Alaska Outdoors

The Elvey Building (with the satellite dish on top), home to the Geophysical Institute on the UAF campus. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)

Alaska Science Forum: Diversity helps a place survive

“From the center of the Earth to the center of the sun.”

The Elvey Building (with the satellite dish on top), home to the Geophysical Institute on the UAF campus. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)
The small white flowers of sticky asphodel may be pollinated by small flies. (Courtesy Photo / Bob Armstrong)
Video

On the Trails: A not at all mythical sticky situation

A pretty little perennial plant, sometimes called sticky asphodel, grows in many of our muskegs.

The small white flowers of sticky asphodel may be pollinated by small flies. (Courtesy Photo / Bob Armstrong)
Video
This photo shows the aurora borealis over Fairbanks. To a large degree, the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks owes its existence to the aurora. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)

Alaska Science Forum: What does it take to reach 75?

Here are a few elements that were pivotal to the Geophysical Institute’s early development…

This photo shows the aurora borealis over Fairbanks. To a large degree, the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks owes its existence to the aurora. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)
In July, Yakutat Surf Club kicked off their first camp of the summer. This is YSC’s third year supporting local youth in accessing Yakutat’s waves (Courtesy Photo / Bethany Sonsini Goodrich)
In July, Yakutat Surf Club kicked off their first camp of the summer. This is YSC’s third year supporting local youth in accessing Yakutat’s waves (Courtesy Photo / Bethany Sonsini Goodrich)
This Aug. 9, 2021 photo shows Chief Ranger Erika Jostad in Grand Teton National Park in Moose, Wyo. Erika Jostad’s baseline for what Grand Teton National Park is like in the summer, is skewed by 2021, easily the busiest year in the park’s 92-year-and-running history. Teton Park’s incoming permanent chief ranger has been in the job for months on an interim basis, during which time she’s overseen some 60 “incident responses” to fire — and that’s with a couple months of wildfire season remaining. The more general emergency call caseload has ballooned, too, outpacing gains in visitation and increasing nearly 70% over the average from the past five years.(Mike Koshmrl/Jackson Hole News & Guide)

New job keeping Grand Teton’s 1st female chief ranger busy

Teton Park’s incoming permanent chief ranger has been in the job for months on an interim basis.

This Aug. 9, 2021 photo shows Chief Ranger Erika Jostad in Grand Teton National Park in Moose, Wyo. Erika Jostad’s baseline for what Grand Teton National Park is like in the summer, is skewed by 2021, easily the busiest year in the park’s 92-year-and-running history. Teton Park’s incoming permanent chief ranger has been in the job for months on an interim basis, during which time she’s overseen some 60 “incident responses” to fire — and that’s with a couple months of wildfire season remaining. The more general emergency call caseload has ballooned, too, outpacing gains in visitation and increasing nearly 70% over the average from the past five years.(Mike Koshmrl/Jackson Hole News & Guide)
A marmot lies near the Shrine of St. Therese on Aug. 16. (Courtesy Photo / Carolyn Kelley)

Wild Shots: Photos of Mother Nature in Alaska

Reader-submitted photos of Southeast Alaska.

A marmot lies near the Shrine of St. Therese on Aug. 16. (Courtesy Photo / Carolyn Kelley)
Beavers get more than their share of blame for spreading Giardia. (Courtesy Photo / Frank Zmuda, Alaska Department of Fish and Game)

Alaska Science Forum: Beavers not always to blame for fever

If river spray hits you in the face, keep your mouth shut.

Beavers get more than their share of blame for spreading Giardia. (Courtesy Photo / Frank Zmuda, Alaska Department of Fish and Game)
The author's wife makes her way across a mountain during an unsuccessful hunt with friends. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)

I Went to the Woods: Giving it our best shot

Is it a feeling of accomplishment to simply get to the top? Yeah.

The author's wife makes her way across a mountain during an unsuccessful hunt with friends. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)
This photo shows adult crane flies mating on goldenrod. The flying adults are interested in just one thing — mating. They only live for a week or two, so males and females have a short time in which to find each other. (Courtesy Photo / Bob Armstrong)
Video
This photo shows adult crane flies mating on goldenrod. The flying adults are interested in just one thing — mating. They only live for a week or two, so males and females have a short time in which to find each other. (Courtesy Photo / Bob Armstrong)
Video
A cabin on Chowiet Island off the Alaska Peninsula in which two biologists were the closest humans to a recent magnitude 8.2 earthquake. (Courtesy Photo /Erik Andersen, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.)

Alaska Science Forum: The closest people to an 8.2 earthquake

The people who were closest were two biologists who are living on Chowiet Island this summer.

