Sen. Ted Stevens’ Influence Will Linger in Interior Alaska

20 Nov 2008 // FAIRBANKS — Ted Stevens may be on his way out of the U.S. Senate, but his influence will remain in the Fairbanks area through numerous projects he helped acquire money for during his 40-year career in Washington, D.C.

The list includes items big and small. Tens of millions of dollars worth of hangars, training facilities and military housing paid for with federal dollars fill Fort Wainwright and Eielson Air Force Base, and three decades ago he helped gain congressional approval of the $256 million Chena River Lakes Flood Control Project.

The Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors’ Center wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for Stevens, according to director Cindy Schumaker. At the building’s dedication ceremony on Aug. 15, Schumaker referred to the cultural center as “the house that Ted built.”

According to Schumaker, Stevens initially committed $10 million to the project, and later paved the way for another $6 million from the federal government. More than $10 million in state and private donations followed.

“Without his belief in our project, it never would have happened. And that’s a fact,” Schumaker said. “We’re incredibly thankful for the senator’s support for our project.”

The Alaska Railroad survived on Stevens’ funding requests for more than a decade, at times raking in $25 million a year — equal to the amount the state paid the federal government for the railroad in 1985.

At the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Stevens steered $25 million in funds to the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center in 1992, and boosted the Alaska Volcano Observatory and the International Arctic Research Center building by millions of dollars more.

His support of IARC, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, has gone a long way, said Director Larry Hinzman. IARC is the premier research institution studying the Arctic region, and much of its mission is focused on climate change, Hinzman said Wednesday.

“He’s been great for IARC and the university as a whole,” Hinzman said. “He had a great influence in getting support from the federal government to support the construction of this building and the research as well.”

Stevens also routed $5 million in grants toward the University of Alaska Museum of the North in the late 1990s, which was the first public boost to an effort to expand the facility.

“Everything up until then had been laying the groundwork and getting things going,” said Kerynn Fisher, the museum spokeswoman.

The downtown parking garage, Hutchison High School and Birch Hill Recreation Area ski lodge also benefited from “Stevens money.”

For years, smaller grants and earmarks also made their way to Fairbanks, ranging from $1 million to update the Fairbanks North Star Borough’s central dispatch system in 2000 to smaller grants for the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival and a local treatment program for chronic inebriates.