Legislators help launch BAKLAP project

October 16, 2012

Marmian Grimes

Nancy Tarnai
907-474-5042
10/16/12

Interior legislators gathered Monday morning to help launch the new Boreal Alaska -- Learning, Adaptation and Production project at the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences. Researchers will be studying the value of Alaska's forests in meeting the demand for wood biomass energy in a changing environment. An outreach component will develop a model K-12 curriculum based on hands-on inquiry learning with the Alaska boreal forest through science and art. From left, Sen. Joe Paskvan, Sen. John Coghill, SNRAS dean and Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station director Carol Lewis, Sen. Joe Thomas, Professor Glenn Juday, adjunct Professor Janice Dawe, Rep. David Guttenberg and postdoctoral researcher Thomas Grant marked the occasion with a visit to the forest on West Ridge. The BAKLAP researchers are holding tree disks that are used to study forest growth and climate change.