New Cooperative Research Unit Based at UAF

Submitted by Doreen Fitzgerald
Phone: (907) 474-5042
06/13/03

The University of Alaska has been selected as the host institution for the new North and West Alaska Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit under the leadership of the UAF School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences and the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. The CESU program is a national network of creative partnerships among federal agencies, universities, and other nonprofit organizations.

The collaborations are designed to yield scientific information needed for managing federal resources, while enhancing university research and teaching efforts. Because agencies often must work together to address complex environmental issues that transcend administrative and scientific boundaries, the scope of the CESUs includes the biological, physical, social, and cultural sciences.

Each study unit serves a defined biogeographic area. The North and West Alaska CESU encompasses western Alaska (including the Aleutians), northcentral Alaska (the Interior), and arctic and subarctic Alaska. Southeast Alaska is included in the Pacific Northwest CESU, for which the University of Washington is the host institution; the UA Anchorage (UAA) and Southeast (UAS) campuses are partner institutions in that CESU.

"Our CESU will partner with the University of New Hampshire and the Alaska SeaLife Center, and other universities and non-university partnerships are being explored," said Carol Lewis, SNRAS dean, director of AFES, and principal investigator for the CESU project. "Because the host institution for our CESU is the entire University of Alaska, UAA and UAS also are participants in this initiative."

Federal land management, environmental, and research agencies share several science-based goals with universities: high-quality science, usable knowledge for resource managers, responsive technical assistance, continuing education, and cost-effective research programs. "The idea behind the CESU partnerships is that sharing resources and expertise will serve these interests," Lewis said." Participating agencies enjoy the advantage of university resources, which in turn gain financial support and enhanced personnel. Lewis said that as of mid-May five agencies have announced their participation: the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Geological Survey (Biological Resources Division), the National Park Service, the USDA Forest Service, and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The primary administrative functions of the CESU will be conducted within SNRAS/AFES, with administrative support from several other university entities. Participating federal agencies will pay the cost of CESU-affiliated federal employees stationed at the university, and will fund research and program development. As startup development funding, each participating federal agency will provide $10,000 for the Alaska CESU. University cooperators augment their CESU with services and funding as appropriate. The UA CESU proposal was completed by professors Gary Laursen, senior research professor at the UAF Institute of Arctic Biology and Peter Fix, assistant professor of outdoor recreation management at SNRAS. Further support was provided by Craig Dorman, UA vice president for research; Jim Johnson, now UA Vice president for human resources; and Ted DeLaca, UAF vice provost for research. The winning proposal covered the first five years of the North and West Alaska CESU, July 2, 2003 to June 30, 2008.

CONTACT Doreen Fitzgerald, Information Officer SNRAS/AFES Publications Office: 474-5042