Change, salmon, bears and Sarah Palin in Alaska - Fulbright.no

By Stian Stensland, Fulbright grantee to the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF).
September, 2009

I arrived Fairbanks in January as a PhD-student in Natural Resources Management from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. My wife and I came here to the Golden Heart city of interior Alaska to spend one year studying, doing research with other scientists, and exploring the nature and people of Alaska.

Obama inauguration

Before arriving Alaska I had the opportunity to make a stop in Washington, D.C. to visit my sister and take part in the festivities of the inauguration of Barack Obama. That was truly a historical moment when nearly 2 million people were gathered in front of the Capitol to witness the inauguration of the first black president in U.S. history.

Arriving Fairbanks

Upon arrival to Fairbanks we moved into a nice family apartment on campus just 100m away from the ski and running trails. These trails have been used by us almost every day whether it has been 90 degrees above or 40 below (+ 30 to – 40 Celsius). I was also given an office space in a room with other graduate students in my program and appointed an academic advisor at UAF. You are more or less dependent on a car in the U.S and particularly in Alaska where public transportation is poor, and mostly used by those who cannot afford a private vehicle or are too young to drive. Fortunately for us, most things were in walking distance from where we lived and we didn’t get a car until May. Before that we pooled up with friends or rode the free-for-students bus to the grocery store. Anyway, there are not a whole lot of places you want to go to when it is 20-40 below outside through the month of March and school work assignments seem overwhelming.

Skiing in 40 below requires lots of clothing and protecting exposed skin. February.

Research and studies

Wife Maria with her first red salmon caught in the Kenai River. Summer fishing has been good so we are stocked up with 40 of these for the coming fall. Late June.

While at UAF I am joining the interdisciplinary Resilience and Adaptation Program and taking classes that focus on rapid changes and interactions between humans and nature in a natural resources management context. Another reason for me going to “Americas Arctic University” is that Alaska has some of the healthiest salmon stocks in the world. My PhD-work back in Norway focuses on how landowners in the Trondheim fjord region use their salmon fishing rights in terms of angling tourism and management of the stocks. Landowners in the U.S. don’t own fishing rights on their land and the fishery is managed by governmental agencies. The U.S. management regime is therefore quite different from the Norwegian. A comparative study between how fishing is managed in an Alaskan river and

my study rivers back home is therefore another key aspect of my stay. Being at a university in another country also leads to a continuous comparison about “does this differ from home, and if so how?”. I find this comparison particularly interesting and it brings perspectives about my own research as well as about culture and life in general. 

History and way of life

This year marks 50 years of Alaska statehood. When bought from Russia in 1867, Alaska was depleted of most fur bearing sea animals. Secretary of the State William Seward was heavily criticized for paying $ 7.2 million for “an iceberg far north” often referred to as “Seward’s Ice Box” or “Walrussia”. Soon after the acquisition whaling and salmon fisheries began. Thirty years on, gold was found. Later more mining and oil development followed. Today near 700.000 people live in a state that is five times bigger than Norway. Each year every Alaska resident receives a dividend/pay-out from the state’s oil fund, typically of 1.000-3.000 dollars.

The far majority of people live on the road system, but many people (mostly native Eskimo, Aleut or Indians) still live out in the bush (= roadless; usually coastal or on a river) and depend at least partially on the harvest of fish, wildlife, berries, wood and other renewable resources.  Most of those mix the traditional subsistence lifestyle with modern lifestyle and thus use snow machines, planes, boats and off-road vehicles to harvest these resources. With “modern” lifestyle also come new diseases and Alaskan natives have been hard hit with diabetes, obesity and alcoholism. With soaring gas and heating fuel prices and already paying twice as much as on the road system, bush people have been facing tough times the

We won in the Department of fish and game’s lottery! Prize: Two permits for five days of bear viewing at McNeil River game sanctuary. Brown bears gather here to feast on spawning salmon. We could see up to 15 bears at one time. Late June.

last two years. Many people on the road system also see hunting and fishing as an important source of food and as a way of life. The biggest difference from back home regarding hunting and fishing is the amount of gear and motorized equipment Alaskans use to get their catch. The period of using dog sleds as a mean for transportation is over, but dog sledding is still a very popular recreational activity in Alaska.  Dog sled races like the 1000+ mile (1600km) Yukon Quest and Iditarod have an iconic and dreamlike sound in people’s ears. Another lightning striking difference from Norway is that fires are evident and constantly present agents of change and renewal in the interior forest of Alaska. In the summer of 2009 around 40 forest fires burnt at any time in the interior causing air quality problems in Fairbanks. 

Living in Fairbanks

Fairbanks (latitude 64 north, as Namsos in Norway) is the second largest town in Alaska with 100.000 people within its large borough boundaries. It was, like many other towns in Alaska, founded on the boom and the bust of a gold rush. Today, 100 years after the rush, mining is still taking place. In the 1970s oil development on the North Slope/ Arctic Ocean and building of the trans-Alaska pipeline fueled the economy and spiked another boom in Fairbanks. The military and the university are also major employers.

Due to what seems like bad town planning, the Fairbanks of today is not much more than some spread out strip malls and a lot of traffic. The beauty of Fairbanks thus lies in its relative proximity to mountains, rivers, national parks and vast wilderness on a scale way beyond what is found in Norway. Besides, people up here are often more helpful and laid-back than in the lower 48s, they claim. We have met a lot of nice people and made many new friends. It also helped a bit that I spent a year in college here in 1997 as part of my master degree and have kept in touch with people from that time. The Fairbanks chapter of Sons of Norway “The Arctic lodge“ holds monthly meetings highlighting Norwegian culture. We have been to several of these. This fall Maria is running cross country for the UAF Nanooks, as I did in 1997 (Nanook means polar bear in Eskimo). Running with the university team will take her to races in Hawaii, Washington and California. We have also engaged in the local community starting up a weekly running group and participatted in ski and running races.  One year goes by fast and in one way we are sad to leave Alaska, but we are sure we will come back again. Hopefully we have sparked our friends’ interest so much that they will come and visit us in Norway broadening understanding between the US and Norway.

If you would like more information about his experiences, you may contact the author, Stian Stensland: stian.stensland(at)umb.no

Additional Photos

 

In Petersburg, Southeast Alaska I met governor Sarah Palin who was there to sign an education bill. Petersburg was founded by Norwegian fisherman Peter Buschman 100 years ago. Norwegian traditions live today and each year the town has a four-day long May festival. Petersburg even has its own bunad (Norwegian folk costume).	Me and the support crew (wife Maria) at US Distance championships in Nordic skiing in Fairbanks. The 50 K classic was a tough distance, and especially with way too much klister underneath my skis. Late March.
We have traveled much and enjoyed the outdoors in Alaska. Wife Maria is cooking at Long Tangle Lake in the Alaska Range. Mid-June.	On top of Ingstad Mountain in Gates of the Arctic National Park. The mountain is named after Norwegian explorer and scientist Helge Ingstad who stayed one year with the Inland Eskimos in the Brooks Range in 1949. In his book "Nunamiut," Ingstad described this last year the Eskimos lived as traditional nomads before finally settling in the new village of Anaktuvuk Pass. Mid-July.
Fellow Norwegian Fulbrighter Terje Kristensen and me at the Fulbright Enrichment seminar in Denver. We met with 100 other Fulbrighters from all over the world and learned about social entrepreneurship. Mid-March.