Search Results for: climate

A wood frog pauses in the forest just off the Yukon River near the mouth of the Nation River. (Photo by Ned Rozell)

Alaska Science Forum: Wood frogs — farthest north amphibian cannibals

Their staccato voices can make a muskeg bog as loud as a city street, though most are so small they could sit in a coffee… Continue reading

A wood frog pauses in the forest just off the Yukon River near the mouth of the Nation River. (Photo by Ned Rozell)
The road entrance to Kenai Fjords National Park is marked by a sign, seen on Aug. 27, 2022. The National Park Service has released its annual report on the economic impact of park visitation. Alaska is among the states that reaps the most economic benefit from visitors to its national parks, according to the report. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Visitors to Alaska’s national parklands pumped $2.3 billion into the state’s economy, report says

Tourism to national parks in Alaska has rebounded from pre-pandemic levels after three years of lower numbers, according to a report released by the National… Continue reading

The road entrance to Kenai Fjords National Park is marked by a sign, seen on Aug. 27, 2022. The National Park Service has released its annual report on the economic impact of park visitation. Alaska is among the states that reaps the most economic benefit from visitors to its national parks, according to the report. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
District 2 Assembly candidate Mary Marks. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Get to know a candidate: Mary Marks

Assembly District 2 candidate in the 2024 Juneau municipal election

District 2 Assembly candidate Mary Marks. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
A student exits the University of Alaska Anchorage consortium library on Friday. Alaska now has had 12 years of net outmigration, with more people leaving the state than moving in, contrary to past history when Alaska drew large numbers of young adults. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

With Alaska outmigration continuing, community members contemplate responses

Two-day meeting at UAA gave attendees from different sectors a chance to brainstorm solutions.

A student exits the University of Alaska Anchorage consortium library on Friday. Alaska now has had 12 years of net outmigration, with more people leaving the state than moving in, contrary to past history when Alaska drew large numbers of young adults. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Members of the Alaska House watch for the vote tally on House Bill 17 on Thursday, March 21, 2024. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

Governor vetoes bill that would have expanded Alaska women’s access to birth control medicine

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has vetoed a bill that would have eased access to contraceptives. Dunleavy on Wednesday vetoed House Bill 17, a measure that the… Continue reading

Members of the Alaska House watch for the vote tally on House Bill 17 on Thursday, March 21, 2024. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
Workers construct a greenhouse behind the Edward K. Thomas building during the summer of 2021. The greenhouse is part of a food sovereignty project by the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, which this week received a $15 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection agency to establish or expand composting operations in five Southast Alaska communities including Juneau. (Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska photo)

Tlingit and Haida gets $15M EPA grant for composting operations in five Southeast Alaska communities

Funds will establish or expand programs in Juneau, Wrangell, Hoonah, Petersburg and Yakutat.

Workers construct a greenhouse behind the Edward K. Thomas building during the summer of 2021. The greenhouse is part of a food sovereignty project by the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, which this week received a $15 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection agency to establish or expand composting operations in five Southast Alaska communities including Juneau. (Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska photo)
Florida State University graduate student Tyler Hunt scans a rock that contains several dinosaur footprints during a recent trip on the upper Colville River. (Patrick Druckenmiller, UA Museum of the North)

Alaska Science Forum: The lost world of northern dinosaurs

On a recent river trip in northern Alaska, scientists from the University of Alaska Museum of the North found a lost world, a time of… Continue reading

Florida State University graduate student Tyler Hunt scans a rock that contains several dinosaur footprints during a recent trip on the upper Colville River. (Patrick Druckenmiller, UA Museum of the North)
Boxed kits with naloxone, an overdose-reversal drug, and associated equipment are stacked on tables at the Alaska Department of Health’s Anchorage office on Aug. 9. The kits were assembled that day in preparation for distribution to school districts around the state, in accordance with House Bill 202. The bill requires schools to stock the kits and to have personnel trained to use them. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Alaska schools to be stocked with anti-overdose kits, under new law

Emergency kits to save victims of opioid overdoses are on their way to Alaska schools, in accordance with a new law. The law is the… Continue reading

