University of Alaska

Supporters of mariculture in Alaska are working to build a $100 million industry out of shellfish and seaweed over the next two decades. They’re meeting up at the University of Alaska Mariculture Conference in Juneau this week to talk about how to get there.

The Juneau Economic Development Council is hosting the conference. Executive Director Brian Holst said mariculture is a good long term investment for the state.

“It is an industry that’s sustainable for Alaska, and can create jobs in not just in communities such as in places like Juneau, but in rural areas throughout Southeast. And anything that’s good for communities around Southeast Alaska is also good for Juneau,” he said.

The University of Alaska is sponsoring the 3-day event. President Pat Pitney said the university is “all in” on mariculture.

“Alaska needs to be on the world map for mariculture,” she said. “We have people who are better prepared and more willing to work for it. And that’s gonna get us there.”

The university is developing academic programs in mariculture for its undergraduates and now offers a master’s degree in marine policy, in a partnership between the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Alaska Southeast.

Julie Decker directs the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, a non profit that supports fisheries. She says mariculture is a way to grow seafood opportunities in the state.

“This incredible, once in a lifetime opportunity has to be balanced with a sense of responsibility. The urgency needs to be balanced with equity. And so the real challenge that’s before us is figuring out how to do things better than we’ve done them in the past,” she said.

There’s $32 million in mariculture research over the next decade coming from the settlement from the Exxon Valdez oil spill. An additional $50 million could come from the federal government and $25 million could come in matching funds from the state.

Anchorage’s housing market has become frustratingly competitive for many home buyers, who are finding themselves locked in bidding wars over a smaller and smaller pool of homes.

Hannah Hennighausen is one of those hopeful buyers. She’s also a postdoctoral researcher in the economics department at the University of Alaska Anchorage. She studies how the real estate and insurance markets are influenced by natural disaster risk. We asked how her house search is going.

Listen here:

The following transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Hannah Hennighausen: My partner and I recently learned that we’re going to be able to stay in Anchorage long term, which is great for us. And so we started looking for a home approximately a month ago. We’ve toured at this point, probably 12 or 15 houses, put offers on a couple and… so far we don’t have a home yet.

So far, I’ve been outbid. Most recently, I think our bid was pretty similar to the winning bid, except they offered all cash. And they waived all contingencies, where we still kept our life safety contingency and do not have all cash.

Kavitha George: Is waiving contingencies getting more common? And I’ve been even hearing about people placing bids without seeing the house first?

Hannah Hennighausen: Sight unseen definitely appears to be common. Definitely trying to pay cash is something that realtors and sellers are looking for. But for me, I would say the most unfortunate consequence of this market is the fact that all these contingencies are being waived. Inspection, contingencies, appraisal gaps, whatever they may be, are things that I think in the past have, in some ways served as buyer protection. You can imagine an inspection looking for faulty wiring or whatever it may be, are now needing to be waived.

Kavitha George: Could you see that backfiring on the next generation of buyers over the next five or 10 years?

Hannah Hennighausen: Yes, so it’s because the market is so competitive, because there are so many bids on each of these houses. And I’m not an expert, but I would say that my gut feeling is that that could have negative consequences for people who potentially are already a bit stretched to get into a home because these prices are quite high as well. And then maybe they don’t have the cash flow to cover some of the things that need to be fixed in a home that otherwise would be covered by a seller in a different market.

Kavitha George: Got it. So help us break down some of the major forces impacting the housing market right now. We’re seeing low stock, less construction — what’s causing this tight market?

Hannah Hennighausen: Anchorage’s for sale inventory is very low right now. In February 2022, there was a 65% drop in inventory relative to February 2020, just before lockdowns began. In real terms, that dropping inventory equates to 788 homes.

Low inventory is being driven by a number of factors, including a shift toward remote work, a lack of new construction, and the fact that current homeowners — many of whom refinance their mortgages under historically low rates — have little incentive to put their homes on the market, as they will be met with many of the same roadblocks facing first time homebuyers.

And that inventory that does that does come on the market is purchased quickly. So in February 2022, the median property was on the market for four days before it was purchased. Compare that to February 2020, when the median property sat for 23 days on the market before it was purchased. But low inventory is only one side of the puzzle here. We’re also seeing large increases in demand stemming in part from a change in preferences towards homeownership and especially single family homes.

