Alaska Outdoors

A decorator crab rests on a large sea pen. This crab has included a tiny sea pen in its decorations.

On the Trails: Animals disguised by ‘trash backpacks’

Animals hide themselves from visual searchers in many ways. Some hide in plain sight with camouflage (snowshoe hares, rattlesnakes). Some remove themselves from view in… Continue reading

A decorator crab rests on a large sea pen. This crab has included a tiny sea pen in its decorations.

Early closure to mountain goat hunting season

Biologists with the Alaska Department of Fish & Game in Douglas on Thursday announced an early closure to the mountain goat hunting season from Eagle… Continue reading

Aramark contract renewed for Glacier Bay park

The National Park Service has selected Aramark Sports and Entertainment Services, LLC, to provide lodging, tour boat, food and beverage and other services under a… Continue reading

NPS selects companies to offer exclusive tours

The National Park Service has selected the businesses that will provide exclusive tours in Glacier Bay beginning in the spring. Five-year concession contracts were awarded… Continue reading

Dockside safety exams encouraged before rule change

The U.S. Coast Guard is urging owners and operators of commercial fishing vessel to get a dockside safety exam before those examinations become mandatory for… Continue reading

Willow ptarmigan

One nice day in September, I walked with a few friends in a subalpine meadow of no-longer-blooming wildflowers with small shrub thickets scattered throughout. A… Continue reading

Dirt Girl: Putting the bed to rest

Summer is over and the clouds have closed in like a blizzard of rain. Now is the time to consider harvesting the last of your… Continue reading

Brooks Range pulsations: My own unsolved mystery

In August and September of 2010, during a long solitary trip across the Central and Western Brooks Range, I heard and felt mysterious pulsations. It… Continue reading

A new season of wildlife on Wednesdays

A new season of Wildlife Wednesdays, hosted by the Southeast chapter of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, begins this month.First up on Oct. 7 is a… Continue reading

Composting art contest

The US Composting Council is inviting artists from three age categories — grades 3-7, grades 8-12, and college-adult — to compete in a poster contest… Continue reading

Kantner, Heacox in Juneau for book signing

Two authors whose works frequently focus on Alaska’s outdoors will be in Juneau signing new works within the next few days. First is Seth Kantner,… Continue reading

Natural asbestos mapped

The Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys has released maps depicting the likelihood of naturally occurring asbestos in bedrock in Alaska. Areas of potential and… Continue reading

Farm-raised food

October is National Farm to School Month, and the Division of Agriculture is encouraging organizations to sign on as partners. Outreach partners help spread the… Continue reading

Shaggy mane mushrooms push through wood chips out the road.

Wild Shots

The Empire Outdoors page is looking for superb images of Alaska’s wildlife, scenery or plant life. Send your photos via email to: Outdoors editor, outdoors@juneauempire.com.… Continue reading

Shaggy mane mushrooms push through wood chips out the road.
This yellow-throated warbler showed up in Glacier Bay National Park where Steve Schaller and Emma Johnson spotted the bird on Sept. 22.

Yellow-throated Warbler spotted in Glacier Bay

Just three days after a mother-son team spotted a hooded oriole in Juneau, two National Park Service interpreters spotted a yellow-throated warbler outside their offices… Continue reading

This yellow-throated warbler showed up in Glacier Bay National Park where Steve Schaller and Emma Johnson spotted the bird on Sept. 22.
A dowitcher rests at the edge of the tide, not sleeping but watchful.

On the Trails: Early September observations

By the end of summer the numbers of sockeye in Steep Creek had declined markedly, but there were still enough that a female bear with… Continue reading

A dowitcher rests at the edge of the tide, not sleeping but watchful.
Owen Squires, 14, gets ready to bird. Squires and his mother, Marsha Squires, were the first to sight and ID a male hooded oriole in Juneau that has inspired birders to visit from as far as Fairbanks.

14-year-old IDs hooded oriole in Juneau

When 14-year-old Owen Squires first looked through a pair of binoculars and told his mother the bird she’d seen flitting around the Juneau Community Garden’s… Continue reading

Owen Squires, 14, gets ready to bird. Squires and his mother, Marsha Squires, were the first to sight and ID a male hooded oriole in Juneau that has inspired birders to visit from as far as Fairbanks.
Wood bison near the Innoko River in western Alaska.

Wood bison finding home in Alaska

These nights, Tom Seaton is dreaming less about red-brown, steaming, humpbacked hulks. He’s also getting more sleep, knowing dozens of wood bison that galloped to… Continue reading

Wood bison near the Innoko River in western Alaska.
A brown bear fishes for salmon on Chichagof Island.

The legend of Hosea Sarber

I learned of Hosea Sarber as a teenager when I picked up the gem of a book “No Room For Bears” by Frank Dufresne. Sarber… Continue reading

A brown bear fishes for salmon on Chichagof Island.

Keeping it basic

Acidifying oceans are a big concern for Southeast Alaska’s tribes. At the 2015 Southeast Environmental Conference, hosted by the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida… Continue reading