Alaska Climate Specialist Rick Thoman sat down with The Sun Star to discuss Fairbanks’ recent warm weather and seasonal patterns in our land of extremes.  

Over most of Alaska, including Fairbanks, it has been a mild fall season with fairly low amounts of snow, though Fairbanks had one of the wettest Octobers on record. “The vast majority of that precipitation at valley level came as rain,” he said.

UAF’s ceramics studio filled with the sounds of clattering platters and the homely smell of turkey last Tuesday as students, faculty and art alumni gathered for the annual kiln-cooked turkey potluck. This decades-old campus tradition continues to draw a crowd year after year.

After financial turmoil, staff furlough Northern Center squares its debts with help from the Alaska conservation foundation and ‘night for the north’ event

The Northern Alaska Environmental Center is moving forward with a recovery plan after paying off debts following near financial ruin. At the beginning of September, following a separation with their executive director, board members said they discovered there was not enough funds for payroll. This led to the furloughing of the entire staff and pausing on all programs.

Community members, farmers, and Indigenous food advocates gathered Nov. 22 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks for a town hall on food security as the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, funding becomes increasingly uncertain and local food systems face growing pressures.

Organized by Concerned Residents of Interior Alaska and co-sponsored by UAF’s Office of Sustainability, Resource Management Society, and the Alaska Farmers Market Association, the town hall featured a panel followed by breakout sessions focused on strengthening Fairbanks’ culturally rooted food systems.