120 Alaskan Science Conference 



There is need for a deeper realization of the importance of 

 doing botanical research that may not have any immediate 

 practical application. These needs are pressing if severe neglect 

 of the botanical possibilities is to be avoided. Support can take 

 the form of fellowships and grants-in-aid that will enable quali- 

 fied botanists to do field work in Alaska. It can take the form 

 of modest laboratory facilities at several strategic points in 

 Alaska, where visiting scientists can work in close proximity 

 to the living material of the region and have personal confer- 

 ences with local botanists and with other visiting scientists. 

 The Arctic Research Laboratory, sponsored by the Office of 

 Naval Research, is located at Point Barrow and extends facili- 

 ties to investigators who are able to secure contracts covering 

 their research projects. But this one laboratory, situated as it 

 is several hundred miles from the nearest steamship or rail 

 terminal, is not enough. Another laboratory at or near Fair- 

 banks, Anchorage, or Palmer would offer greatly increased in- 

 ducements to "outside" botanists to carry on programs of re- 

 search on Alaskan material within Alaskan territory. Still an- 

 other form that support to botanical work can take is that of a 

 substantial reduction in the teaching load of faculty members 

 at the University of Alaska. Such a move would permit faculty 

 members to engage in research in their own specialties and at 

 the same time increase the prestige of the University through 

 the publication of the results of that research. 



Yet another need, and it is ever present in every science, is 

 enthusiasm and drive on the part of botanists interested in 

 Alaska and Alaskan plants. This drive must be the kind that 

 carries through to the very end of the project— the kind that 

 will result in completed investigations, full explanations of 

 methods, techniques, and hypotheses, forcefully and directly 

 phrased. Ideas in investigators' minds are essential. Without 

 them there would be little productive research. But they be- 

 come permanently valuable only after they have been translated 

 into action and the results of their application made available 

 to others through publication— less frequently by word of 

 mouth. If we combine enthusiasm, energetic action, coopera- 