Boxed kits with naloxone, an overdose-reversal drug, and associated equipment are stacked on tables at the Alaska Department of Health’s Anchorage office on Aug. 9. The kits were assembled that day in preparation for distribution to school districts around the state, in accordance with House Bill 202. The bill requires schools to stock the kits and to have personnel trained to use them. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Abortion-rights advocates start a march along several downtown blocks to protest the U.S. Supreme Court ruling’s June 24, 2022, ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. An Alaska judge has ruled that a longstanding provision in state law specifying that licensed physicians are the only medical professionals allowed to provide abortion services violates the Alaska constitution’s equal-protection and privacy guarantees. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Alaska judge strikes down requirement that only licensed physicians provide abortions

Ruling says barring clinicians from providing services violates equal-protection, privacy rights

Abortion-rights advocates start a march along several downtown blocks to protest the U.S. Supreme Court ruling’s June 24, 2022, ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. An Alaska judge has ruled that a longstanding provision in state law specifying that licensed physicians are the only medical professionals allowed to provide abortion services violates the Alaska constitution’s equal-protection and privacy guarantees. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Robert Sisson (left), former commissioner of the International Joint Commission, presides over a panel discussion Wednesday during the third annual Transboundary Mining Conference at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Transboundary mining conference sees fears after natural and man-made disasters, hope after pacts

U.S., Canadian and tribal leaders gather in Juneau to seek way forward on decades-old disputes.

Robert Sisson (left), former commissioner of the International Joint Commission, presides over a panel discussion Wednesday during the third annual Transboundary Mining Conference at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
The F/V Liberty, captained by Trenton Clark, fishes the Pacific near Metlakatla on Aug. 20, 2024. Over the last few years, the $6 billion Alaskan wild seafood market has been ensnared in a mix of geopolitics, macroeconomics, changing ocean temperatures and post-Covid whiplash that piled on top of long-building vulnerabilities in the business model. (Ash Adams/The New York Times)

For generations of Alaskans, a livelihood is under threat

Something is broken in the economics of state’s fishing industry. Can Washington come to the rescue?

  • Aug 31, 2024
  • By Lydia DePillis, ©2024 The New York Times Company
  • Fishing
The F/V Liberty, captained by Trenton Clark, fishes the Pacific near Metlakatla on Aug. 20, 2024. Over the last few years, the $6 billion Alaskan wild seafood market has been ensnared in a mix of geopolitics, macroeconomics, changing ocean temperatures and post-Covid whiplash that piled on top of long-building vulnerabilities in the business model. (Ash Adams/The New York Times)
Crew members with the Hoonah Native Forest Partnership map anadromous streams that have not previously been documented in an effort to further knowledge about salmon distribution and health in Southeast Alaska that is essential for addressing climate change. (Photo by Lee House)

Woven Peoples and Place: Climate adaptation and resilience in Southeast Alaska

A conversation with Annika Ord, climate adaptation catalyst for Sustainable Southeast Partnership.

Crew members with the Hoonah Native Forest Partnership map anadromous streams that have not previously been documented in an effort to further knowledge about salmon distribution and health in Southeast Alaska that is essential for addressing climate change. (Photo by Lee House)
Republican challenger Nick Begich III and Democratic U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola are on the stage at the beginning of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association’s candidate forum on Aug. 28, 2024. (Andrew Kitchenman/Alaska Beacon)

Peltola, Begich face off in first debate at Alaska oil and gas industry forum

U.S. House candidates focus on Biden administration’s policies, citing advances and setbacks.

Republican challenger Nick Begich III and Democratic U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola are on the stage at the beginning of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association’s candidate forum on Aug. 28, 2024. (Andrew Kitchenman/Alaska Beacon)
Homes in Ketchikan are damaged by a landslide on Sunday. (Ketchikan Gateway Borough photo)

One person killed as major landslide impacts homes in Ketchikan, forces evacuations

Emergency agencies, including statewide and in Juneau, responding as state disaster declared.

Homes in Ketchikan are damaged by a landslide on Sunday. (Ketchikan Gateway Borough photo)
A large primnoid coral loaded with brittle stars, a marine relative of sea stars. The underwater image was captured on the Dickins Seamount during a 2004 research cruise in the Gulf of Alaska. A new lawsuit claims fishery managers have failed to adequately protect Gulf of Alaska corals and sponges. (Photo provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

Lawsuit claims fishery managers have failed to adequately protect Alaska’s coral gardens

Environmental group seeks stronger limits to bottom trawling in the Gulf of Alaska.

