Nature & Outdoors

A Kenai hunter education class opens for sign-ups this fall

Alaska Fish and Game is offering a hunter education class in Kenai this fall through its women-focused "Becoming an Outdoors-Woman" program, open to men too.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Moose in Gates of the Arctic are up 48 percent, and researchers point to shrubs

Moose in the Gates of the Arctic survey area are up about 48 percent since 2015. Researchers tie the Arctic's moose expansion to taller shrubs.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Juneau's king crab fishery closes Monday after a three-crab season

Juneau's personal use king crab season closes Monday at 4 p.m. after a strong stock assessment allowed a three-crab limit instead of last winter's one-crab opening.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

AFN holds a subsistence listening session in Fairbanks on Aug. 31

The Alaska Federation of Natives holds a subsistence listening session in Fairbanks on Aug. 31, gathering harvesters' and elders' input on the future of subsistence.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Kodiak salmon fishing extended again, running through Wednesday evening

Kodiak boats get a second 48-hour extension, running through 6 pm Wednesday. The Chinook nonretention rule stays in place across the whole area.

by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Teller waits until 2027 for results of tank site testing on Grantley Harbor

Teller won't have results until 2027 from testing at a shoreline tank site where the community suspects petroleum leaked into soil near Grantley Harbor.

by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Fairbanks would keep its 11.2 million gallon Tanana discharge cap

Fairbanks' wastewater plant would keep its 11.2 million gallon daily discharge cap on the Tanana, unchanged since 2022. It currently uses less than half.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Prince William Sound's seine fishery stays closed, its next opening tied to hatchery returns

Prince William Sound's purse seine fishery stays closed with no opening set. Its next opening now depends on salmon returns to the hatcheries, not a fixed date.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

A miner wants to run a cable across the Koyukuk and camp on its bank for five years

The public can comment through Sept. 2 on a plan for a supply cable across the Middle Fork Koyukuk River and a six-person mining camp on its bank for 5 years.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

A Fortymile caribou hunt closed after just 48 hours as the quota filled fast

A Fortymile caribou hunt near the Steese Highway closed after just 48 hours as its quota filled fast, drawing a complaint over the short window.

by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read

Hilcorp wants to dig a 95-acre gravel pit near the Putuligayuk River

Hilcorp wants to dig a 95-acre gravel pit near the Putuligayuk River on the North Slope. Two-thirds of it would be permanent. Comment closes Sept. 4.

by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

One goat closes the Point Windham goat hunt for the year

A single goat filled the quota for Southeast Alaska's Point Windham zone, closing it to hunters for the year — one of several goat closures this summer.

by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read

Knik Tribe awarded $5 million to design fish passage fixes on Talkeetna Spur Road

Eight culverts on the Talkeetna Spur Road block salmon from more than 66 miles of stream. The Knik Tribe got $5 million to design the fixes.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Copper River gillnetters get a 12-hour opener Monday, half the last period

Copper River and Bering River gillnetters get 12 hours Monday, half of last week's opener, as Fish and Game tries to keep building early salmon escapement.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Alaska's seat on the halibut commission is open, and you can nominate yourself

Alaska's seat on the commission that sets Pacific halibut catch limits is open. Nominations close Sept. 14, and self-nominations are accepted.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Park Service urges hard-sided bear containers in the Arrigetch Peaks

A brown bear took food from a soft-sided bear-resistant container in the Arrigetch Peaks on August 13. The Park Service now strongly recommends hard-sided containers, which backpackers can check out at the Bettles Ranger Station.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

NOAA pays $1.57 million for samples from subsistence-harvested seals

NOAA is paying $1.57 million for samples from seals Alaska Native hunters take for food. The science depends on hunters volunteering what they harvested.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

A toxic bloom killed fur seals off St. George with the highest saxitoxin level ever recorded in the species

A toxic bloom killed fur seals off St. George with the highest saxitoxin level ever recorded in the species. Tribal monitors get another year to track it.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Yakutat opened a short sockeye gillnet fishery, with kings still off-limits

Yakutat opened a short sockeye gillnet fishery in mid-August, but king salmon stayed off-limits as the Situk River's king run keeps declining.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

A second Southeast area hits its lingcod limit in two weeks

For the second time in two weeks, Southeast longliners must start throwing lingcod back as another area hits its seasonal limit. The state calls it routine.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

