For a long time cold weather and geographic isolation protected Alaska from invasive species, but globalization and a changing climate are bringing increased risk. Environmental managers tasked with preventing the spread of invasive species (IS) may do everything they can to prevent the introduction, but travelers, tourists, and companies moving products to Alaska cause IS risk that is difficult for managers to control. Dr.
Alaska has natural resources of many kinds—fish and wildlife; oil and gas and metal deposits; thousands of lakes and rivers; and scenic beauty and wilderness areas, to name some. ISER researchers study many facets of the state’s natural resources—and forces that affect those resources—including commercial, subsistence, and sport fisheries; land and wildlife management issues; health of ecosystems; threats from invasive species; and people’s response to environmental change and risk.
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Residents of Cordova and Tanana describe how renewable energy systems, including hydropower and solar power, are impacting their access to food, energy, and water, in two new videos produced by a research team including ISER’s Jennifer Schmidt.
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ISER studies implications of changing ocean environment for salmon fisheries and adaptation response
ISER researchers Tobias Schwörer, Kevin Berry and Marie Lowe are part of an interdisciplinary team of researchers looking at how increased ocean acidification (OA) may impact Alaska salmon fisheries and adaptation measures available to fisheries stakeholders and policymakers.
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ISER’s Jennifer Schmidt gave presentations at the recent Arctic Frontiers conference in Tromso, Norway on the role of technology in remote Arctic communities and how harvesting wood for fuel impacts subsistence.
Arctic Frontiers brings together academic researchers along with government and business decision makers to promote responsible and sustainable development of the Arctic.
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Reproduced with permission from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
ISER’s Matt Reimer is co-author of a new paper on fisheries management released by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
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ISER’s Kevin Berry and former ISER Director and Professor Emeritus Gunnar Knapp gave presentations at the annual University of Washington-Fisheries Research Institute meeting with Bristol Bay salmon processors in Seattle, Washington, January 18.
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ISER’s Jennifer Schmidt, Assistant Professor of Natural Resources Management, attended Understanding Northern Latitude Vegetation Greening and Browning, a National Academies workshop in Washington DC, as a guest speaker. The workshop’s focus was to assess current knowledge and upcoming research about patterns and shifts in tundra and boreal vegetation. The two-day workshop covered topics such as identifying patterns in Arctic tundra and boreal forests, developing tools and methods for evaluation, and determining implications from changes in Arctic vegetation. Schmidt’s presentation on socioeconomic implications of vegetation change is available for download.
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Matthew Berman and Jennifer Schmidt, faculty members at ISER, recently completed a study titled Economic Effects of Climate Change in Alaska. Findings from that research were also included in the Alaska chapter of the recently released report from the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP).
The graph shows Alaska statewide annual average temperatures for 1925-2016.
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Before building a center in Denmark for testing large wind turbines, an environmental impact assessment cautioned that noise from the turbines and the plan to cut down an old forest would need to be addressed. What the assessment didn’t adequately predict was that a light constantly flashing on top of the testing masts would be the greatest nuisance to residents of the remote community.
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ISER’s Jennifer Schmidt, Assistant Professor of Natural Resources Management, is lead for the Urban Forest and Watershed sector of the Anchorage Climate Action Plan.