KUAC - Fairbanks

Leaders in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race are on their way to Unalakleet Tuesday, about three-quarters of the way into the competition. Jessie Holmes is in the lead, chased by Matt Hall and Paige Drobny. Those leaders and most mushers are racing with sled dogs that are bred for these long-distance competitions.

Then, there’s Justin Olnes.

Olnes said 11 of the dogs on his starting team of 15 came from the Fairbanks animal shelter, or from other rescue organizations throughout Alaska — including his lead dog, a 3-year-old female named Fly.

“She’s truly an extraordinary dog,” Olnes said. “It’s just so cool that she also happens to have been a puppy that we adopted from the shelter, along with her brother, Tippet, who’s also a very good dog. But sorry, Tippet — I just have to say, Fly is something else. She is a very good, headstrong leader. I don’t think she’s reached her full potential, and that makes me really excited.”

Olnes and his wife, Kailyn, operate ReRun Kennel just outside of Fairbanks. And their mission is to promote dog mushing while providing homes for rescue dogs in need. Olnes said racing with rescues can be kind of a gamble.

“When you go to the shelter and you see a dog that may have potential to want to race, you’re looking at its confirmation, its attitude, its build,” Olnes said. “Beyond that, you may not know much. So, you’re only going to find out by adopting that dog and giving it a go.”

While, sure, there are some risks — or just genetic and behavioral question marks — Olnes said there’s also big benefits to having a more eclectic kennel.

“You get a little bit more variety in your kennel, so you’re not pigeon-holed by whatever line you’re breeding,” he said. “And that variety means that you have dogs that are capable and adept at different things, and you can kind of mix and match as you need.”

Olnes said there have been a lot of racing success stories among the dogs he and his wife rescue. But even the ones that don’t make the cut get important jobs.

“It hasn’t panned out all the time,” he said. “In that case, we might find something else for that dog. Some of those dogs that we have just run shorter distances, or we use them to socialize with dogs that we foster.”

When Olnes arrived at the Galena checkpoint on Friday, he said he and his dogs experienced plenty of twists and turns on the first 400 miles of trail — including a sandstorm. But they’re in good spirits.

“Well, as many folks talk about the Iditarod Trail being an emotional roller coaster — that’s definitely been the case so far,” he said. “But overall, it’s been a great experience. It’s amazing country, and I’m very happy to be out here.”

Olnes’ team isn’t leading the pack this year, but his main goal is to finish in Nome with all dogs healthy and happy. Secondary to that, he said, he just wants to showcase all the talent and potential that was previously hidden away in Alaska’s shelters.

Thirty-three sled dog teams raced out of Fairbanks Monday onto the longest Iditarod trail in history. The last-minute plan to change the route went off without a hitch despite significant changes to the original trail. The race start was moved up to Fairbanks due to dismal snow on the normal route in Willow.

Even still, it was a balmy 40 degrees at the front of Pike’s Waterfront Lodge, with the melting snow under the dogs’ booties starting to look a little like mashed potatoes by the 11 a.m. start time. Iditarod CEO Rob Urbach said he’s optimistic about the race ahead, but he acknowledged the strain of changing the route on such short notice.

“There’s always challenges,” Urbach said. “We’re synonymous with challenges. And this year, clearly the universe even decided, ‘Hey, we need more challenges to try to overcome.’ So, we try to laugh at adversity and focus our energies on just getting it done.”

The day was full of superlatives — race officials said this could be the warmest Fairbanks start on record. It’s also the longest Iditarod trail yet, and this year’s field of 33 teams is tied with the smallest in race history. Plus, it’s the 100-year anniversary of the 1925 serum run to Nome, when sled dog teams relayed antitoxin from Nenana to Nome to combat a diphtheria outbreak.

This year’s race will mirror that historic route, and the significance isn’t lost on Willow-based musher Gabe Dunham.

“The history of mushing that basically came in and helped save so many lives… I get goosebumps whenever you talk about it,” she said. “And that is the history of these dogs — they were modes of transportation and everything. It just encompasses everything that the Iditarod stands for.”

Dunham said the race is also the sum of the support it gets from sponsors and fans — like the one who gave her a tiny stuffed T-rex that is now lashed to her sled.

