Anchorage Daily News

FAIRBANKS -- A researcher's plan to plant 2,500 balsam poplar trees on a six-acre, fenced-in plot in a field along a popular University of Alaska Fairbanks ski trail has community users protesting.

The trees were planned for part of the T-field, a landmark familiar to cross-country skiers who use university trails.

Skiers say an experimental plot with a high fence, which would remain in place for 20 years, would be an eyesore and would destroy the pastoral character of the 23-acre field in the shape of a T even if doesn't alter the ski trail that runs around the outside of it.

Researchers say the T-Field has been used for research for years and the experiment would be a valuable asset that could attract other researchers and be of interest to young students.

The UAF Master Planning Committee gave conditional approval to the research project but unanimously voted to explore putting the plot at the nearby Large Animal Research Station instead of the T-Field.

If it's determined the animal research center is not suitable for the plot, the trees will be placed in the T-field as originally planned.

UAF Chancellor Brian Rogers will make the final decision within days.

The head of the animal research center, biologist Perry Barboza, said he planned to meet with researcher Matt Olson, who proposed the tree project. He said there are specific needs for the trees.

Though the Large Animal Research Station focuses on the biology of Arctic ungulates, the experimental balsam poplar garden is well within its auspices, Barboza said.

"The goal of LARS is to do biology of the north," he said.

Olson, an assistant professor at the Institute of Arctic Biology, proposes to plant 2,500 balsam poplar trees collected and cloned from 33 locations across Canada and Alaska.

"The goal of our project is to study genetic variations of balsam poplar," he told the committee. "It's a model species for understanding the biology of trees."

The experiment will examine the responses and resilience of trees in the Interior to climate change, the adaptations different genetic variations develop to live in northern latitudes and what species grows best in the region.

Olson received a $40,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to pay for the planting and fencing.

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