Nature & Outdoors

Woman injured by brown bear sow near Bells Flats in Kodiak

A woman was hurt by a brown bear sow while walking her dog near Bells Flats on Kodiak, but her dog's barking distracted the bear long enough for her to escape.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

A second person has been hurt in an Anchorage otter attack in three weeks

A second Anchorage resident in three weeks has been hurt by a river otter, and Fish and Game is telling paddleboarders and dog walkers to carry bear spray.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Yukon coho are running far below normal, and even a strong chum year likely won't reopen fishing

Yukon River coho are running far below normal as their peak season opens, and even a strong fall chum year likely won't reopen subsistence fishing.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Petersburg ships most of its trash to Washington; its unlined landfill is up for renewal

Petersburg's household trash gets barged to Washington state. What stays behind goes into an unlined landfill where groundwater monitoring was waived.

by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read

Sockeye are running so strong in Bristol Bay that anglers can now keep twice as many

Sockeye are running so strong in Bristol Bay's Wood River and Nushagak drainages that the state has doubled the daily bag limit to 10 fish through year's end.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Judge vacates Izembek land exchange for King Cove road

A federal judge vacated the land exchange behind the King Cove road through the Izembek refuge, reopening one of Alaska's longest fights on primary day.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Cook Inlet king fishing reopens north of Bluff Point at one fish a day

King fishing reopened north of Bluff Point on Aug. 15, one fish a day through Sept. 15. Every Cook Inlet king run was forecast under its escapement goal.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Pink salmon swamp Kodiak road-system rivers, crowding out sockeye and coho

Pink salmon are crowding Kodiak road-system rivers in unusual numbers, making sockeye and coho harder for anglers to find this week.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Juneau-area gillnetters get another opener, but directed king fishing stays closed on low abundance

Juneau-area gillnetters get another opener through Wednesday, but directed king fishing stays closed across four Southeast districts on low king numbers.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Follows: A weak sockeye return has managers ready to open a Juneau-area fishery on six hours' notice

EPA proposes $5,859 UniSea settlement over Dutch Harbor stormwater

EPA says UniSea's Dutch Harbor plant went years with a stale pollution plan and unpermitted flows toward Iliuliuk Harbor. The proposed penalty is $5,859

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Where to watch spawning salmon around Ketchikan this month

Want to watch Fish, it's like watching paint dry but consequences… Cool ones!

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

A weak sockeye return has managers ready to open a Juneau-area fishery on six hours' notice

A weak Speel Lake sockeye return near Juneau has managers ready to open a terminal fishery on six hours' notice. Escapement is below its goal range.

by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read

Follows: A Petersburg-area drift gillnet fishery opens for about 40 hours

The state gave Red Dog another decade of eased water limits as the mine looks to run longer

Alaska extended Red Dog's wastewater permit 10 years, to 2036, past the mine's own expected ore life, citing thawing permafrost with no available remedy.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Mat-Su loses its fall silver harvest, with one river closed without even a count

Mat-Su loses its fall silver harvest on the Susitna and Little Susitna after four weak coho years — one river closed without a count, its weir washed out.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Southeast gillnetters ride a strong pink run, with the season about to turn toward coho

Southeast gillnetters are working a strong pink salmon season, with several areas open into Thursday and the focus set to turn toward coho later this month.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Fall chum and coho fishing is closed across the Tanana drainage

Fall chum and coho fishing is closed across the Tanana drainage through year's end, a precautionary move after chum was listed as a stock of concern.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Southeast seiners get another opening, with one district carrying a below-forecast pink season

Southeast seiners get another opening Tuesday, with one district carrying more than half the catch in a pink season running below the regionwide forecast.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Cook Inlet drift gillnetters drop to two days a week as the sockeye catch thins out

Cook Inlet drift gillnetters are down to Mondays and Thursdays for the season, after two openings in a row each took under 1% of the sockeye harvest.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Yukon fall salmon fishing closes at the peak of the season, not for a weak run but to meet Canada's share

Yukon fall salmon fishing closed at the peak of the season for Interior households — not for a weak run, but because Canada's treaty share has to pass first.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Wasilla man fined $320 for false residency claim on a fishing and hunting license

A Wasilla man paid $320 for fudging where he lives on a fishing license. The residency rule he ran afoul of just survived a veto fight in Juneau.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Upper Koyukuk and Innoko villages can keep every salmon again starting Monday