Together, these shifts in supply and demand mean that, nationally, housing prices have increased by approximately 20% over the last two years. It also means that in an effort to get in a home, homeowners are increasingly waiving these inspection contingencies I talked about and paying cash when they can.

Kavitha George: Is the pandemic entirely to blame for these problems? Are there other factors at play?

Hannah Hennighausen: I saw when I was looking at the data, the pandemic is playing a large role, a very large role. But we were already seeing a drop in for-sale inventory before the pandemic began. And that I think is in part because people are staying in their homes longer as they age. So it used to be that as you aged, you sold your home and maybe even moved in with your kids, wherever it may be. But now people are staying longer in their homes. And so that inventory is just not being released to the market.

Kavitha George: The other thing that’s at play is that interest rates are also ramping up. And that certainly doesn’t help the issue of affordable housing in the short term. Could you explain how that’s expected to impact home buying over the next year or so?

Hannah Hennighausen: Sure. So, with increasing interest rates, we should see a decrease in home prices as people are increasingly priced out of the market, as their mortgages get bigger. The extent to which that is true depends on the proportion of cash buyers in a given market — those cash buyers are largely unaffected by interest rates. And how much rent prices are rising, because a rental property is going to be your substitute for a mortgage. So if rent prices are increasing even faster, then it’s still rational to get that mortgage. And the degree to which people are willing to extend themselves in order to purchase a home. The reality is that people need a roof over their head, and they will pay what they need, either through a mortgage or through rent.

Kavitha George: How does this market affect first-time buyers?

Hannah Hennighausen: For first-time homebuyers, this is an especially difficult market. When you don’t have the cash to pay for a home outright, or at the very least cash to cover an appraisal gap or fix faulty wiring, your offer will be seen as less competitive than others. In the meantime, you’ll be paying increased rental prices, further cutting into your ability to save towards a home.

Kavitha George: And renters might feel like this doesn’t apply to them. But does it?

Hannah Hennighausen: Oh, absolutely. I mean, every time a property exchanges hands, there’s potentially a new loan on it. And you know, even if it’s not a loan, even if it was paid with cash, landlords certainly want their properties to be rented at the market rate and that market rate is increasing.

Kavitha George: So what fixes this? How do we get out of this?

Hannah Hennighausen: There are a couple of solutions. A lot of them are going to be based on who you vote into office. So we definitely want to change some of our zoning laws to ensure that we can have more multi-unit structures on a given lot. The number of minimum parking spaces for each residential lot — if we can reduce that, then we can put more residential lots in. So in general, zoning, increasing construction where we can. I think that’ll be through an easier permitting process, maybe even some subsidies. I think building more, having more inventory is the best way forward.

The Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program at the University of Alaska has received $5 million to expand its high school component to Dillingham, Kotzebue and Juneau.

The program’s Acceleration Academy allows students to earn both a high school diploma and a bachelor’s degree in five years. It’s currently offered at the university’s Anchorage, Bethel and Matanuska-Susitna campuses.

Program founder and vice provost Herb Schroeder said it helps the state and families save money.

“The cost to government for a graduate from our university is around $300,000, and the cost to government for students to graduate from Acceleration is $88,000,” he said. “We want to make this opportunity available for every single student in the state.”

Schroeder started ANSEP after seeing how many students from rural communities were unprepared for college math and science classes. The first Acceleration Academy started in the Mat-Su in 2015.

Acceleration Academy students spend about half of their day in traditional classes, and the other half working together on projects or in study groups. Schroeder said about 70% of ANSEP’s students are Alaska Native.

“This whole idea of collaboration came out of Alaska Native culture, where everyone works together to be successful,” he said. “If you live in the village, everybody depends upon each other.”

Some student housing is available at the Bethel location. The funding will also allow the university to offer student housing at the Anchorage campus, which, Schroeder said, will make it more accessible.

“There’s a lot of students who live in communities that don’t have access to those rural campuses that the university has,” he said. “And they can come in starting in 9th grade and live in our residence halls and attend the Acceleration Academy we have on our campus here.”

The Dillingham, Kotzebue and Juneau programs will begin this fall. Next, Schroeder hopes to expand even further — to Kodiak, Nome and Fairbanks. Schroeder’s goal is to offer the program in every community with a University of Alaska campus, which also includes Soldotna, Homer, Palmer, Valdez, Ketchikan and Sitka.

