University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service is an outreach-based educational delivery system supported by a partnership between the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). The UAF Cooperative Extension Service annually serves approximately 80,000 Alaskans, “providing a link between Alaska's diverse people and communities by interpreting and extending relevant university, research-based knowledge in an understandable and usable form to the public.”UAF Cooperative Extension, "About", Retrieved June, 2012 Since 1930Capital City Weekly, "Cooperative Extension Celebrates 75 Years of Service to Alaskans", September 14, 2005 the UAF Extension Service has partnered with many organizations across the state of Alaska in pursuit of fulfilling its land-grant university mission to disseminate agricultural research and other scientific information.
Organization
UAF Cooperative Extension Service is part of the larger Cooperative Extension Service in the United States. At UAF, Extension is organized by program area. A UAF faculty member serves as the program chair in each of the four areas: agriculture and horticulture; health, home and family development; natural resources and community development; and 4-H and youth development. The program chairs report to the director of the organization. The director also serves as vice provost of outreach for the university. In addition to the four program areas, Extension has its own business office and communications unit within the university. Each of the program chairs oversees faculty and staff across the various districts in the state. District office locations include Anchorage, Bethel, Delta Junction, Fairbanks, Juneau, Nome, Palmer, Sitka and Soldotna, and affiliate offices are located at the Tanana Chiefs Conference, Eielson Air Force Base, Kodiak and Thorne Bay. Purpose
UAF Cooperative Extension Service brings research-based information to the public in an understandable and useful form. Its strategic plan identifies food safety and security, health, climate change, energy, economic development, and youth, family and communities as major themes. The faculty and staff of the Extension offices offer research-based expertise to the public on a wide variety of topics to a wide variety of audiences, from farmers and entrepreneurs to rural families and children. In Alaska, experts in agriculture and horticulture, integrated pest management, youth development, foods and nutrition, natural resources, community development,Alaska Sea Grant Newsroom, "Business 101 for Kodiak’s Hispanic women aims to inspire entrepreneurship", December 16, 2008AK SourceLink, , Retrieved August, 2012 energy and more are employed by Extension. In order to make research-based information accessible to the public, UAF Extension offers many publications, from one-page fact sheets to the 482-page Master Gardener manual.Staciokas, L., , Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, February 20, 2011
Experts with UAF Extension offer workshops and practical trainings to citizens in communities around Alaska.UAF Northwest Campus, "Cooperative Extension" , Retrieved August, 2012 Regular topics include pesticide applicator certifications,Alaska DEC Division of Environmental Health, "Certified Pesticide Applicators" , Retrieved June, 2012 Master Gardener and other gardening courses,Sitka Local Foods Network, "UAF Cooperative Extension Service’s Bob Gorman to teach series of free classes on gardening in Sitka", March 1, 2011Delta News Web, "Master Gardener Class Being Offered" , January 24, 2012 and youth camps.Juneau Empire, "Spots available at summer 4-H camp" , June 21, 2002Sitka Outdoor Recreation Coalition, "Sitka 4H club to offer four new programs this summer", Retrieved August, 2012 Agents have worked on projects that affect Alaska statewide.
Fishing and hunting are popular in the state, and residents are often looking for information on how to preserve fish and game meat.Alaska Department of Fish and Game, "Benefits of Fishing to Alaska", Retrieved August, 2012Alaska Department of Fish and Game, "Hunting, Trapping and Shooting", Retrieved August, 2012 UAF Extension has produced publications on topics especially of interest to Alaskans such as canning moose and caribou meat,UAF Cooperative Extension, "Canning Moose and Caribou", Retrieved July, 2012 canning walrus meat,UAF Cooperative Extension, "Canning Walrus in Pint Jars", Retrieved July, 2012 preserving fireweedUAF Cooperative Extension, "Fireweed", Retrieved July, 2012 and harvesting and preparing Nereocystis luetkeana or bullwhip kelp from Alaska's coastal areas.UAF Cooperative Extension, "Bullwhip Kelp", Retrieved July, 2012 UAF Extension agents also offer pressure canner gauge testing to help Alaskans ensure they are preserving foods safely.
