Alaska Outdoors

From left, Kelsey Dean, watershed scientist with the Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition, and Kaagwaan Eesh Manuel Rose-Bell of Keex’ Kwáan watch as crew members set up tools to drag a log into place. Healthy salmon habitat requires woody debris, typically provided by falling branches and trees, which helps create deep salmon pools and varied stream structure. (Courtesy Photos / Mary Catharine Martin)  

The SalmonState: Bringing the sockeye home

Klawock Indigenous Stewards and partners are working to a once prolific sockeye salmon run.

From left, Kelsey Dean, watershed scientist with the Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition, and Kaagwaan Eesh Manuel Rose-Bell of Keex’ Kwáan watch as crew members set up tools to drag a log into place. Healthy salmon habitat requires woody debris, typically provided by falling branches and trees, which helps create deep salmon pools and varied stream structure. (Courtesy Photos / Mary Catharine Martin)  
A northern oriole used dietary carotenoids to make its feathers bright orange. (Courtesy Photo / J. S. Willson)

On the Trails: The colorful world of birds

Colors are produced by cell structure, which can scatter light rays, making iridescence, and by pigments, which absorb or reflect particular wavelength of light. Pigments… Continue reading

A northern oriole used dietary carotenoids to make its feathers bright orange. (Courtesy Photo / J. S. Willson)
A little fish called a graveldiver had hidden under a flat rock. (Courtesy Photo / Aaron Baldwin)

On the Trails: Bricolage — this and that, bits and pieces

There were good minus tides in May and June, and I went out with some friends to take a look at the intertidal zone in… Continue reading

A little fish called a graveldiver had hidden under a flat rock. (Courtesy Photo / Aaron Baldwin)
Red salmon gather at a Gulkana Hatchery fish weir that prevents them from going upstream on the east fork of the Gulkana River.(Courtesy Photo/ Ned Rozell)

Alaska Science Forum: High-country Eden for sockeye salmon

“It’s the largest sockeye hatchery in the world. Two-hundred and sixty miles from the ocean.”

Red salmon gather at a Gulkana Hatchery fish weir that prevents them from going upstream on the east fork of the Gulkana River.(Courtesy Photo/ Ned Rozell)
Wild iris (Iris setosa) comes in a variety of shades, from the usual purple to pale lavender or reddish. (Courtesy Photo / Denise Carroll)

On the Trails: Considering variation in flower colors

There’s way more than blue genes.

Wild iris (Iris setosa) comes in a variety of shades, from the usual purple to pale lavender or reddish. (Courtesy Photo / Denise Carroll)
A Hills Bros. coffee can found at an old cabin on the Fortymile River. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)

Alaska Science Forum: A field guide to old coffee cans

Can you dig it?

A Hills Bros. coffee can found at an old cabin on the Fortymile River. (Courtesy Photo / Ned Rozell)
White sand beaches aren’t entirely rare in Southeast Alaska, but they are special nonetheless, especially on warm summer days. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)

I Went to the Woods: Adjusting the itinerary

It’s not that anglers want things to be difficult, we just enjoy the payoff of time and experience…

White sand beaches aren’t entirely rare in Southeast Alaska, but they are special nonetheless, especially on warm summer days. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)
Courtesy Photo / KMHocker photo Recently emerged mayflies landed on our caps and hands, perhaps resting from the rigors of courtship dances.

On the Trails: Fun in Gustavus

A walk near a shallow lake was the highlight.

Courtesy Photo / KMHocker photo Recently emerged mayflies landed on our caps and hands, perhaps resting from the rigors of courtship dances.
Discovery Southeast naturalist Richard Carstensen speaks to a group of hikers about the origins of the wetlands during a break on the hike. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

Chatting and bushwhacking: Naturalists share their knowledge of the Montana Creek conservation property on a weekend hike

And mosquito smackin’

Discovery Southeast naturalist Richard Carstensen speaks to a group of hikers about the origins of the wetlands during a break on the hike. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)
Three 2-year-old black bear cubs look hunt spawning sockeye salmon in Steep Creek at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center on Thursday, August 16, 2018. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)

Annual Steep Creek closure goes into effect

As of Friday, the non-elevated portions of the Steep Creek Trail are closed, the U.S. Forest Service announced. The annual closure of parts of the… Continue reading

Three 2-year-old black bear cubs look hunt spawning sockeye salmon in Steep Creek at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center on Thursday, August 16, 2018. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
The Valley of 10,000 Smokes pictured during a visit in 2018. (Courtesy Photo / Bob Gillis)

Alaska Science Forum: 110 years since the largest Alaska eruption

“Stretching as far as the eye could reach … were hundreds — no, thousands — of little volcanoes.”