“I got him when I raced the Idaho sled dog challenge from a little, little guy that wanted to give me a gift,” Dunham said. “I zip-tied him on the sled, and he was starting to cry. And I’m like, ‘What’s wrong?’ And he’s like, ‘He’s a dinosaur. He’s gonna get cold.’ So, ever since then, he’s kind of been my sled mascot.”

Hundreds of people lined the starting chute as Dunham and the other mushers readied their dog teams, including other young superfans like 9-year-old Lucy Lee who huddled next to the fence with her mom. Lucy said she isn’t rooting for any musher in particular — she’s solidly “team dog.”

“I just love dogs!” Lucy said, giggling. “I just love them so much.”

Further up the line, a few people carried signs who did not love what they were seeing. It wouldn’t be the Iditarod without PETA protestors, and the last-minute route change didn’t throw them off course. John Di Leonardo flew out from New York to protest the restart in Fairbanks, as well as the ceremonial start in Anchorage.

“The Iditarod doesn’t resemble the serum run at all,” he said. “I think it’s time that we evolve this tradition into something more humane and leave the dogs out of it.”

Fairbanks musher Jason Mackey was first up to the starting line — and grateful for it. He was also the first out when he raced this year’s Yukon Quest sled dog race. He scratched on the Quest, he said, due to poor weather conditions. But this time, Mackey said, he feels like the gold is in reach.

“My goal is everybody’s goal, whether they tell you it is or not. It’s to get to Nome healthy, with a healthy team — but to get to Nome first,” he said. “I’m not saying I’m going to win the race, I’m not saying I’m not going to, but that’s my goal. I’m not here to mess around.”

He said his team is in great shape to run. All but one of the dogs are Iditarod veterans, like him.

“I do have one dog in there that has never done this before,” Mackey said. “His name is Flash, he’s a team dog. He’s a 3-year-old, but he’s an all-star 3-year-old.”

Just after 11 a.m., Mackey and his seasoned team — and MVP Flash — charged through the corridor of cheering spectators and into the taiga beyond, with nearly 1,150 miles of snow and ice between them and the finish line in Nome.

When staff at Pike’s Waterfront Lodge in Fairbanks got the news a few weeks ago that they’d host the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race for the first time since 2017, they immediately jumped into action.

“We’re already busy, but we love hosting the Iditarod,” said Michelle Davis, the lodge’s chief operating officer. “We’re so happy it’s here.”

Davis is among Interior Alaska residents who are hustling to get ready for the Iditarod next week after race organizers’ last-minute decision to push the route north due to dismal snow on part of the normal trail out of Willow. Many business owners and checkpoint volunteers along the revised route say they saw this coming, but it’s still a herculean task to get ready to welcome floods of Iditarod staff, mushers, spectators and — of course — the sled dogs.

Davis said her team comped about 40 rooms for the race’s mushers and organizers — even though they’re in the thick of tourist season for aurora viewing, and are almost completely booked out. On a recent afternoon, she walked through one of Pike’s few remaining vacant rooms, which could very soon be occupied by members of the Iditarod crowd. This one has a full view of the lodge’s live reindeer pen.

“We kind of wanted it to feel like a cabin — but not a cabin,” Davis said. “Like, more luxury, you know? And you open the window and you see reindeer! And then you can walk out your room and you can be right outside with the reindeer.”

Pike’s Lodge is a pet-friendly resort, but the reindeer room invite doesn’t extend to the dog teams. They scare the deer, so many of them will be kept at a nearby church.

It’s an exciting time, Davis said — especially for her international employees.

“I always let all our staff come out and watch a couple of the races when they’re working,” she said. “So, it’s going to be great for them to experience something they wouldn’t have been able to.”

She said getting the lodge into the global spotlight at the starting line will be great for business. That sentiment was echoed in the public sector by Fairbanks Mayor Grier Hopkins.

“It means a lot to host the biggest sled dog race left in Alaska, and we’re a big, strong supporter of our state sport,” he said. “I think our economy is ready and excited to have the influx in winter and build on our strong winter tourism as we’ve seen in recent years.”

Scott McCrea is the president of a local tourism marketing nonprofit, Explore Fairbanks. He said the logistics of having the start in Fairbanks with only two weeks’ notice is a bit tricky, since March is the city’s biggest month for tourism. But the fact that the race is on the small-side this year — 33 mushers, as opposed to more than 70 in previous years — could make it more manageable.

McCrea said his organization is already reflecting on the possibility that the city will host the Iditarod with greater frequency, as the climate demands.