History The United States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867. Several events before and after the Alaska Purchase laid the groundwork for Extension's beginnings in the new U.S. territory. Firstly, the Morrill Act of 1862, signed by President Lincoln, granted federal lands to each state. The proceeds from the land were to be used to fund public colleges focused on engineering and agriculture.Library of Congress Digital Reference Section, "Morrill Act: Primary Documents", Retrieved July, 2012 James Wickersham, judge and congressional delegate in the early 1900s,Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, "Wickersham, James" Retrieved July, 2012 became aware of the Morrill Act and pushed for the creation of a college in the interior, submitting an education bill to Congress. The cornerstone for Alaska's land-grant college, Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines, was presented in 1915.University of Alaska, "History and Facts, The Cornerstone: Wickersham Selects a Site" Retrieved July, 2012 The college started classes in 1922.University of Alaska, "CES Outreach Began in Matanuska Valley" Retrieved July, 2012 However, Alaska did not receive the full benefits of the Morrill Act. Though Alaska was entitled to about of land from legislation passed in 1915, the implementation of the 1958 Alaska Statehood Act repealed the gift before 97 percent of the land could be surveyed and granted. During statehood negotiations, Congress felt that federal lands given to the state were sufficient to also provide for the university, and Alaska politicians felt that it would have more freedom in land choice by avoiding university-specific grants.University of Alaska, "Land Grant History", December 1, 2010 Luckily, before statehood, a grant of land in 1929 that is still in effect today provided tens of thousands of acres dedicated to university use.National Archives, Electronic Code of Regulations, "Title 43: Public Lands, Subpart 2627-Alaska" , Retrieved July, 2012
In addition to the land-grant process, the advent of agricultural research in Alaska contributed significantly to the development of Extension services. Starting at the turn of the century and continuing through 1915, seven federal agriculture experiment stations were established in Alaska. The agriculturalists from the experiment stations established the viability of farm and garden programs in Alaska. Their work was augmented by the addition of Extension agents with funding stemming from the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, fully extended to Alaska in 1929. The Alaska legislature designated the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines, which eventually became the University of Alaska, as administrator of the Cooperative Extension Service work that would be provided by experts in agriculture and home economics. Charles E. Bunnell, college president at the time, worked with USDA to organize the fledgling service in June 1930. Lydia Fohn-Hansen was made assistant director for home economics, and George W. Gasser became assistant director for agriculture. Starting in July 1930, the new appointees began working with Alaskans. They helped organize nine 4-H clubs and 12 home economics clubs.Buswell, A. S., "Evolution of the Cooperative Extension Service in Alaska", 1959 Travel was completed by whatever means necessary, which sometimes meant dogsled. Fohn-Hansen was on the road for months at a time as she "toured the state carrying teaching supplies, clothing, bulletins, pressure canner, can sealer, patterns, garden seeds, needles, yarn and probably a loom..."University of Alaska, "Lydia Fohn-Hansen", Retrieved July, 2012
In 1932 a veterinarian was added to the staff. In 1935, a full-time director was appointed for Extension, the same year that the federal government established the Matanuska Colony. The Matanuska Colony refers to 200 families selected from Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota to settle and farm the Matanuska Valley, building the local economy in Southcentral Alaska.Anchorage Daily News, "Thriving at 75: Mat-Su marks Colony anniversary" , June 4, 2010 The first Cooperative Extension Service field office in Alaska was established in 1936 in Palmer, located in the Matanuska Valley. Extension's agricultural and home demonstration agents placed there worked closely with colonists and homesteaders to establish viable farming practices in the valley. Lydia Fohn-Hansen was a key figure during this growth period. She worked out of a tent in the valley providing educational services to the colonists. In addition to teaching people how to can salmon and other Alaska resources, Fohn-Hansen was an accomplished weaver and helped women make gloves and other clothes. She was well educated, with a master's in home economics from Iowa State College, and she wrote hundreds of bulletins and circulars during her time with Extension.
The Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines became the University of Alaska in 1935, and in 1937 a new joint director of experiment farms and Extension Service was appointed. With efforts centralized and appropriations to the territory increased, Extension expanded its size and reach over the next decade to include field offices in Juneau, Anchorage and Fairbanks. As World War II engulfed the nation, Extension home economists helped Alaskans learn to can food and cultivate vegetables. Over 1,300 Victory gardens were planted in Alaska.Durner, F., "Q & A with Jill Shepherd" , Anchorage Daily News, December 16, 2009 The national 4-H slogan during the war was "Food for Freedom."Van Horn, B. E., Flanagan, C. A., & Thomson, J.S., "The First Fifty Years of the 4-H Program", Journal of Extension, 36(6), 1998 Extension's expansion efforts eventually coincided with military interests as the war brought an inquiry into the use of Alaska sites for defense against Russia. Military officials recognized that infrastructure was needed to address the fact that Alaska would be cut off from food deliveries if under attack; Alaska needed to be able to produce some of its own supplies. Thus, in 1947 as part of the Department of Agriculture Appropriation Act, $20,000 was made available for the study of agricultural development in the territory. However, the legislation also put the USDA back in control of agricultural research programs in Alaska, and the joint director position of the prior decade was dissolved. The experiment stations were put back under federal control, and Extension was directed separately.