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The Alaska Native Plant Society presented a lifetime achievement award and lifetime membership to Pat Holloway, emeritus professor of horticulture at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. 

The award recognizes Holloway’s decades of research and work educating Alaskans about the value of native plants and how to cultivate them. “She continues this work and we are very grateful,” the society said in a statement. 

Holloway wrote on her Facebook page, “I have been advocating for native plants since my college days, and it is so good to see people and agencies finally taking native plants seriously. I was humbled by this honor, and it was great fun meeting people from around the state — former students, agency reps, growers, native plant enthusiasts — showing me that, my gosh, people actually read all those things I wrote and listened to all my speeches over the years! Wow!”

Holloway received the award during a Zoom meeting in early November, and was presented with it in person at the Alaska Food and Farm Festival in Anchorage. 

Pat Holloway, center, with plaque, was honored by the Alaska Native Plant Society. Photo courtesy of Donna Dewhurst

IANRE co-investigator Glenna Gannon and Alaska Center for Energy and Power researcher Savannah Crichton attended the 2023 Food and Farm Festival in Anchorage to build community around a new project, “Agrivoltaics: Unlocking Mid-Market Solar in Rural Northern Climates.”

With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and CleanCapital, the research team includes collaborators from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska Pacific University, and Renewable Independent Power Producers (IPP). 

Agrivoltaics is the co-use of land for both solar and agricultural production. This project is in collaboration with the 8.5 megawatt solar farm in Houston, Alaska.

Alaska’s first graduate

John Sexton Shanly was the first person to receive a degree from the nascent University of Alaska. Shanly, the sole graduate in 1923, earned a degree in agriculture.

Although he didn’t pursue a career in agriculture, Shanly credited the university for his successes and fostered a strong family link to the Fairbanks campus.

His granddaughter followed his tracks to ����TV this summer. 

Read the story in the fall Aurora magazine.

Part II: Potato harvest in Palmer

On Oct. 3, the Matanuska Experiment Farm held its fourth annual community potato harvest. The 100 available spots filled up quickly, and participants had a great time digging for treasures and filling their bags with some of the 139 varieties planted this season. A total of 877.02 pounds of potatoes were harvested on this day.

The following day, the potatoes remaining in the field were picked, which resulted in 244.68 pounds of potatoes for the Village of Gambell, Kids Kupboard, and the Mat-Su Food Bank. 

Even with the week's harvest of 280 pounds of Tlingit and Haida potatoes, the 2023 harvest was less than 2022’s harvest (thank you, cool, cloudy, rainy, blah summer) but we are still grateful for a good harvest. Thank you to all who were involved in the harvest, especially to the Alaska Plant Materials Center for the donation of the seed potatoes.

A community gathering under the full moon on the ����TVcampus is planned to honor three scientists who were killed in a helicopter crash in July on Alaska’s North Slope. 

Ronnie Daanen, Justin Germann and Tori Moore, scientists with close ties to ����TV, were killed in the accident, along with pilot Bernard “Tony” Higdon, 48, of North Pole.  

The gathering, from 5-7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 27, will be centered on two bonfires in the OneTree research plot (at the northwest end of the four-acre T Field plot). Hot drinks and snacks will be provided.

Three trees, located along the southern boundary of the plot, have been dedicated to the three scientists by their families, said Jan Dawe, director of OneTree Alaska. A path of ice candles will lead participants to the three trees.

Bethel 4-H celebrates

Yup’ik culture

— Jared Vaughn

The Bethel 4-H program recently held a weeklong celebration of Yup’ik culture. Young participants expressed their creativity through art and dance. They crafted their own dance fans and headdresses, gaining a deeper understanding of the cultural significance behind these cherished items. This experience shed light on the integral role that art plays within a culture.

We were privileged to have dedicated volunteers who not only shared their unique cultural insights with our youth but also served as enthusiastic dance instructors, enhancing the educational aspect of our program.