Take a wildfire walk
The Yankovich Road Fire Wildfire Walk Interpretive Sign Trail is designed as an outdoor learning experience. This collaborative project led by the Alaska Fire Science Consortium is conveniently located just north of the University of Alaska campus and is accessible from the Large Animal Research Station on Yankovich Road. The interpretive sign trails leads to a 3.5 acre wildfire that burned in July 2021 and was quickly suppressed. The walk takes about 15 minutes one way and is only accessible in the summer.
Scientists and land managers are monitoring this burn to see which plants return. They measure and track how the vegetation, fuels and permafrost are changing following the fire. The area is being resampled regularly to gather information on how the burned area changes over time. More information about this effort is available here.
This wildfire walk will be available in Summer 2024
Fairbanks Artist Klara Maisch provided illustrations for the signs
Learn about:
Wildfire’s necessary role in the boreal forest
Types of fuels in a black spruce forest
Timeline of the Yankovich Road Fire
How the forest may look 50 years after the fire
How scientists monitor effects of the burn
Wildlife response to fire
How climate change impacts wildfire in Alaska
Lessons from people in the neighborhood
Who created this walk
Partners:
- Alaska Fire Science Consortium
- International Arctic Research Center
- Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire
Service - National Science Foundation Alaska
Established Program to Stimulate
Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Boreal
Fires Team - Alaska Department of Fish and Game
- Alaska Division of Forestry
- Alaska Wildland Fire Coordinating Group
- University Fire Department
- UAF Nanook Wildland Fire Crew
- UAF Institute of Agriculture, Natural
Resources and Extension - UAF Alaska Center for Climate
Assessment and Policy - UAF North Campus
- In a Time of Change
- Alaska Voices
Funded by:
Joint Fire Science Program
(Alaska Fire Science Consortium)
National Science Foundation
(EPSCoR Fire and Ice)
U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture
(Hatch project 1018914and the State of Alaska)
