Conference Field Trips

All field trips are currently full. If you did not secure a spot there are commercial tour companies around that offer a range of activities. You can access those companies through the Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau website.

Large Animal Research Station and Permafrost Tunnel Tour ($35 per person)

On 24 (Wednesday) and 29 (Monday) June we will offer tours of two of Fairbanks’ most interesting scientific attractions: the Robert G. White Large Animal Research Station (LARS) and the US Army Permafrost Tunnel. We also will visit the Trans Alaska Pipeline, which passes through Fairbanks.

LARS is a site for physiological ecology research at UAF using Arctic ungulates as model organisms. It is also an active center for outreach to the community. Current animal colonies consist of muskoxen, caribou, and domesticated reindeer. Dr. Perry Barboza, Science Director for LARS and Associate Professor of Biology, will be your host and will discuss current and past research at the facility and will lead a tour of the animal-handling facility. Although public tours are offered at LARS, our tour will go behind the scenes to areas not accessible to the general public.

The Permafrost Tunnel is a horizontal shaft bored into a hillside near Fairbanks and offers a 'gopher's eye view' of Alaska's Pleistocene legacy. It is used for geological, engineering, and climate-change research. The tunnel penetrates a permanent layer of permafrost and is frozen year-round. You will see ice wedges protruding from the roof and walls as well as ancient plant roots and bones of Pleistocene mammals.; Organic materials exposed in the tunnel can exceed 40,000 years of age. Vertebrate paleontologist Dr. Pat Druckenmiller, Curator of Earth Science at the University of Alaska Museum of the North and an Assistant Professor of Geology and Geophysics, will be your host. Be advised that air temperatures inside the tunnel are below freezing; please plan to dress appropriately. The tunnel is lit and supplemental flashlights will be provided. Tours of the Permafrost Tunnel are not available to the public so this will be your only opportunity to see it.

Finally, we will stop by a viewpoint for the Trans Alaska Pipeline where there is a small visitors’ center providing information regarding this marvel of engineering—one of Fairbanks’ most-visited attractions.

The tours will leave from the bus stop at the UAF Wood Center at 10:00 AM and will take about 4 hours; a sack lunch will be provided (vegetarian options will be available; please specify when registering for the trip). For more information about each venue, please visit the following websites:

http://www.crrel.usace.army.mil/permafrosttunnel/
http://www.uaf.edu/lars/
http://www.alyeska-pipe.com/pipelinefacts.html

Denali National Park and Preserve guided overnight trip, 29-30 June (pricing variable, see below)

Join Tom Meier, Park Service wildlife biologist, wolf expert, and coauthor of The Wolves of Denali, on an all-day excursion into the crown jewel of the National Park System. Guests will depart UAF at 3:00 p.m. on 29 June (Monday) and travel by charter bus to Healy, about two hours south of Fairbanks near the Park entrance. There are numerous dining, hiking, and sightseeing options in and around Healy. Guests will spend the night at the Denali Park Hotel and depart early the next morning for the Park. Much of the day will be spent in the bus, which provides a more elevated perspective for viewing the landscape and wildlife, although there will be frequent stops. Tom and the driver will provide an informal narrative of the Park's history and fauna and will be available all day to answer questions. Although it is impossible to guarantee which species will be seen on a given day, it is quite common to see grizzly bear, caribou, moose, Dall sheep, wolf, collared pikas, hoary marmots, arctic ground squirrels, and a variety of birds. The bus will travel 66 miles along the Park's only road to the newly renovated Eielson Visitor Center, which provides a spectacular view of Mt. McKinley, the tallest peak in North America, and interpretive exhibits on the natural, cultural, and geological history of the area. A box picnic lunch is included (vegetarian options will be available; please specify when registering for the trip).

On the return trip to Fairbanks later that day (Tuesday, 30 June), the bus will stop at the park entrance for dinner (there are numerous restaurants to choose from). The bus will arrive back at UAF at approximately 11 p.m. You should NOT plan on arriving back in Fairbanks in time to catch the 'red-eye' Alaska Airlines flight AS 128 to Seattle on 1 July (which leaves at 1:30 a.m.). Maximum group size is 45. Spaces will be reserved on a first-paid, first-served basis. There will be no refunds issued after 30 April.

Rooms at the Denali Park Hotel include two double beds with a maximum capacity of four people per room. A limited number of rooms may be available for single-occupancy at a higher price. If you would like to share a room with one other person, you may either specify that person or we will assign a same-gender roommate to you. If you would like to share a room with TWO or THREE other roommates (at a reduced rate), you must specify all of them (and they you) when you sign up for the trip. And if you think this sounds complicated, try organizing it!

Trip cost includes:
Roundtrip bus travel from UAF to Denali
One night's lodging at the Denali Park Hotel
All-day guided trip into Denali by the park's resident wolf expert
Park entrance fee
Boxed picnic lunch on Tuesday

Trip cost does NOT include dinners or breakfast; the bus will stop at local establishments that offer authentic Alaskan road cuisine at prices slightly to moderately above comparable fare Outside.

Costs (per person):
Single-occupancy (private) room: $210.84
Double-occupancy room: $141.83
Triple-occupancy: $122.16 (see above regarding roommates!)
Quadruple-occupancy: $109.82 (see above)