“We’re seeing here how the winters in Alaska are changing,” he said. “So it just probably won’t be the last time that we’ll have it here. And if that’s the case, we will proudly embrace it being here, and just kind of do what we do as Fairbanksans and try to make it the best possible.”

Further out on the trail, Galena is scrambling to get its race checkpoint ready. The town of just under 500 wasn’t supposed to be on the trail either this year — it usually only hosts the race every other year.

Tim Bodony, Galena’s checkpoint manager, said he’s getting lodging squared away at the community center, where mushers will sleep on cots gifted by the Red Cross to shelter people displaced by Yukon River floods in 2013. The dogs will bed down in the snow that covers a frozen lake nearby.

There’s also the food. Bodony said he expects residents to rally to cook for the mushers, as they’ve done in the past.

“We have to practice hospitality out here,” he said. “That’s the way of the trail. You got people coming in with no ability to just simply go out to a restaurant, and they’re reliant on us for that. And it gives Galena a good name.”

Bodony has a very specific set of instructions for his neighbors-turned-Iditarod-cooks: keep it hardy, keep it simple.

“Keep it comfort food-style,” he said. “Don’t get too spicy. That’s not going to go well. Mushers tend to want something that sticks to the ribs and is warm. Volunteers too. Once you’ve been outside all day, you just want something comforting to heat you up, and then you want to go to bed.”

The 2025 Iditarod will hold its parade-like ceremonial start in Anchorage on Saturday, March 1, at 10 a.m. Then, the race officially starts at Pike’s Waterfront Lodge in Fairbanks, on Monday, March 3, at 11 a.m. Lodge staff encourage spectators to arrive early to find parking and good spots to view the starting line.

A couple dozen Fairbanksans sang songs and rallied on a main street corner this week, in an impromptu protest marking three years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Monday crowd at Geist Road and University Avenue waved Ukrainian and American flags and carried anti-Russian banners and signs.

Women had sunflowers in their headpieces wrapped in yellow and blue ribbons over their coats.

Sveta Yamin-Pasternak says Alaskans need to take note of what’s happening in Ukraine because they have much in common.

“And I think especially it is relevant for all of us as Alaskans because we truly do share the same values with Ukraine,” Yamin-Pasternak said. “We’re also, unfortunately, currently sharing a hostile neighbor.”

She held a banner that said: “Solidarity Alaska and Ukraine, many great values, one bad neighbor in common.” Ryan Tinsley held up the other end.

“You have a full-on assault against Western democracy, led in part by Putin and his misinformation,” Tinsley said. “So, I think there is more and more in common with the fight in Ukraine, and with the West and Europe — you know, Western Europe and the U.S.”

Stacy Fritz has joined a small group on this street corner several times in the last three years. She’s hoping for peace, but she doesn’t think it will come through President Trump.

“His first effort to make peace excluded the Ukrainians. That’s the opposite of a sincere good effort to make peace,” Fritz said. “And today he refused to go along with the UN resolution condemning Russia for illegally invading Ukraine.  Sure, everybody wants the war to end. There’s a simple, simple way to do that.  Russia and Putin can get out of Ukraine.”

Katerina Vrebecka  commented on recent statements made by Trump about Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Zelensky is offering to step down from his position if Ukraine will be part of NATO, which is showing the whole world that he’s not a dictator, but he is the true president who actually cares about his country and the true peace,” Vrebecka said.

Vrebecka is a dual citizen of the United States and the Czech Republic, which she said gives her perspective on Russian occupation.

“Because we were occupied by the Soviet Union for over 20 years, so that’s one of the reasons why I’m here — to support Ukraine, because I know how it feels,” she said. “I lived under the occupied country just for a little bit, but I know it from my parents and of course from the history.”

She joined in signing a traditional Ukrainian song that has become symbolic for resistance against Russia after it was sung on a main square in Kiev a few days after the invasion, on Feb. 24th, 2022.

Musician Paul Krejci played a small accordion.

“I am half Czech myself. My father was a Czech refugee who escaped from (the) Soviet Union,” Krejci said. “And I learned a lot about the importance of fighting for a cause.”

Krejci said music is a way to build solidarity, and show where one is standing on an issue. He feels betrayed by a major reversal of U.S policy toward Ukraine, as Trump bargains for Ukraine’s rare earth minerals. Last week, he withdrew weapons and financial support for Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion.