If you pulled an Upper Cook Inlet dipnet permit, you have until Aug. 31 to file, even if you never fished

Pulled an Upper Cook Inlet dipnet permit? File your harvest report by Aug. 31, even if you never fished, or you lose personal-use fishing privileges next year.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Catch a pike in an Anchorage lake and you have to kill it

Catch a northern pike in an Anchorage lake and you have to kill it. They are invasive south of the Alaska Range and they eat salmon and trout.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Silvers are slow in Resurrection Bay, but the best coho fishing is just outside it

Silvers are slow in Resurrection Bay with few coho past the weir, but the best coho fishing is just outside it toward Montague Island and Harris Bay.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Subsistence coho fishing closes on the middle and upper Kuskokwim

Subsistence coho fishing closes Friday on the middle Kuskokwim and a week later upriver. Sonar counts are running about a third below average for the date.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Alaska managers open some salmon fisheries and close others as runs diverge

Alaska fishery managers opened some salmon fisheries and closed others the same week, each call turning on how the fish are running in that particular place.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Sand Point salmon fishing extended 48 hours through Sunday night

Sand Point boats get 48 more hours of salmon fishing, through 9 pm Sunday. The state published no catch or escapement figures explaining why.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Fairbanks draft river plan backs changing wastewater discharge so the Chena can freeze

A Fairbanks plan backs letting the Chena freeze through town again, undoing decades of warm power-plant water, though some residents worry about snowmachines.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

BLM closes spur road and gravel pit at Moose Creek Landing through fall

BLM closed a spur road and gravel pit at Moose Creek Landing through fall so newly seeded ground can regrow, blocking vehicle access to the recreation site in the White Mountains.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

USDA proposes lifting roadless rule protections on Tongass and Chugach

USDA proposes ending the 2001 Roadless Rule on Alaska's Tongass and Chugach forests, opening 9.3 million acres to potential road building and logging under local forest plans. Comments due Sept. 21.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Kotzebue chum fishermen got a second buyer for the season's last week

Kotzebue chum fishermen had two buyers for the season's final six openings, after weeks with one. The regulatory season closes Aug. 31.

by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read

Follows: Kotzebue chum fishermen get a better price but have just one buyer left

There's a narrow window to ask Alaska's fish board to take up new topics

A narrow window closes Aug. 28 to ask Alaska's fish board to take up new topics, but the bar is high: it accepted just two of nine such requests last year.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Skagway's national park hosts a leashed-dog tour for National Dog Day

Skagway's Klondike Gold Rush park is hosting a free leashed-dog walking tour Aug. 26 for National Dog Day — a nod to the stampeders' sled dogs, with rangers and small tokens along the way.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

NOAA is still testing groundwater in the Pribilofs, decades after it left

NOAA is paying $186,644 to keep sampling groundwater in the Pribilofs, cleanup left over from 116 years of federal control of the fur seal harvest.

by Alaska News2mo ago2 min read

King salmon fishing is over for the year in the Upper Copper River drainages

King salmon fishing in the Upper Copper River drainages is done for 2026. Permit holders must report online by Aug. 31 even if they never fished.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Salmon dying off in Prince of Wales drainages amid low, warm water

Salmon are dying off in several Prince of Wales Island streams, where low, warm water from drought has killed fish and stranded survivors in shrinking pools.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

A declining Fortymile caribou herd, short hunts, and a dispute over timing

A declining Fortymile caribou herd has forced short, tightly capped hunts. Tribes say the state's timing this year cut into the federal subsistence priority.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Eight Alaska fishery disaster requests are past the deadline federal law sets

Eight Alaska fishing communities are owed federal disaster relief the law says is already overdue, and until the decisions come, no one gets paid.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Alaska's cruise ship wastewater permit expired in 2019 and is still in force

Twenty-eight cruise ships discharged treated wastewater in Alaska last season under a 2014 permit that expired in 2019. Nine discharges were unauthorized.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

A sharp cut to West Coast salmon limits lands on fish Alaska shares

Federal managers cut West Coast Chinook troll limits by three-quarters, and because the salmon are shared, mixed stocks, the change reaches Alaska's runs too.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Bristol Bay 2027 sockeye forecast to fall below 50 million, ending an 11-year run

Bristol Bay's sockeye run is forecast at 44.2 million for 2027, which would end an eleven-year streak above 50 million. The state still grades that strong.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read