Wood ducks nest seasonally in forested areas across North America from coast to coast in southern Canada and the northern tier of states. From southern… Continue reading
The internal combustion engine is less than 100 years old. Same for the technologies we have developed to pull oil and gas from the ground.… Continue reading
The election is over. It’s time to catch our collective breath and re-enter reality. The far right and the far left are mirrors of each… Continue reading
In June of 1867 — a few months before Alaska would become part of the United States with the transfer of $7.2 million to Russia… Continue reading
“Is that our buoy?” Terror. What is it doing there? It’s supposed to be around the rocky corner in a little nook protected from the… Continue reading
Ben Jones suspected he had found something special when he squeezed into a volcanic cave and saw pale wooden poles, some with ends shaped like… Continue reading
A spate of fine, sunny weather in mid-April was most welcome. Those clear skies, however, meant that the nights were still about crispy, and at… Continue reading
A glaciologist once wrote that the number of glaciers in Alaska “is estimated at (greater than) 100,000.” That fuzzy number, perhaps written in passive voice… Continue reading
It’s a safe bet that Aren Gunderson’s Toyota Tundra is the only one in Fairbanks that has had its bed filled with a Siberian tiger.… Continue reading
If you could have read that frost-covered fat-biker’s mind as he rolled toward McGrath, Alaska, “as if Velcroed to the snow,” you might have suspected… Continue reading
The Forest Service cabin was a sauna so I went outside, stood at the edge of the lake and listened. We had hauled in some… Continue reading
On these March nights, a male boreal owl has been singing from a wooden owl box near our home. The late biologist Dave Klein attached… Continue reading
February had an extra day this year, a cold and gusty one. Those gusts were enough to knock me off balance and make it temporarily… Continue reading
An old friend — a character not seen in these parts for a few years — showed up last week in Fairbanks. Ice fog. Ice… Continue reading
I found myself emotionally involved Sunday and felt the pending demise of the Detroit Lions with every dropped pass. I liked the story of the… Continue reading
For years, scientists have wondered why North America’s highest mountain is not a volcano. All the ingredients for volcanic activity lurk deep beneath Denali, which… Continue reading