Musk Ox Farm celebrates more farmland acreage

PALMER — While the Mat-Su Valley continues experiencing rapid residential and commercial development, there’s a good chunk of prime real estate just outside of Palmer that will never change. Thanks to a collaborative effort between the federal government, Alaska Farmland Trust Corporation (AFTC), the Musk Ox Farm, just over 62 acres of the approximate 75 that make up Muskox Farm recently received permanent protection.

Mark Austin, Musk Ox Farm executive director, explained four years of fundraising, planning and paperwork paid off. He said it’s been a long, involved process but he’s pleased almost all of the farm’s acreage will never see use other than agriculture in perpetuity.

“It’s been a very, very long process with (AFTC) and started more than five years ago,” Austin said.

Austin explained on the first go-around, things didn’t bode well for the farm itself. He said at one point, in 2009, the farm was on the brink of closure. He said the following year, as the farm reached its half-century mark, there was a local rally , and new membership blood, to keep things going. Austin said despite the planned effort, it remained uncertain whether or not the farm would be around in three years.

“A year or two later, (former AFTC) director Steve Gallagher contacted me and thought we would be a good candidate, but we didn’t make it,” Austin said. “I started working with (current AFTC executive director) Amy Pettit in 2012.”

Austin said he did that knowing that the process could take several years. He explained that in order to make the process work at the federal level, the farm would have to relinquish its development rights. In other words, sell over the rights not to develop it but rather keep it as farmland.

“As long as there is a United States, this will remain farmland. It can’t remain idle, it has to be farmed,” Austin said, adding that the AFTC monitors each set-aside parcel to assure it is farmed in some manner.

“Farmland Trust had to apply to the federal government for matching funds. We are the only musk ox farm in the country protected with federal dollars,” Pettit said. She said the feds put in 50 percent of the needed monies to complete the project while AFTC and the farm itself matched with 25 percent each.

Both he and Pettit agree there is only so much farmable land in the state. Currently, Alaska only grows about five percent of the food it needs. Austin and Pettit said as the world’s population continues to grow, and if global climate change continues on its current path, the state’s farmland will only become more valuable.

The farm itself is currently home to 82 muskox which is known for its valuable wool fiber. It was hunted to near extinction in the state prior to being reintroduced.

Muskox are northern animals well adapted to life in the Arctic. Austin said contrary to popular belief, they are not related to bison but rather are direct descendants from goats and sheep. At the close of the last ice age, musk ox were found across northern Europe, Asia, Greenland and North America, including Alaska. By the mid-1800s, musk ox had disappeared from Europe and Asia. By the 1920s, muskox had also disappeared from Alaska as well. At that time, the only remaining muskox across the globe were found in east Greenland and Arctic Canada. International concern over impending extinction of this animal led to an effort to restore a population in Alaska.

In 1930, 34 muskoxen were captured in East Greenland and brought to Fairbanks. This group was then transferred to Nunivak Island. With no known predators on the island, the species thrived there and, by 1968, the herd had grown to 750 animals. Muskox from the Nunivak herd were later translocated to establish new herds on the Seward Peninsula, on Cape Thompson and Nelson Islands, in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and on Wrangell Island and the Taimyr Peninsula in Russia. By 2000, almost 4,000 muskoxen existed in Alaska.

Austin said annual costs to run the farm are pegged at approximately a half-million dollars. He said there are roughly five full-time employees at the farm, although that number grows during the summer months when tours are given.

“We’ve been very fortunate that we are self-supporting. We are non-profit and our membership arm really helps close the (financial) gap,” Austin said. “Our first ‘Oxtoberfest” was a huge success. It features a farm-to-table feast of Alaska.”

Austin said profits from the major fundraiser are split evenly between the farm and AFTC. With the addition of the Musk Ox farm parcel, AFTC has helped secure approximately 220 acres of farmland in the Mat-Su Valley. The McCormick family is farming an 80-acre parcel while the Hamilton and DeSalvo farms make up about 40 acres each.

The second Oxtoberfest will take place Saturday, Oct. 1, at the farm. It features Alaska-grown pork bratwurst, Palmer-grown German potato salad, Matanuska sauerkraut, Palmer-grown wheat in the buns and more local-regional selections. Austin added the evening includes all the “oom-pah” music you can shake a jig at.

“The one thing I hold dear is the legacy of what we have done. In 20 years if we outgrow this place, or in five or we’re not here anymore, some family that wants to go into farming will have the opportunity,” Austin said. “Someone will be able to be productive here forever.”

Both Austin and Pettit ended with an important point — ‘you can’t eat a subdivision!’

For more information on the upcoming festival or the farm itself, visit www.muskoxfarm.org