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| Josh Greenberg |
Greenberg is a natural resource economist who has been teaching and researching resource topics for 31 years at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He earned a master’s degree in resource economics at UAF and returned to the university in 1990 after earning a doctorate in agricultural economics at Washington State University. An associate professor, he has taught resource economics, environmental decision making, sustainability and global sustainability, natural resource policy and agricultural concepts.
His research has been equally diverse. Recent projects have evaluated
business plans for reindeer meat industry, the feasibility of raising
musk ox for qiviut under different scenarios, the effect an industrial
road to the Ambler Mining District might have on subsistence communities
and the impact of individual fishing quotas on the Alaska sablefish
industry.
Greenberg has specialized in fisheries. His dissertation was a bioeconomic model that looked at the effect of management decisions on the king crab fishery. He studied the demand and allocation of Alaska and Canada snow crab; extending the federal crop insurance program to commercial fisheries; changes in fishery regulations affecting the red king crab; walleye pollock, halibut, tanner and snow crabs and salmon fisheries; and the economics of subsistence bowhead whaling.
Greenberg retires May 8 and plans to move to the Branford, Connecticut,
where he and his wife, Andrea, have many siblings, nieces and nephews.
They grew up in the area.
He has mixed feelings about the move. “I really love it up here,” he said. “The university has been a great place.”
He has enjoyed teaching students and camping, fishing and gardening in Alaska. At the same time, he looks forward to being closer to family, good seafood and New York City.
Josh Greenberg served on the UAF Faculty Senate and most recently chaired the university’s Master Planning Committee.
Greg Finstad has worked on developing a red meat industry in Alaska for 38 years as the head of the university’s Reindeer Research Program. A research associate professor of range ecology, Finstad researched the best combinations of feed and forage, range management and how the reindeer diet and slaughter methods affect the quality of meat.
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| Greg Finstad |
Challenges to reindeer production in rural Alaska include a lack of slaughter facilities that would allow producers to process reindeer according to state and federal standards. Finstad worked with tribal entities that own herds on the Seward Peninsula and St. Paul and St. Lawrence islands to demonstrate hygienic field slaughter methods.
He remains optimistic about the development of a reindeer industry and its potential. His research and work by Josh Greenberg, who developed business plans for reindeer enterprises, built a foundation that reindeer operations could use in the future.
“Everything is there for a group of people to take it on and run with it,” he said.
After his May 10 retirement, Finstad and his wife, Bev, plan to stay in Fairbanks. A son and a daughter live here, along with three granddaughters, ages 12, 10 and 8.
His said his decision to retire was made in part based on his experience
with COVID-19 in the earliest days of the pandemic. He contracted COVID
during a trip Outside to attend his father’s funeral, and he nearly
died from it. He is what they call a long hauler, someone who continues
to feel symptoms of COVID after recovering from the acute phase. He is
easily fatigued and has lower energy levels.
He used to use his hard-driving energy to get projects done at night. Now, he jokes, “I am a mere mortal.”
As a mere mortal, he still has many plans. He and his wife are building a cabin on the Wood River, which flows into the Tanana between Fairbanks and Nenana. He also plans to help his daughter build a house in Fairbanks. He bought a new boat for Valdez and they also hope to travel.
Good luck to both of these researchers.
