management mandates laid out by Congress in the National Park Service Organic Act and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. / Article adapted by Doreen Fitzgerald from original by Julie Lurman -- Agriculture 100 years ago: the search for self-sufficiency: Farmers in Fairbanks a century ago struggled with the same issues as we face today: competition from Outside, disbelief that agriculture is viable in the north, domestic animals and plants ill-adapted to Alaska's climate, lack of supporting infrastructure and organizations. In setting out to overcome these obstacles, they provided their modern counterparts with valuable examples in the search for a sustainable northern food industry. / Excerpts from Like a Tree to the Soil, by Jo Papp and Josie Phillips