A large primnoid coral loaded with brittle stars, a marine relative of sea stars. The underwater image was captured on the Dickins Seamount during a 2004 research cruise in the Gulf of Alaska. A new lawsuit claims fishery managers have failed to adequately protect Gulf of Alaska corals and sponges. (Photo provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
A sign at Anchorage’s Service High School, seen on Aug. 13, 2024, explains that tobacco use is prohibited at the property. High school students’ use of electronic cigarettes has declined since 2019, one of the positive trends emerging from the latest Alaska Youth Risk Behavior Survey. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Survey of Alaska youth reveals more mental health problems, but also some positive trends

More anxiety and suicidal thoughts, but less use of harmful substances like tobacco and alcohol.

A sign at Anchorage’s Service High School, seen on Aug. 13, 2024, explains that tobacco use is prohibited at the property. High school students’ use of electronic cigarettes has declined since 2019, one of the positive trends emerging from the latest Alaska Youth Risk Behavior Survey. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
In a photo provided by Adam Pack and NOAA, the humpback whale Old Timer is seen in Frederick Sound in Southeast Alaska, on July 29, 2024. Old Timer, a male first photographed in 1972, was spotted last month near Alaska, enduring in the Pacific Ocean while some other humpbacks have struggled in a changing environment. (Adam Pack/NOAA via The New York Times)

Survival of world’s oldest humpback whale, spotted in Southeast Alaska last month, is a mystery

Male known as “Old Timer” is now at least 53 years old, according to marine mammal researcher.

  • Aug 14, 2024
  • By Emily Anthes, © 2024 The New York Times Company
  • Whales
In a photo provided by Adam Pack and NOAA, the humpback whale Old Timer is seen in Frederick Sound in Southeast Alaska, on July 29, 2024. Old Timer, a male first photographed in 1972, was spotted last month near Alaska, enduring in the Pacific Ocean while some other humpbacks have struggled in a changing environment. (Adam Pack/NOAA via The New York Times)
Bordetella pertussis, the bacteria that causes the disease pertussis, is show in this 2019 medical illustration based on microscopic images. This image, in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publication on antibiotic resistance threats, shows a strain that has developed a resistance to drugs used to treat the disease. Pertussis cases are rising in Alaska and nationwide following a lull during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Image by Dan Higgins/Provided by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Rising cases of ‘whooping cough’ in Alaska prompt warnings and prevention recommendations

A spike in pertussis, a contagious disease commonly known as whooping cough, has swept through Alaska, the state Department of Health reported. Through the end… Continue reading

Bordetella pertussis, the bacteria that causes the disease pertussis, is show in this 2019 medical illustration based on microscopic images. This image, in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publication on antibiotic resistance threats, shows a strain that has developed a resistance to drugs used to treat the disease. Pertussis cases are rising in Alaska and nationwide following a lull during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Image by Dan Higgins/Provided by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Yago Jacob of Napaskiak, one of the Calista Corp. shareholders employed at the Donlin Gold project, holds up a sliced piece of a geological core on Aug. 11, 2022. Calista is the Native corporation that owns the mineral rights at the mine project. Donlin is one of eight large mine projects listed in a new report as being near development or in advanced exploration. Seven large Alaska mines currently are producing. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Economic impacts of mining in Alaska include wages, taxes and career training, report says

Alaska’s mining industry supported 11,800 jobs and $1.1 billion in total wages in 2023, according to a report commissioned by the Alaska Miners Association and… Continue reading

Yago Jacob of Napaskiak, one of the Calista Corp. shareholders employed at the Donlin Gold project, holds up a sliced piece of a geological core on Aug. 11, 2022. Calista is the Native corporation that owns the mineral rights at the mine project. Donlin is one of eight large mine projects listed in a new report as being near development or in advanced exploration. Seven large Alaska mines currently are producing. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Homes, streets and vehicles are swamped by record flooding from the Mendenhall River on Tuesday morning. (Photo by Rich Ross)

Sullivan: Short-term focus after flood on FEMA aid, long-term focus on ‘engineering solution’

“We can’t have it that Juneau has this problem every summer,” senator says during visit Thursday.

Homes, streets and vehicles are swamped by record flooding from the Mendenhall River on Tuesday morning. (Photo by Rich Ross)