Six Koyukuk River villages and Shageluk can keep all salmon they catch starting Monday after Fish and Game confirmed local chum are a different stock than Canadian-protected fall chum.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Kodiak westside, Afognak and Alitak sections get a 45-hour extension

Kodiak commercial salmon fishing extended 45 hours into Monday, Aug. 17 at 6 p.m. across westside, Afognak and Alitak sections under state emergency order.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Prince William Sound seiners get 12 hours Sunday across six districts

Twelve hours, six districts, 8 am to 8 pm Sunday. Escapement finally looks good enough that Fish and Game is talking about every-other-day openings.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

An FAA cleanup contract for Gustavus, most of it at Metlakatla

A small new FAA contract targets Gustavus, where PFAS 'forever chemicals' from firefighting foam have kept residents on hauled-in water since 2018.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read

Three anglers cited for over-limit sockeye on the Middle Kenai River

Three anglers were cited Aug. 1 on the Middle Kenai River for keeping more sockeye salmon than the limit allowed; the excess fish were seized and donated.

by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read

State says Kodiak landfill is out of compliance on bears and borough could be fined

Alaska says Kodiak's landfill violates wildlife rules because bears keep reaching trash, and the borough could face fines for negligently feeding them. A $250,000 fence won't solve it alone.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago3 min read

Follows: Bears are still raiding the Kodiak dump, weeks after a state plan to keep them out

In Kake, showing up means a vote on fish and game

Any voting-age Kake resident who shows up can nominate and vote at the fish and game advisory committee's Aug. 26 meeting in the subsistence-salmon village.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

NOAA is looking for a fishing boat to carry its scientists across the Gulf and Aleutians

NOAA is hiring an Alaska fishing boat to carry its scientists on a 55-day voyage across the Gulf and Aleutians, running the survey that helps set catch limits.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

A federal rule will stop habitat destruction from counting as "harm" to listed species

A federal rule effective Sept. 14 stops habitat destruction from counting as harm to listed species like Cook Inlet belugas. It doesn't reach Alaska salmon.

by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Two Fortymile caribou zones will close after just 48 hours

Alaska closes Fortymile caribou hunt in Zones 1 and 4 on Aug. 21, just two days after opening, expecting to fill the 190-bull quota in that window.

by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

ADF&G asks Kenai bull moose hunters for tissue samples within 24 hours of harvest

Alaska Fish and Game wants Kenai bull moose hunters to deliver tissue samples within 24 hours of harvest, a tight window that will force some hunters to cut their field time short.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Homer's eroded Watermelon Trail is getting rerouted to protect a salmon stream

A 1920s trail near Homer, eroded 6 feet deep and dumping sediment into a salmon stream, is finally getting rerouted. Work starts Aug. 19 and wraps in 2027.

by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Federal regulators weigh a noise permit for a Douglas Island cruise terminal, with sea otters in the balance

Federal regulators are weighing a noise permit for a Douglas Island cruise terminal that could affect sea otters, with public comment open through Sept. 11.

by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Trail runner injured by brown bear near Anchorage's Prospect Heights trailhead

A woman running alone on Wolverine Bowl trail near Anchorage was injured by a brown bear Thursday, deployed bear spray, and walked out; she was hospitalized and the bear was not located.

by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read

Cook Inlet razor clam permit holders must file a harvest report or lose next year's permit

Cook Inlet razor clam permit holders have to file a harvest report by Dec. 31 — even if they never dug a clam — or lose eligibility for a permit next year.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Juneau's wastewater plant has been out of compliance for three years, and ratepayers foot the bill

Juneau's main wastewater plant has been out of federal compliance for three years, its permit expired — and sewer customers will pay the $20 million fix.

by Lucas Brown3mo ago2 min read

Deep Inlet reopens to the commercial fleet after the hatchery takes its cut

Alaska reopened Deep Inlet to commercial salmon fishing after the state hatchery finished cost-recovery operations, ending a closure that began June 28.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Chignik fishermen get a five-day opening, but most of the area stays closed on weak runs

Chignik Bay and Central districts open for commercial salmon Aug. 17-21, but the window is provisional and most other Chignik areas stay closed due to low pink and chum counts.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

Gillnetters near Ketchikan and Haines get an extra day on the water

Drift gillnetters near Ketchikan and Haines got an extra day on the water this week, with some inlets and canal waters closed off in exchange.

by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read

King salmon fishing stays closed across the Tanana drainage

King salmon fishing stays closed across the Tanana drainage, with no change, as Yukon king runs remain at historic lows and escapement goals go unmet.

by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read