“I think many people who have grandfathers, grandparents who fought in World War II would be, just — find this revolting,” he said. “It’s traitorous, I would say. And to have someone who is the President of the United States leading this cause? It is something that is a sucker punch to those who have fought for freedom for this country since its birth.”

He started up another song, and was joined by Marianne Babij. She’s Ukrainian-American, born in Chicago after her parents fled Russian occupation 90 years ago.

“I feel, frankly, terrified and, and impotent. That’s why it was so good to sing that song and I’m still kind of choked up about it, honestly,” Babij said. “I’m here to support my ancestors and their fight for democracy.”

The U.S. Department of Energy announced last week it was dedicating $45 million toward advancing the domestic supply of critical minerals. $7.5 million of that will go to the University of Alaska Fairbanks for research into Alaska’s critical mineral potential.

Coming in the wake of China’s new export restrictions on several critical minerals, the grant is part of the federal government’s push to become more resource-independent. Critical minerals — like gallium, antimony and germanium — are essential for most modern technology components.

Grant Bromhal, a science advisor for the DOE, says half of the United States’ critical mineral supply comes from other countries. But he says all but one of the 50 different types of critical minerals are present in Alaska.

“I think Alaska has incredible potential to support these critical mineral material needs that we know are coming,” Bromhal said. “Alaska has incredible natural resources that we’re looking to help use to support this need for cleaner, more environmentally friendly materials for our defense and national security and economic and energy security.”

The university’s Institute of Northern Engineering will use the funds to build off its ongoing survey of Alaska mines and start mapping out the Pacific Northwest for critical mineral deposits.

“This is a chance to evaluate what resources we have inside the US that can be brought in,” Bromhal said. “Particularly from secondary and unconventional sources.”

Finding critical minerals in tailings

The grant will help sustain UAF research on mine tailings, which are the leftover materials that pile up during mining activity. Some tailings contain trace amounts of critical minerals that could be extracted for commercial use.

Brent Sheets, who directs the project, says his team is sending researchers all over the state to test samples for critical minerals.

“We’ll collect the samples and then take a look at it with a handheld x-ray fluorescence XRF — it’s a screening tool,” he said. “It tells us whether or not it’s worth investigating that core through more sophisticated means.”

He says the research has already yielded interesting results for several mines across Alaska. Samples from Healy’s Usibelli Coal Mine, the state’s only operating coal mine, showed exceptionally high levels of tungsten, germanium and yttrium.

And the Greens Creek Mine, near Juneau, was flagged for having the greatest potential for extracting critical minerals from tailings out of all Alaska mines. Sheets’ team estimates the value of all metals in the Greens Creek tailings pile at $2.8 billion, with most of that coming from gold and silver. The zinc alone could be worth $395 million.

Getting minerals to marketplace

Sheets says the scope of the project is much larger than just finding the minerals. His lab is also trying to solve some of the huge logistical problems that stand in the way of extracting them.

Alaska’s size and geological diversity makes it as obstacle-rich as it is opportunity-rich for mineral development. He says the state’s remoteness and extreme terrain makes getting critical minerals out of Alaska difficult.

“What can we do to get those minerals into the marketplace?” he said. “Antimony is very big right now on the list of minerals. We’re working very closely with Alaska Range Resources down in the south central part of the state, but there’s antimony right here in the Interior too.”

He says the next step is to tackle the first item on their laundry list of logistical problems. Researchers at the Institute of Northern Engineering will speak with communities and Tribes about ways to recruit employees and invest in local infrastructure to support critical mineral mining projects.

Disclosure: Usibelli Coal Mine is a corporate sponsor of KUAC.

How low can you go, really?

That’s one question Alaska researchers are asking of a new heat pump prototype this winter.

The new LG model purports to heat homes effectively even at -30 degrees Fahrenheit, and may soon do so for hundreds of residents in northern Alaska.

Along with installing solar power systems and battery storage, heat pump deployment was one of three major components of a $55 million U.S. Department of Energy grant awarded to the Northwest Arctic Borough back in February.

That deployment is to the tune of 850 air source heat pumps installed in 11 different villages.

But before that grant-funded rollout begins, the borough must select which model to deploy. That means generating data and crunching numbers, said Ingemar Mathiasson, the Northwest Arctic Borough’s energy manager.

