Interior Alaska: epitome of the Last Frontier.

• Author: Barbour, Tracy
• Position: REGIONAL REVIEW - Tourism promotion

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Situated just below the Arctic Circle, Alaska's Interior region has relatively warm summers and freezing winters. The landscape is accented by spruce and spaghnum moss interlaced with fireweed, willow, birch and alder. The Interior has an abundance of wildlife--moose, caribou, Dall sheep, grizzly bears and wolves.

The Interior is a vast area with pristine wilderness, natural wonders and spectacular features. It contains Alaska's longest fiver, the mighty Yukon, which flows westward across the region from the Yukon Territory toward the Bering Sea. The region is also home to North America's highest peak--the majestic Mount McKinley--located in the 6-million-acre Denali National Park and Preserve.

The Alaska Interior is well known for its breathtaking northern lights display, hot springs, gold mining and the trans-Alaska oil pipeline that delivers oil south from Prudhoe Bay, down the historic Richardson Highway and to Valdez.

FAIRBANKS, THE GATEWAY TO THE INTERIOR AND THE ARCTIC

With about 35,000 residents, Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior and the second largest in Alaska. The entire Fairbanks North Star Borough contains approximately 85,000 people.

Fairbanks sits along the Chena and Tanana rivers, about 360 miles north of Anchorage. Positioned on the edge of the wilderness, the city brands itself as the gateway to the Interior and Arctic. Officially, Fairbanks is known as the "Golden Heart City" for its rich history and friendly residents. "The people are great here," Mayor Terry Strle said. "We maintain a small-town feel."

Gold and oil are dominant components of Fairbanks' history. Today, the city has a diverse economy, bolstered by the U.S. military, the University of Alaska and government, according to Neal Fried, an economist with the Alaska Department of Labor.

"It's sort of a mixed story," Fried said. "There are a lot of uncertainties tied to the economy, like a lot of other places in Alaska and the rest of the country. One of Fairbanks' strengths in this current period is the fact that government is such a big player, and government tends to be more stable than some sectors."

Unemployment in Fairbanks is slowly creeping up, paralleling what is happening nationwide. Fried attributes the increase to the slowing down of the local (and national) economy. "As the nation's economy gets worse, fewer Alaskans leave, and more people move north, which puts additional pressure on the job market," he said. "We do expect the number will rise."

Still, Fairbanks' unemployment rate for December--6.9 percent--was lower than the statewide average of 7.7 percent for the same month.

The population in Fairbanks is relatively stable. The military is expanding in the area, and the city continues to build a tremendous amount of infrastructure. The city...