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April 2023 Outlook

Alaska 4-H'ers in Juneau

— Marla Lowder

Four young ladies from around the state and two adult advisers participated in 4-H Youth in Governance in Juneau from March 26-31. They wrote a mock bill before going and then met with the Legislative Information Office in Juneau and learned how bills become bills and then laws. They used the mock bill they wrote and had mock committee meetings. They were pages in the House and Senate for a session. They also met with as many legislators as possible while there. They toured the governor's house and met the governor. Fun evenings included meeting with the Luge club leader from Juneau and going Luge sledding. They all had a blast. It was a great week that was fun and educational.

Here's what the participants had to say:

Jacquelyn Davis:

We have been meeting with different senators and representatives every day, and it's been so cool to listen to all the different answers we got from each person! On Wednesday we got to be guest pages, Ell and I were in the House, and Mia and Kelsey were in the Senate. It was so cool to watch how they came to decisions, and it was cool to meet the people afterwards and ask them about the reasons why they voted for or against each bill proposed. The breakfast was super fun because it was neat to see the representatives and senators in a room, eating waffles outside of their offices and looking relaxed and stuff. Super cool project and I hope to do it again next year!

Kelsey Gravelle:

It's been so fun to be here in Juneau and meet with all the senators and representatives. The people in the capitol are so kind and they've been interested to learn about 4-H and what we do. Page day was so cool! I was able to work in the Senate side and pass notes to senators. Another great thing here are the other 4-H'ers. It's been great to get to know them and bond with them. Overall, it's been an amazing experience.

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Upcoming classes & activities

Workshops set for Southeast Alaska communities

Prince of Wales Island residents can learn about growing, harvesting and preserving food safely in classes designed to increase local food security. 

Sarah Lewis, the Juneau-based health, home and family development agent for the University of ������AV Cooperative Extension Service, is heading out on her family’s boat, the Pacific Sapphire, later this month. She will be joined by Jasmine Shaw, the Sitka-based food, youth and gardening program assistant for Extension in Southeast Alaska.

They will visit Edna Bay on April 28; Klawock on April 30; Hollis on May 1; Thorne Bay on May 3; Kasaan on May 4; Coffman Cove on May 5; Craig on May 6-7; Naukati Bay on May 8; and Port Protection/Point Baker on May 9. 

Lewis and Shaw will teach a variety of classes to youth and adults on food safety and preservation, food entrepreneurship and gardening, as well as test pressure canner dial gauges. They will kick off their time on the island with a Putting Up POW Grub event at the Prince of Wales Vocational and Technical Education Center in Klawock on April 30. They, along with members of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservationʼs statewide produce safety team, also will work with market gardeners and greenhouse managers across the island.

Many of the activities are free; others have a small fee. For more information, visit . For more information, contact Lewis at sarah.lewis@alaska.edu, 907-455-2010.

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May is Native Plant Month

May is Native Plant Month and the UAF Cooperative Extension Service's Anchorage Outreach Office is offering four virtual workshops, available statewide.

 

• May 10, 1-2 p.m. — Invasive Chokecherry Trees in Alaska: Learn about the impacts that this ornamental, but invasive, tree has on resources in Alaska and how it can be controlled. Registration: 
• May 17, noon to 1 p.m. — Landscaping with Native Plants: Learn about the advantages of including native plants in your landscape, such as providing a natural habitat for native birds and insects. Registration: 
• May 18, noon to 1 p.m. — Backyard Insect Ecology: Learn about the insects in your backyard and their role in the environment. You'll see lots of photos to help ID insects commonly found in the state. Registration: 
• May 24, noon to 1 p.m. — Landscaping for the Birds: Join Bird Treatment Learning Center volunteer and bird biologist Lisa Pajot and local landscape architect M. Elise Huggins as they present the birds most likely to visit your yard, and how to attract them. Registration: 

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Listening sessions continue in Juneau

— Jenn Wagaman

Last week, IANRE Director Jodie Anderson visited Juneau. She will visit Sitka on April 25-28. Her listening sessions are allowing her to meet with all of the fantastic IANRE staff in the communities we serve, and hear from community stakeholders on the programs and needs in each area.

 

Being in Juneau also gave her the chance to talk IANRE and food security with legislators, and check out Sarah Lewis’ boat before she embarks on another maritime Extension tour. Jodie also had the opportunity to meet gardeners, storytellers, service providers and many others in the Juneau community.

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Lingering winter delays birch sap run, green-up

— Julie Stricker

Jan Dawe of OneTree Alaska and Rick Thoman, a climate specialist with the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, have been working together to find a formula that will allow them to predict sap flow and green-up — which also heralds the start of the pollen season.

Starting March 1, Dawe starts to track the temperature.

She adds up the number of degrees by which the maximum temperature exceeds 32 degrees Fahrenheit each day, called the Accumulated Heat Sum (AHS). Sap usually starts running by the time the tally reaches 225° AHS, depending on the location of the tree.

