Columns

The new year holds promise like new stretches of the same river. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)

I Went to the Woods: New year, new water

Attacking the new water with a solid program allows better transitions to the next phase.

The new year holds promise like new stretches of the same river. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)
This photo shows a so-called "mummy berry." "The best-studied type of Monilinia attacks a blueberry species that is native to eastern North America but is also widely cultivated (e.g., in Pacific Northwest and British Colubmia)." writes Mary F. Willson. "When Monilinia vaccinii-corymbosi infests Vaccinium corymbosum, the vegetative parts are blighted and the fruits become hard, wizened 'mummy berries.'" (Courtesy Photo / Matt Goff, sitkanature.org/photojournal)

On the Trails: Climate warming and disease spread

The effects of climate change are being felt far and wide.

This photo shows a so-called "mummy berry." "The best-studied type of Monilinia attacks a blueberry species that is native to eastern North America but is also widely cultivated (e.g., in Pacific Northwest and British Colubmia)." writes Mary F. Willson. "When Monilinia vaccinii-corymbosi infests Vaccinium corymbosum, the vegetative parts are blighted and the fruits become hard, wizened 'mummy berries.'" (Courtesy Photo / Matt Goff, sitkanature.org/photojournal)
William Dall’s sketch of the mouth of what is now called the Melozitna River, which enters the Yukon River near the village of Ruby, from “Alaska and its Resources.”

Alaska Science Forum: A scientist’s view of Alaska, 150 years ago

One year before Alaska became part of America, 21-year old William Dall ascended the Yukon River on a sled, pulled by dogs. The man who… Continue reading

William Dall’s sketch of the mouth of what is now called the Melozitna River, which enters the Yukon River near the village of Ruby, from “Alaska and its Resources.”
Many hands help to get the work done. Participants of the Alaska Youth Stewards program in Kake install a Lingít/English road sign, a project in partnership with community elders and the U.S. Forest Service.

Resilient Peoples & Place: A year of building and reconnection

Investing in Southeast Alaska by continuing to place relationships first.

Many hands help to get the work done. Participants of the Alaska Youth Stewards program in Kake install a Lingít/English road sign, a project in partnership with community elders and the U.S. Forest Service.
A black-capped chickadee pecks at a frozen turkey carcass in Fairbanks. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)

Finding a midwinter night’s roost

During the darkest days of Alaska’s winter, black-capped chickadees stuff themselves with enough seeds and frozen insects to survive 18-hour nights. Where chickadees spent those… Continue reading

A black-capped chickadee pecks at a frozen turkey carcass in Fairbanks. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)
"Break out that old menorah and put on your dreidel-spinning shoes," writes Geoff Kirsch. "For eight nights you’re going to party like it’s 165 BCE!" (Dad Grass / Unsplash)

Slack Tide: Great Alaskan Hanukkah or ‘Alaskanukkah’

You didn’t move all the way from New York to Alaska to reconnect with Judaism. And yet here you are, engaged in that time-honored Jewish… Continue reading

"Break out that old menorah and put on your dreidel-spinning shoes," writes Geoff Kirsch. "For eight nights you’re going to party like it’s 165 BCE!" (Dad Grass / Unsplash)
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Living & Growing: A profound Christmas

We can be a profound moment in someone’s life.

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This photo available under a Creative Commons license shows a great bustard. These birds, especially the males, selectively eat blister beetles that contain toxic cantharidin, but because the toxin is lethal to the birds except at very low doses, only one or two at a time. This toxin is known, from in vitro experiments in the lab, to kill fungi, round worms, and bacteria. (Francesco Veronesi / Flickr)

On the Trails: Self-medication by many animals

Examples come from many kinds of critters.

This photo available under a Creative Commons license shows a great bustard. These birds, especially the males, selectively eat blister beetles that contain toxic cantharidin, but because the toxin is lethal to the birds except at very low doses, only one or two at a time. This toxin is known, from in vitro experiments in the lab, to kill fungi, round worms, and bacteria. (Francesco Veronesi / Flickr)
Wilson's warblers are sometimes seen in early winter (Courtesy Photo / Gus van Vliet photo)

On the Trails: Surviving winter is no small feat

Here’s how some diminutive vertebrates do it.

Wilson's warblers are sometimes seen in early winter (Courtesy Photo / Gus van Vliet photo)
he Alaska Range sits beneath a December sunrise as seen from the UAF campus. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)

Alaska Science Forum: The dark season turns on winter solstice

One winter day not long ago, a reporter from the Sacramento Bee called. She had read a story I wrote about life at 40 below… Continue reading

he Alaska Range sits beneath a December sunrise as seen from the UAF campus. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)
This photo available under a Creative Commons license shows several bottles of ranch dressing, which Geoff Kirsch notes "traditional ranch is quintessentially American, like baseball, jazz and the 64-ounce Double Big Gulp." (Mike Mozart / Flickr)

Slack Tide: Ranchin’ Out

“Bring me my ranch dressing hose!”