A cabin on Chowiet Island off the Alaska Peninsula in which two biologists were the closest humans to a recent magnitude 8.2 earthquake. (Courtesy Photo /Erik Andersen, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.)
The author expresses a look of...something on a perfect early morning of deer season. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)

I Went to the Woods: When the bucks win

Not basketball.

The author expresses a look of...something on a perfect early morning of deer season. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)
(A bumblebee probes a flower of self-heal (Courtesy Photo / Deana Barajas)

On the Trails: Interesting and overlooked summer flowers

We may neglect some lesser lights that are interesting in their own right.

(A bumblebee probes a flower of self-heal (Courtesy Photo / Deana Barajas)
Neal Brown in 1967, holding his newborn son Kris. Brown accepts the Roger Smith Lifetime Achievement award in 2016 from Geophysical Institute director Bob McCoy. Brown in 2021, on an outing in New Hampshire with his dog Molly. Courtesy Photos / Kris Brown,  Geophysical Institute, Becky Lees)

Alaska Science Forum: Neal Brown leaves legacy of learning and laughing

Brown never lost his child-like wonder about the world.

Neal Brown in 1967, holding his newborn son Kris. Brown accepts the Roger Smith Lifetime Achievement award in 2016 from Geophysical Institute director Bob McCoy. Brown in 2021, on an outing in New Hampshire with his dog Molly. Courtesy Photos / Kris Brown,  Geophysical Institute, Becky Lees)
Fireweed flowers have narrow, dark pink sepals between the wide, paler-pink petals, possibly making an added attraction. (Courtesy Photo / Kerry Howard)

On the Trails: The making of a flower

Pistils at dawn.

Fireweed flowers have narrow, dark pink sepals between the wide, paler-pink petals, possibly making an added attraction. (Courtesy Photo / Kerry Howard)
Ben Gaglioti cuts into a dead Alaska yellow cedar tree near La Perouse Glacier in Southeast Alaska. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)

Alaska Science Forum: The majesty and mystery of Alaska yellow cedar

‘One of the most enigmatic trees in Alaska’

Ben Gaglioti cuts into a dead Alaska yellow cedar tree near La Perouse Glacier in Southeast Alaska. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)
Eaglecrest Ski Area is working to improve its lower Nordic trails, hardening them to provide a better base for grooming equipment during the winter season, among other improvements this summer. (Courtesy photo / Charlie Herrington)

Eaglecrest uses summer to make widespread improvements

The ski area is making improvements for both summer and winter activities.

Eaglecrest Ski Area is working to improve its lower Nordic trails, hardening them to provide a better base for grooming equipment during the winter season, among other improvements this summer. (Courtesy photo / Charlie Herrington)
Tree trunks that La Perouse Glacier in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve ran over in the 19th century. (Courtesy Photo/ Ned Rozell)

Visit to glacier begins with wildlife encounter

Many bears, fallingf blue ice and a first taste of peanut butter for a thumb-sized bird.

Tree trunks that La Perouse Glacier in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve ran over in the 19th century. (Courtesy Photo/ Ned Rozell)
Lisa Stengel of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, weighs a halibut on Monday, July 12, 2021, at Coal Point Seafoods in Homer, Alaska, that she caught with a pole spear while free diving in Kachemak Bay. If verified, the 71.4-pound halibut would be the International Underwater Spearfishing Association world record for a Pacific halibut caught be a woman using a pole spear. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)

Florida woman sets record for halibut caught with a pole spear.

Stengel speared big halibut while free diving in Kachemak Bay.

Lisa Stengel of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, weighs a halibut on Monday, July 12, 2021, at Coal Point Seafoods in Homer, Alaska, that she caught with a pole spear while free diving in Kachemak Bay. If verified, the 71.4-pound halibut would be the International Underwater Spearfishing Association world record for a Pacific halibut caught be a woman using a pole spear. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Colorful pinesap stems rise up, flower buds still pendant;  the plant lacks chlorophyll and depends on other plants for nutrition. (Courtesy Photo / Kathy Hocker)

On the Trails: No problem finding at least 3 interesting things on this trip

The sights and sounds on the Boy Scout/Crow Point Trail.

Colorful pinesap stems rise up, flower buds still pendant;  the plant lacks chlorophyll and depends on other plants for nutrition. (Courtesy Photo / Kathy Hocker)
Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell 
The crest of summer warmth is near in Alaska. Many locales in the Last Frontier have their temperature peak in July.

Alaska Science Forum: The peak of summer warmth is near

Alaska is about to make a left turn toward winter.

Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell 
The crest of summer warmth is near in Alaska. Many locales in the Last Frontier have their temperature peak in July.