OneTree Alaska issues a “sap watch” by 175° AHS and recommends peopleon south-facing slopes tap up then.

Knowing when the sap is likely to start running is important for people who tap birch trees for the sweet liquid, which can be distilled into an even sweeter syrup, Dawe said. Tapping too early results in the tree sealing over the tap hole, blocking sap flow, and tapping too late misses the first days of sweet, clear sap.

So far this season, the tally reached 70° AHS on April 4, and stalled as cold weather moved in and refused to budge, Dawe said. On April 17, it had inched up to 85.

While they're waiting for the sap season to start, Dawe and lead sugar master Pearson Brodie are boiling down sap from last season that they froze and stored over the winter. Here's a  from the UAF University Relations office.

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Joey has been providing these weekly posts since mid-October 2020, not long after he joined us. They are some of our most popular posts. They are so popular one person thought we should do a Bug of the Week calendar!

Joey selects a “bug” each week, sometimes based on calls he may be getting about a specific bug, sometimes based on the time of year, or what he thinks will be interesting.

Some of the critters (not all are insects) that have been featured are the snow flea, birch leaf miner, mosquito, woolly alder aphid, carpenter ant, knotweed psyllid, ice worm, European black slug and bot fly, just to name a few. And spiders. Joey knows a lot about spiders. He provides interesting facts about each one such as habitat, mating habits, lifespan and whether they are harmful or helpful to the environment.

You can find the posts on these Facebook pages every Thursday at 7 a.m.

 also shares these posts every week.

You can submit unknown pests (plants, insects, diseases, etc.) through the UAF Citizen Scientists Monitoring Portal: or contact Joey Slowik at jaslowik@alaska.edu.

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Peony Fest starts on July 12 and the popular Wine and Peonies event is scheduled for July 19. The Harvest Project Collaborative is getting a new home, with its new garden going in one of the former reindeer pens. Also, learn all about currants at the Far North Currant Fest on Aug. 26.

For more information, check out the 

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MAPTS featured in spring Aurora magazine.

Students go underground to find rock-steady jobs

— Julie Stricker

In a UAF-owned tunnel southeast of Delta Junction, hundreds of Alaskans have learned the skills needed to succeed in underground mine jobs — and many others. Read the story or download the pdf.

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Entering the busy season for MAPTS

Instructors from  pose at the mine training center near Delta Junction in April.  and the  look forward to a bright future with this international partnership!

In addition to the Greenland visit, MAPTS has three very full surface mining classes coming up and is seeing huge demand from residents who are looking for training for the Manh Choh Project.

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While building a satellite is quite complicated and rewarding in its own way (space is a harsh environment after all), nothing comes quite close to the exhilaration of launching something at 100 mph. SSEP regularly launches paper rockets as a K-12 student outreach activity and the potato-cannon-esque PVC rocket launchers SSEP uses only whet its appetite.

On Feb. 7, the decision was made to have a simple rocketry competition and the UAF Experiment Farm fields were chosen as the launch site for their wide area with few trees and other obstacles. The competition would follow the National Association of Rocketry (NAR)’s rules and use any lightweight non-metal parts (paper, cardboard, 3D printed, etc.) for the nose, body, and fins.

On April 15, with a NAR-certified student member acting as Range Safety Officer to inspect and ensure no dangerous rockets were launched, three student-built Class-B model rockets were flown. While all three rockets were disqualified for failing to deploy parachutes, the otherwise-top rocket reached a peak altitude of about 300 feet.

Using the lessons learned, SSEP plans to host another rocketry competition next fall. The next competition will be open to all students, faculty and staff.

— For more information, you can contact Charles Emerson at uaf-spacegrant@alaska.edu or Quetzal Luebke-Laroque at uaf-ssep@alaska.edu

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4-H Update

Anchorage 4-H update

— Misha Chakraborty

On March 22,  4-H youth coordinator Misha Chakraborty presented at the Alaska Tribal Conference on Environmental Management. The topic was how to help youth understand and utilize non-verbal cues.

She said, "I loved the opportunity to talk about 4-H in general and specifically about Anchorage 4-H's focus on serving the community. The presentation was well attended and created a lot of interest, with a lot of follow-up emails asking about 4-H and how to join.

"It was a good networking opportunity and also a great platform to make Anchorage 4-H more visible."

Junior Master Gardeners

Anchorage 4-H and Steve Brown are also working with Alaska Native Charter School and Rogers Park Elementary on a Junior Master Gardeners program. Brown estimates the program currently has 150 participants, who are growing giant cabbages at home. Misha said they hope to expand to other schools, depending on funding.

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In the News

• Art Nash and Glenna Gannon joined Jeff Lowenfels and Nasuġraq Rainey Hopson on Talk of Alaska on March 28 to . 
• This story features former Sitka 4-H'er Hannah Brekel, who got her start with birding during Sitka 4-H birding walks: 
• Leslie Shallcross' column in the April 2 News-Miner: 
• Reina Hasting's column in the April 9 News-Miner: 

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

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Events