Alaska Outdoors

The birches’ last blaze

Walter Harper, one of Alaska’s greatest, is buried in Juneau’s Evergreen Cemetery. His wife, Frances Wells Harper, lies beside him. They’d been married for less… Continue reading

Mackey, Derk, Union lakes northern pike-free

Ice fishermen in East and West Mackey lakes, Derks Lake and Union Lake will be limited to two closely attended lines this winter.The Alaska Department… Continue reading

Environmental assessment for Treadwell Ditch Trail

The Juneau Ranger District is moving forward with planning for the Treadwell Ditch Trail Bridges Construction project.The District proposes to replace 38 bridges, perform some… Continue reading

Eaglecrest to open full mountain

Eaglecrest Ski Area is opening the entire mountain Saturday, Dec. 19 and will remain open daily until Jan. 4 with the exception of Dec. 25.… Continue reading

Council tightens Southcentral charter halibut allocation for 2016

The ratchet keeps tightening on Southcentral halibut charter operations, among other groups, and relief measures are still stuck in development.The level of legally harvestable halibut… Continue reading

Kit Deslauriers, the only person to climb and ski down the tallest mountains on seven continents, ascends the highest peak in the Brooks Range, Mount Isto, in 2014.

Alaska Science Forum: Measuring the highest peaks in the Brooks Ridge

U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps give you a choice on the height of Mount Isto. Depending on what map scale you choose, the mountain in… Continue reading

Kit Deslauriers, the only person to climb and ski down the tallest mountains on seven continents, ascends the highest peak in the Brooks Range, Mount Isto, in 2014.
Pacific marten and American marten. Pacific marten tend to be yellowish-orange in color, and American marten darker brown. The fur is typically marketed as sable.

Marten trapping in Southeast Alaska

I grew up trapping muskrat in western New York state in the small rural community of Bolivar. I learned to trap from school mates, setting… Continue reading

Pacific marten and American marten. Pacific marten tend to be yellowish-orange in color, and American marten darker brown. The fur is typically marketed as sable.
A male stickleback fans his nest, increasing the flow of oxygen to the eggs. The nest is marked by arrows.

Parental care by males (fishes and amphibians)

Editor’s note: This is part one of a two-part series.Some months ago I was captivated by a grunt sculpin at the NOAA lab, and I… Continue reading

A male stickleback fans his nest, increasing the flow of oxygen to the eggs. The nest is marked by arrows.
A brown bear walks up Pack Creek on Admiralty Island.

Off the Beaten Path: An old bear hunter’s love

Late in life, Ralph Young, a bear guide, found himself sitting alone at a bar in Petersburg, well before five o’clock. His wife had left… Continue reading

A brown bear walks up Pack Creek on Admiralty Island.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Karin Bodony at the site of an obsidian tool discovery in the Nogahabara Dunes in 2002.

Mystery of the glass tool kit in the sand

From space, the Nogahabara Dunes are a splotch of blond sand about six miles in diameter surrounded by green boreal forest. Located west of the… Continue reading

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Karin Bodony at the site of an obsidian tool discovery in the Nogahabara Dunes in 2002.
Sonia Nagorski, assistant professor of Geology Arts and Sciences at the University of Alaska Southeast, investigates the undercut bank along the Mendenhall River on Tuesday. The river is nearing the point of cutting through a meander bend just north of the Brotherhood Bridge.

Mendenhall River soon to shorten (then lengthen)

In the not-too-distant future, the Mendenhall River will get about a half mile shorter. The land inside the u-shaped bend in the river that Riverbend… Continue reading

Sonia Nagorski, assistant professor of Geology Arts and Sciences at the University of Alaska Southeast, investigates the undercut bank along the Mendenhall River on Tuesday. The river is nearing the point of cutting through a meander bend just north of the Brotherhood Bridge.
Pollock feeding on young herring: note the bulbous bellies on the pollock, and the hole in the school of herring where the pollock near the surface just attacked.

On the Trails | A wildlife extravaganza in Auke Bay

During late November and early December, Auke Bay harbor put on a wildlife spectacular, drawing photographers, reporters, and just plain gawkers (such as me). Hordes… Continue reading

Pollock feeding on young herring: note the bulbous bellies on the pollock, and the hole in the school of herring where the pollock near the surface just attacked.

Southeast Alaskans deliver transboundary mining letter, MOU comments to State

It’s a matter of sequence.Southeast Alaskans involved on the issue of transboundary mines Wednesday delivered a letter to Governor Bill Walker and Lt. Governor Byron… Continue reading

Denali wolf numbers and viewing remain at historic low level

The National Park Service this week released its fall 2015 update on the status of Denali National Park’s troubled wolf population, showing the population and… Continue reading

Ski scholarship period extended

Eaglecrest Ski Area is extending the application process for the Hilary Lindh Scholarship, in which the selection committee will award season ski passes to four… Continue reading

Mountain conditions

New snow (24 hours):• Base: 0 inches• Top: 11 inchesNew Snow (48 hours):• Base: 0 inches• Top: 11 inchesTotal snow:• Base: 5 inches• Top: 82… Continue reading

The candy-stripe shrimp often associates with anemones, protected by the tentacles; sometimes it is found with other protectors too. The photographer commonly finds them associated with white anemones in our waters.

On the Trails: Animals that help each other

As I was reading a research paper about the foraging behaviors of killer whales (orcas), I found a small paragraph about some observations in Prince… Continue reading

The candy-stripe shrimp often associates with anemones, protected by the tentacles; sometimes it is found with other protectors too. The photographer commonly finds them associated with white anemones in our waters.

Troopers investigate deer wasting

Alaska Wildlife Troopers on Dec. 1 found a pile of discarded deer bones and meat in a dirt pllout near False Outer Point on Douglas… Continue reading

Surrounded by hundreds of common murres, an adult humpback whale shows its pectoral fin as it rolls in the water just outside the Don Statter Memorial Boat Harbor in Auke Bay on Monday. An increase in feed fish, herring, pollock and capelin, have been keeping a variety of birds and marine mammals feeding in the area for the last two weeks.

Auke Bay’s Wild Kingdom

If you’ve visited Auke Bay’s Statter Harbor in the last few weeks, you’ve seen a world gone wild.For the past two weeks, hundreds of common… Continue reading

Surrounded by hundreds of common murres, an adult humpback whale shows its pectoral fin as it rolls in the water just outside the Don Statter Memorial Boat Harbor in Auke Bay on Monday. An increase in feed fish, herring, pollock and capelin, have been keeping a variety of birds and marine mammals feeding in the area for the last two weeks.
Snow experts Mike Janes and Ed Shanley assess conditions on Mount Roberts.

Avalanche workshop aims to give people tools to survive

On a Friday night about a dozen years ago, Tom Mattice, then the owner of a snow cat skiing business, told a group of skiers:… Continue reading

Snow experts Mike Janes and Ed Shanley assess conditions on Mount Roberts.