Music in the Garden begins Thursday at UAF

Members of Headbolt include Jeff Siniscalchi, guitar; Jonathan Rosenberg, drums;
Suzanne Richards, guitar; and T.J. O'Donnel, bass. KUAC photo by Lori Neufeld

The Music in the Garden series begins Thursday with the blues, roots, country and even punk sounds of the Fairbanks band, The Headbolt Heaters. A dozen Fairbanks-area bands and musical ensembles will perform Thursday evenings throughout the summer at the UAF Georgeson Botanical Garden.

The 2018 Music in the Garden concerts will be at 7 p.m. each Thursday from May 24 to Aug. 9.

Concert-goers are encouraged to bring a blanket and picnic but are asked to leave pets at home. Parking will be available on West Ridge. A short walking path to the garden, which is located at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm, begins at the overlook. Concerts are free, but the garden will accept donations.

The summer concert schedule also includes:
May 31 — Fairbanks Red Hackle Pipe Band
June 7 — Cold Steel Drums
June 14 — O Tallulah
June 21 — Rock Bottom Stompers
June 28 — Emily Anderson
July 5 — Marc Brown
July 12 — Dry Cabin String Band
July 19 — Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival American roots ensemble
July 26 — Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival vocal jazz ensemble
Aug. 2 — Fairbanks Community Jazz Band
Aug. 9 — ET Barnette String Band

Class of 2018: UAF commencement honors graduates

SNRE's graduating seniors pose before the ceremony. Photo by Nina Olivier

During the UAF graduation on May 5, students with  the School of Natural Resources and Extension received 15 bachelor’s degrees, eight master’s degrees and two doctorates.

Berill Blair and Alyssa Rodrigues received Ph.D.'s in Natural Resources and Sustainability.

Blair’s dissertation is titled, “Toward Arctic Transitions and Sustainability Modeling Risks and Resilience Across Scales of Governance.” Perceptions of risks to sustainability were studied among Arctic Alaska stakeholder groups. The dissertation concludes with recommendations for optimizing complex decision making under uncertainty. Professors Gary Kofinas of SNRE and Amy Lovecraft of the Political Science Department served as major professors. Blair is working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Wageningen University in The Netherlands.

Ph.D. recipient Alyssa Rodrigues is hooded during the UAF ceremony.
UAF photo by J.R. Ancheta

Rodrigues’ dissertation looks at effect of wildland firefighting on subsistence harvests. It is titled “Up in Smoke: Exploring the Changing Relationship Between Wildland Firefighting and Subsistence Harvest.” Rodrigues concludes that climate change may impact participation in fall subsistence hunting, but that rural communities will be able to participate in firefighting and fall hunting in most cases. Joseph Little of the School of Management is her major professor. Rodrigues is the development director for the Alaska Division of Economic Development.

Other degree recipients included:

Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources Management
Hannah Christian
Kimberly Diamond
Brandy Flores
Dawson Foster
Cheyenne Greenside
Jessica Herzog
Luke Johnson
Trisha Levasseur
Dennis Lucey
Sagen Maddalena
Cynthia Nelson
David Rhodes
Richard Rummler
Amelia Sikes
Christopher Smith

Master of Science in Natural Resources Management
Tara Callear
Ryan Wilson

Master of Natural Resources Management
George Aguiar
Teresa Anderson, Natural Resources Management and Geography
Samantha Harris
Nina Olivier
Stefan Tangen
Nicole Warner, Natural Resources Management and Geography

Research Highlight: Pete Fix leads recreation research

Survey assistant Rachel Garcia, right, helps a visitor to the White Mountains National
Recreation Area complete a visitor survey.

SNRE Associate Professor Pete Fix and two other recreation researchers developed a cost-effective approach that will be used nationally to evaluate visitor experiences on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

Since 2014, BLM has required incorporating what is called "outcomes focused management" into land use planning. As part of a a five-year project based at UAF, Fix and the other researchers developed  a standard template for conducting recreation studies that focuses on the positive outcomes from recreational experiences.

Read more about Fix's research in a Spring 2018 Agroborealis Research Highlight. Agroborealis is the research publication of the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and the School of Natural Resources and Extension. Downloadable Highlights are published online twice yearly at www.uaf.edu/snre/agroborealis.

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