ACCS manages the University of Alaska Herbarium (UAAH). Our herbarium houses approximately 16,000 specimens that support academic and professional research in systematics, floristics, and conservation in Alaska and neighboring Canadian territories. Approximately 97% of the specimens originate from Alaska, with the remaining specimens originating from Yukon, Washington, and Oregon. Regional emphases include otherwise poorly known areas such as Bering Sea Islands, Bering Glacier area of south-central Alaska, and remote regions of southwestern and northwestern Alaska.
Previous regional floristic works supported by specimens in the collection are Anderson’s Flora of Alaska and Adjacent Parts of Canada, The Genus Salix in Alaska and the Yukon, Wetland Sedges of Alaska, Alaska Rare Plant Field Guide, and AKEPIC ID Book.
UAAH is a member of the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria (CPNWH), a group of 36 herbaria in the Pacific Northwest hosted by the University of Washington. The consortium database is a powerful online tool to search over 2.5 million herbarium specimens. The consortium database has many tools to assist in conducting specific searches by advanced criteria or geography.
Click below to access the online specimen database for UAAH and other member herbaria:
Identification Services
We provide five free specimens for UA students and faculty or government agencies per year without charge. Please review our services page for information on additional services.
Facilities
The University of Alaska Anchorage Herbarium is located next to the main offices of Alaska Center for Conservation Science on the UAA campus in Beatrice MacDonald Hall, Room 115 (view map). Specimens are housed in a dedicated lab space with 7 scrolling cabinets, microscopes, and lab counter space for species identification. A reference collection of botanical literature is also housed in the herbarium to aid in accurate identification according to current species concepts.
Visitor Use
We welcome qualified amateurs, students, staff, and faculty from education institutions and government agencies to use our facilities. We are open Monday-Friday 9am to 4:30pm, parking is free on Fridays. We suggest contacting Justin Fulkerson before your visit so we can best accommodate space, tools, and/or specimens. Especially in the summer as herbarium staff are traveling working on projects or are utilizing larger amounts of space than normal. Visitors are requested to sign the Visitor Registration form at the door and notify staff of presence. Absolutely no food or drink are allowed in our facility. If you wish to bring your own material for identification it will need to be prepped before entering our facility. Please contact us for more details. No specimens or books may be removed from our facility without prior approval. We do stock a limited number of plant identification publications free of charge to take for personal use.
Loan Policy
We encourage collaboration between herbaria and scientist. We loan material free of charge to any request, usually for up to one year or at the discretion of the Curator.
Volunteer Opportunities
We are always looking for volunteers to assist with curation of our specimens.
Donate Specimens
If you wish to donate voucher specimens, please contact jrfulkerson (at) alaska.edu. Generally, we need the specimen mounted without a label or unmounted. All vouchers should be sent in a newspaper sheet between cardboard sheets for protection. Associated collection data should be emailed in an excel file to enable us to input record data efficiently. Please mail specimens to:
Alaska Center for Conservation Science
ATTN: Herbarium
University of Alaska Anchorage
Beatrice McDonald Hall
3211 Providence Drive
Anchorage, Alaska 99508