Natural Resources

The first analysis of the economic effects of invasive species in Alaska finds that governments and nonprofit groups spent about $29 million from 2007 to 2011, or nearly $6 million a year, to manage those species. Tobias Schwörer of ISER and Rebekka Federer and Howard Ferren of the Alaska SeaLife Center did the analysis, based on a survey of public and private organizations that deal with invasive species around the state. The research was funded by several federal and state agencies.

Jason Prno, a PhD candidate at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, will discuss why mineral developers today need “social licenses to operate.” A social license is society’s broad approval and acceptance of a mining project, and developing such a social license can help companies avoid the substantial problems that can result from community protest and disapproval. But there are complexities in establishing social licenses, and Jason Prno will discuss those in the context of mining case studies from the Yukon, Alaska, Peru, and Papua New Guinea. 

Learn about recent trends in Alaska’s salmon markets, forces driving the dramatic recovery in salmon prices over the past decade, and factors likely to affect the future for Alaska salmon. That’s all in a recent presentation by Gunnar Knapp, professor of economics at ISER, at ComFish Alaska, the state's largest commercial fisheries trade show, held annually in Kodiak. 

See this presentation on salmon markets. 

A new paper by Bob Loeffler, visiting professor of public policy at ISER, examines whether valid assessments of the ecological risks posed by mining projects can be done at the pre-design stage—that is, before a mining company submits a detailed mine design to government regulators. The author draws conclusions by analyzing three existing ecological risk assessments for mining projects in Alaska: post-design assessments for the Kensington and Red Dog mines and a pre-design assessment for the proposed Pebble mine.

As part of the Alaska Miners Association convention, on Tuesday November 8th, Bob Loeffler is teaching a 1-day short course labelled "Mining 101: An Overview of the Mining Industry." It is designed to provide a basic overview of the industry — what a mine is, property rights, permitting, environmental issues, economics, etc.

If you are interested, check out the flyer announcing the course. You may sign up on the website indicated on the flyer. The cost is $150 (or $175 if you register after October 15th), or $25 for students. 

*Note: Look for "SHORT COURSE #3."

A new report from the Institute of Social and Economic Research, prepared for the Alaska Energy Authority, looks in detail at electricity in Alaska as of 2008, the most recent year for which federal statistics are available.