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FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — The University of Alaska Fairbanks needs to find a new home for the nearly 25,000 seedlings growing in its greenhouse, which are used every year to beautify campus.
The 2,700-square-foot greenhouse and an adjacent vegetable garden have to be moved now that the Legislature has provided $245 million for a new coal-fired power plant.
"Now that we have funding for the new heat and power plant, it needs to move," Scott Bell, the associate vice chancellor for Facilities Services at UAF, told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (http://is.gd/die1sH).
The greenhouse should be dismantled next month, when work begins on the new power plant. There are no layoffs anticipated because of the loss of the greenhouse.
Pieces of the existing greenhouse will either be sold as surplus material or used on other campus buildings.
The greenhouse has been used from February to May, growing flowers used to decorate the campus.
Bell said there are cost benefits for the university to grow those many of the flowers from seeds, and is hopeful that there will be space in the university's research greenhouses to offset the loss of this facility.
The vegetable garden, which provides greens for both food services and student groups, also has to be relocated, possibly to the university's farm plots.
A spokeswoman for the School of Natural Resources and Extension said officials plan to meet this week to discuss this plan.
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Information from: Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, http://www.newsminer.com
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