The Valley of 10,000 Smokes pictured during a visit in 2018. (Courtesy Photo / Bob Gillis)
The whorl of seed-bearing follicles of fern-leaf goldthread is more robust, but similar in form to that of three-leaf goldthread. (Courtesy Photo / Bob Armstrong)

On the Trails: Buttercups and their relatives

“Buttercups”—the name conjures up an image of lots of bright yellow flowers, which we enjoyed recently in Cowee Meadows and which brighten the roadsides. But,… Continue reading

The whorl of seed-bearing follicles of fern-leaf goldthread is more robust, but similar in form to that of three-leaf goldthread. (Courtesy Photo / Bob Armstrong)
Mountain view from Mt. Roberts featuring Hike for a Pint passport and water bottle for this summer’s event. (Courtesy photo / Meghan Tabcek)

Hike for a Pint is back for more adventures

It’s good for what ales you.

Mountain view from Mt. Roberts featuring Hike for a Pint passport and water bottle for this summer’s event. (Courtesy photo / Meghan Tabcek)
Dan Mann wades Echo Creek looking for a spot his scientific party can cross safely. The group ended up crossing the creek upstream of this point. (Courtesy Photo by Ned Rozell)

A half century in a difficult, dynamic place

Tasting 13,000-year-old volcanic ash.

Dan Mann wades Echo Creek looking for a spot his scientific party can cross safely. The group ended up crossing the creek upstream of this point. (Courtesy Photo by Ned Rozell)
Components for Eaglecrest’s recently purchased gondola system sit packed up as they’re prepared for the voyage to Alaska from Austria. (Courtesy photo / Dave Scanlan)

Some assembly required: Shipping process for new Eaglecrest gondola is underway

Once they’re crated up, they’ve got a sea voyage of more than 10,000 miles ahead.

Components for Eaglecrest’s recently purchased gondola system sit packed up as they’re prepared for the voyage to Alaska from Austria. (Courtesy photo / Dave Scanlan)
A very young oystercatcher chick waits for a parent. (Courtesy Photo / Bob Armstrong)

On the Trails: Oystercatchers, pinesap and spittlebugs

At the mouth of Cowee Creek, sometime in mid-June, we’d found a vigilant pair of black oystercatchers, presumably with a nest nearby. A couple of… Continue reading

A very young oystercatcher chick waits for a parent. (Courtesy Photo / Bob Armstrong)
The author’s wife with her first keeper king salmon of the 2022 season. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)

I Went to the Woods: King size problem

We didn’t find the fish. We found a fish. A fish that was too small.

The author’s wife with her first keeper king salmon of the 2022 season. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)
Larisa Bishop Boros This photo available under a Creative Commons license shows a male silver-haired bat captured in Ozark National Scenic Riverways in 2010. A bat found in Douglas tested positive for rabies, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced.

Bat found in Douglas tests positive for rabies

No report of rabies exposure to people, according to Department of Fish and Game.

Larisa Bishop Boros This photo available under a Creative Commons license shows a male silver-haired bat captured in Ozark National Scenic Riverways in 2010. A bat found in Douglas tested positive for rabies, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced.
A brood of young mallard ducklings stay close to mom.(Courtesy Photo / Helen Unruh)

On the Trails: Having bird fun in mid-June

“As June progressed, there was an assortment of interesting observations in my yard.”

A brood of young mallard ducklings stay close to mom.(Courtesy Photo / Helen Unruh)
Ben Gaglioti, an ecologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, stands next to a mountain hemlock tree damaged in winter on the outer coast of Glacier Bay National Park in Southeast Alaska. (Courtesy Photos / Ned Rozell)

Alaska Science Forum: Bonsai trees tell of winters long past

By Ned Rozell A GREEN PLATEAU NORTH OF LITUYA BAY — “These are museum-class bonsais,” Ben Gaglioti says as we walk through an elfin forest.… Continue reading

Ben Gaglioti, an ecologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, stands next to a mountain hemlock tree damaged in winter on the outer coast of Glacier Bay National Park in Southeast Alaska. (Courtesy Photos / Ned Rozell)