“We have now a test going on with an LG heat pump … that can go down to 30-, 40-below, and still produce 70 degrees inside the house,” Mathiasson said, referring to temperatures measured in degrees Fahrenheit. “And we’re gonna test one of those here through the rest of the winter. We’re installing it pretty quick here, and there’s also one in Fairbanks that’s being installed over there by NREL.

A few hundred miles southeast of Mathiasson, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Chief Scientist Tom Marsik walked to the corner of a classroom on the second story of the lab’s main building. He pointed out the window.

“You can see it right here,” Marsik said as his footsteps echoed on the hard floor. “So that’s the outside unit of the heat pump,” he added, directing his gaze at a microwave-sized metal box with a fan on its backside.

Then his attention moved away from the snow-covered scenery outside the window.

“We can see the indoor unit hanging here on the wall, the indoor unit of the heat pump. We can see lines connecting it, going through the wall, connecting it to the outside unit,” he said.

A 6-foot collapsible table stood between Marsik and the eggshell-colored indoor unit. Some hand tools and wire were scattered across the table’s surface.

The setup wouldn’t look out of place in the garage of an avid do-it-yourselfer, but it’s exactly where the testing is happening this winter that will help determine whether – and how – the Northwest Arctic Borough will go about putting in and using hundreds of new heat pumps in the coming years.

“We are evaluating the preferments of this heat pump, so they can decide, is it really the model they want to use? And if so, then we can also provide guidelines for how to potentially operate it in the most beneficial way,” Marsik said.

Marsik explained that the technology works by capturing heat from the air – however cold the air may seem – and then sending it inside to warm up a space. The process is like refrigeration – which removes hot air from an enclosure to keep it cool – but in reverse.

“The coil of the outside unit is colder than the outside environment, that’s how it can extract the heat from that because heat flows, heat flows from hot to cold,” he said.

Heat pumps aren’t exactly new. In some fashion, they’ve been a part of the home-heating picture since the 1960s. But the technology is evolving, working at colder and colder temperatures, an earlier this year, the MIT Technological Review listed heat pumps as one of the 10 breakthrough technologies of 2024.

The LG prototype at NREL is designed to operate down to temperatures about 10 degrees Fahrenheit colder than the backup model for the Northwest Arctic Borough’s project, which is a Mitsubishi heat pump.

But, Mathiasson, the energy manager, said that capability could come with its own set of limitations the borough needs to assess before making a final selection on the model.

“It’s a new variation to be able to go down into the lower temperatures, but they also draw more power, so we want to measure how efficient they are and how well they can substitute for a Toyo stove or boiler in the house,” Mathiasson said.

That’s where the testing comes into play.

Throughout the Fairbanks winter, Marsik and others will keep tabs on how the LG prototype responds to natural fluctuations in the temperature outside. Also, to mimic differing levels of building insulation, they’ll pit the heat pump against a portable air conditioner that will run incrementally in the room. The U.S. Department of Energy is funding the $130,000 testing project.

“So we have put a bunch of sensors on the indoor unit and the outdoor unit to measure how much electrical energy we are putting into it and also how much heat this heat pump is supplying into this environment,” Marsik said.

Whichever model makes the cut, Mathiasson expects the installation of heat pumps to get underway this summer in villages already converted to renewable-centric microgrids.

“So that’s Shungnak and Kobuk and Noatak and Deering,” he said.

The heat pumps will then be deployed to the other villages, but only after their microgrids introduce solar power and battery storage to offset some diesel in the production of electricity.

“If you put heat pumps into the communities without the renewables, you’re actually going burn more diesel,” Mathiasson said, adding he expects the conversion to be complete by 2029.

Although their efficiency can decrease in extreme temperatures, heat pumps can generate about three to four times as much energy in the form of heat as they use in electricity. That’s why advocates say they’ll prove a critical tool for global decarbonization efforts.

The International Energy Agency says heat pumps currently supply about 10% of the world’s heating demand. To keep pace with the Net Zero by 2050 scenario, the IEA estimates that supply would need to hit 20% by 2030.

Upfront capital costs remain one of the bigger roadblocks for heat pumps, and after years of growth, global heat pump sales dropped by 3% in 2023.

But, in Alaska, 2024 held a couple policy-related developments for the technology. There’s the pending Northwest Arctic Borough rollout, and there’s the $39 million federal grant announced in July to help homeowners in Southcentral and Southeast Alaska purchase heat pumps.

So, for Mathiasson, at least, “It’s definitely the year of heat pumps for Alaska.”