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The first thing people look at is the chart on page six of the report, that shows the particulates collected from local pollution-measuring devices. They show the Fairbanks North Star Borough still exceeds the National Ambient Air Quality Standard of 35 micrograms/cubic meter.
“Absolutely, we have a lot of work to do. But we look at it the way the standard was built, which is a three-year design, and the three-year design value in Fairbanks did go down.”
That’s Cindy Heil, she is a Program Manager in the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.
She says there is reason for optimism about the progress the area is making toward the Clean Air Act standard. Although a monitor on Hurst Road in North Pole measured more PM 2.5 particulate pollution this year, Heil says the overall trend is toward cleaner air.
Glenn Helkenn lives in a spruce forest, in a tiny log cabin he built himself on the outskirts of Fairbanks, Alaska’s third largest city. Give him an hour and a handsaw and Helkenn says he can harvest enough firewood to heat his 96 sq ft home for a couple of days, even when the temperature drops to -40F. For him, it’s about more than free fuel. “It is what I enjoy doing,” Helkenn said. “You know, it’s the fresh air. It’s the time out in the.
The two aim to find to what degree dead fish actually feed the red tide.
The idea is that red tide moves into an area, fish are killed and then the dead fish decompose and provide even more nutrients for the red tide to feed from. (We re) looking at the decomposing fish and the idea that as they decompose they release nutrients that can go back and feed the red tide more, Parsons said. Can that kill even more fish so you possibly have a positive feedback loop.
Red tide blooms are initiated by a naturally occurring organism known as