Since September, the University of Alaska Anchorage has been offering regular Unangam Tunuu classes, and it’s the first time in over twenty years that the language classes have been taught at the university level.

At the helm of the course is Haliehana Alaĝum Ayagaa Stepetin, an Unangax̂ artist, scholar and subsistence fisher from Achan-Ingiiga, or Akutan. For the last nine years, she’s been studying the language, which is native to the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands region, with her mentor and Unangam Tunuu expert Moses Qagidax̂ Dirks. Together, the two are co-teaching these classes.

In the beginner course, Stepetin and Dirks cover the Unangax̂ alphabet, common greetings, kinship terms and personal introductions.

“Ting Alaĝum Ayagaa akuq,” Stepetin gives her introduction in Unangam Tunuu. “Qigiiĝum Unangaa akuq. Akutanam asxuu Achan-ingiigam ilagaan angix̂takuq. Qiigiĝum tanangin kugaan angix̂takuq. Iluulum tanadgusii ilan anĝaĝizaq. Dena’inam tanangin ilan anĝaĝinaq. Adang Thomas Stepetin asax̂tanax̂. Akutanam ilagaan angix̂tanax̂. Anang Annette Senger asax̂takux̂. Iluulum tanadgusii ilan anĝaĝizax̂ ama Wiyot tanangin kugaan angix̂takux̂.”

In her introduction, Stepetin gives a brief family history and explains where her parents are from — an exchange well known in the Native community. At the end of the 15-week course, her students will give a similar introduction in Unangam Tunuu as their final presentation.

Stepetin said this project was inspired by her experience traveling across Indigenous homelands and witnessing this exchange everywhere. She wanted to hear more Unangam Tunuu being spoken in the world, she said.

“I’m in a Native American Studies PhD program, so almost everyone is Native,” Stepetin said. “We all introduce ourselves, and I was like, ‘it would be really great if people were doing this, not just at the Aleut Villages Conferences, but everywhere that Unangax̂ people are in the world.’”

Sharing traditional introductions in a classroom setting has become more common in recent years, but the origin of the greetings dates back to nearly six decades ago, according to Stepetin.

“The history of these Alaska Native introductions started with the Alaska Native solidarity movements in the ’60s and ’70s,” she said.

This period was one of the first times various tribes from around the state gathered in large numbers. After Alaska became a state in the late 1950s, there was an imminent threat of land loss for Indigenous peoples. This threat prompted the creation of the Alaska Federation of Natives, the largest Native organization in the state.

“And they didn’t know who they were,” Stepetin said. “And so they would say, ‘I’m so-and-so, my mom and my dad are so-and-so, and we’re from here.’”

Outlining familial ties through introductions is important among Native people because it’s a way to relate to each other, she said.

“And because a bunch of people at the time had known each other, especially through being removed to boarding schools or different residential schools,” she said. “They would be like ‘oh, yeah, I know your mom,’ or, ‘I know your dad. I’ve heard of that village. So-and-so, who I went to school with is from there.’”

This course — and the collaboration among Stepetin, Dirks and supporting organizations like the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association — marks a big step toward Unangax̂ language revitalization.

The course culminated in a presentation where students were able to introduce family members, describe their favorite hobbies and talk about geographic roots — all in Unangam Tunuu. Stepetin said that all 23 students from the fall semester successfully completed this final project.

Stepetin hopes to teach level two Unangam Tunuu in the future. That course would likely cover conversations relevant to life on Unangam Tanangin — or Unangax̂ lands — such as weather and subsistence.

The University of Alaska Board of Regents has upped President Pat Pitney’s status from interim to permanent. Regents unanimously voted for the change on Feb. 25 at the end of a 2-day board meeting.

Regents Chair Sheri Buretta congratulated Pitney, noting the historic significance of shifting status from interim to permanent University of Alaska president.

“It’s taken over a hundred years, but you are the first female in that role for the university,” she said.

Pitney is a long-time University of Alaska administrator and former state budget director who was called on to fill in as UA president after the resignation of Jim Johnsen in summer of 2020.

Buretta thanked Pitney for helping the university navigate the past 2 years, during which it dealt with major state budget cuts and the Covid 19 pandemic.

“This is a time for forward momentum and celebration of our progress in getting through some difficult challenges,” she said.