This photo available under a Creative Commons license shows several bottles of ranch dressing, which Geoff Kirsch notes "traditional ranch is quintessentially American, like baseball, jazz and the 64-ounce Double Big Gulp." (Mike Mozart / Flickr)
The author was able to look at his new watch and see exactly what time the sun set so he could get to a location to photograph it. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)

I Went to the Woods: Watch and learn

Wrist-y business.

The author was able to look at his new watch and see exactly what time the sun set so he could get to a location to photograph it. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)
Kéet and Oscar wait patiently to play on the beach in winter in Wrangell. (Vivian Faith Prescott / For the Capital City Weekly)

Planet Alaska: Winter words

Phrases and words to use to create a Lingít language immersion outing in the winter.

Kéet and Oscar wait patiently to play on the beach in winter in Wrangell. (Vivian Faith Prescott / For the Capital City Weekly)
Molly Yazwinski holds a 3,000-year-old moose skull with antlers still attached, found in a river on Alaska’s North Slope. Her aunt, Pam Groves, steadies an inflatable canoe. (Courtesy Photo /Dan Mann) 2. A 14,000-year-old fragment of a moose antler, top left, rests on a sand bar of a northern river next to the bones of ice-age horses, caribou and muskoxen, as well as the horns of a steppe bison. Photo by Pam Groves. 3. Moose such as this one, photographed this year near Whitehorse in the Yukon, may have been present in Alaska as long as people have. Photo by Ned Rozell.

Alaska Science Forum: Ancient moose antlers hint of early arrival

When a great deal of Earth’s water was locked up within mountains of ice, our ancestors scampered across a dry corridor from what is today… Continue reading

Molly Yazwinski holds a 3,000-year-old moose skull with antlers still attached, found in a river on Alaska’s North Slope. Her aunt, Pam Groves, steadies an inflatable canoe. (Courtesy Photo /Dan Mann) 2. A 14,000-year-old fragment of a moose antler, top left, rests on a sand bar of a northern river next to the bones of ice-age horses, caribou and muskoxen, as well as the horns of a steppe bison. Photo by Pam Groves. 3. Moose such as this one, photographed this year near Whitehorse in the Yukon, may have been present in Alaska as long as people have. Photo by Ned Rozell.
A heron stands near Mendenhall Lake. (Courtesy Photo)
Video

November brings bright sights

A good snowfall in early November drew us out to enjoy the brightened landscape…

A heron stands near Mendenhall Lake. (Courtesy Photo)
Video
The author isn't a big fan of atmospheric rivers, but the forest variety are very much appreciated. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)

I Went to the Woods: Tireless thankfulness

One should never tire of writing columns about gratitude. I hope I never do.

The author isn't a big fan of atmospheric rivers, but the forest variety are very much appreciated. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)
Smoked salmon and salmon spread, Mickey’s Fishcamp, Wrangell Alaska. (Courtesy Photo / Vivian Faith Prescott)

Planet Alaska: Salmon gratitudes

What are we grateful for today? Is it our heritage, our homes, our art, elders, our food?

Smoked salmon and salmon spread, Mickey’s Fishcamp, Wrangell Alaska. (Courtesy Photo / Vivian Faith Prescott)
Emcees, Selah Judge and Almaria Alcantra, open the community feast. (Courtesy Photo /Jennifer Nu)

Resilient Peoples & Place: Food sovereignty, wellness and healing at UAS’ 2nd Annual Community Feast

“I hope you feel a sense of being together and united on this place.”

Emcees, Selah Judge and Almaria Alcantra, open the community feast. (Courtesy Photo /Jennifer Nu)
George Argus collects samples of willow shrubs on a slope near the town of McCarthy, Alaska in 1955. (Courtesy Photo / Neil Davis)

Alaska Science Forum: A man of the mountain, and its willows

When you are a young boy growing up in Brooklyn in the 1930s, sniffing warm pastries your father has placed in the window of his… Continue reading

George Argus collects samples of willow shrubs on a slope near the town of McCarthy, Alaska in 1955. (Courtesy Photo / Neil Davis)
This photo available under a Creative Commons license shows a lawn wolf spider in its funnel web in Laos. (Courtesy Photo / Basile Morin)

On the Trails: A wide world of webs

There are wonderfully diverse ways of using silk to detect and capture prey.

This photo available under a Creative Commons license shows a lawn wolf spider in its funnel web in Laos. (Courtesy Photo / Basile Morin)