Speaking to the regents following Friday’s vote to change her status from interim to permanent, Pitney called the appointment a true honor.

“I’m humbled to be able to represent this great university system and the faculty, staff and students who are engaged,” she said. “I will continue to focus on building team, and that’s team among our universities, that’s teams within our universities and that’s teams with industry, the legislature and the executive branch.”

Regent’s move to make Pitney UA’s permanent president was not without controversy, as faculty, staff and student governance groups all had passed resolutions opposing the action. The resolutions did not take issue with Pitney, but with the regent’s failure to follow precedent and policies regarding governance groups’ participation in the decision-making process.

UA Coalition of Student Leaders chair Shanone Tejada questioned the regents’ action.

“The board has talked about turning the corner and moving together as a university,” he said. “But there is no togetherness if the board acts unilaterally and in disregard for governance groups.”

Regents countered that the current situation is unique because of Pitney’s qualifications, track record, wide-based support and the added sway they said that making her the permanent president would provide as she advocates for the university during the remaining months of state legislative session.

Correction: An earlier version of this article gave the incorrect gender for Shanone Tejada.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is studying western Alaska’s dwindling population of Alaska hares, more commonly known as jackrabbits. Researchers don’t yet know why the population has been decreasing, and they need more information about the species to find out.

In 2013, Fish and Game started planning their first official population surveys on Alaska jackrabbits. Wildlife biologist Chris Barger took the lead on this premier project. He shared his initial findings during a Strait Science presentation hosted by University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Northwest Campus in Nome earlier this month.

“This is an understudied species that we know very little about,” Barger stated. “And historical accounts from local residents, department staff, and field experiences from across western Alaska suggest that the Alaska hare population is substantially below these historical records. However, we have never had any surveys of the species and it’s never been done until this project began.”

Barger wants to know how many jackrabbits are left in western Alaska, what they eat and where they go. But in order to answer those questions, he had to count and catch some.

“For hares and rabbits there are many different approaches, and we tried and failed at many of them. One of those methods was to try and find them, and count them with spotlights. Another idea was to try aerial surveys with a helicopter. Also we tried just track surveys and pellet counts,” Barger listed.

For counting methods, Fish and Game had the most success by using DNA analysis on the rabbits’ fecal pellets to identify individual animals in the areas they surveyed. That involved following hundreds of miles of tracks with snowmachines and transects..

Barger and his team went to seven different locations within the jackrabbits range, spanning from Bristol Bay to just north of Kotzebue. They have so far identified fewer than 100 hares in the Nome area, fewer than 20 in Ekuk near Bristol Bay, and about ten in the Kotzebue area. Alaska hares are distinct from snowshoe hares mainly because of their size. Jackrabbits are two to three times bigger than the snowshoe, according to Barger.

The research team then went from counting to trapping the rabbits.

With an almost Looney Tunes approach, Barger and his colleagues tried using bow nets with a pull string, night vision googles, camouflaged blinds and all sorts of different methods to capture the elusive jackrabbits.

But what was eventually successful was a modified pen trap with a transmitter attached to notify Barger when something was caught in the trap. He explains how the team used bait in the middle of the box trap, which is set up within a bigger pen trap and includes a trip wire made of monofilament fishing line.

“Now it starts to get a little complicated,” Barger said. “A string is attached to the doors, and that string is held up by a nail that’s wrapped with some wire. The nail is then connected by a string down to the bottom of a rat trap and then a thin monofilament fishing line goes from the trigger of the rat trap and runs all the way across the bait pile at the bottom of the net.”

That method led to the capture of about ten animals, who are now being tracked with satellite collars that will last for about a year.

Those jackrabbits were tagged so Fish and Game could find out more about the animals’ movements, Barger said.

“Using this preliminary data, we have found they can have a home range upwards of 5,000 acres and they can easily move three to four linear straight line miles in a matter of hours. So these things can really book it across the tundra when they want to,” Barger said.

In western Alaska, jackrabbits tend to spend most of their time in a core area of 430 acres within the larger home range. Barger tends to see jackrabbits living in willow thickets.

Since this is the department’s first official survey of jackrabbits, preliminary data is sparse. But the team will do their final field surveys this spring in Nome, according to Barger. Then they can analyze the diets of jackrabbits and maybe begin studying what is causing Alaska hares in western Alaska to decline.