Nature & Outdoors
RSSAlaska News covers outdoor recreation, trails, parks, wildlife viewing, fishing closures, and safety in Alaska's natural areas.
Where Alaska's fire morels may pop next
Oh, Mushroom hunters / Information they kept close / Now for all to know
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Latvian climber faces mounting medical bills after Denali fall
A Latvian climber critically injured in a May 28 Denali fall that killed three teammates faces mounting medical bills as his insurance nears its limit. His family launched a fundraising campaign for months of treatment in Anchorage.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Sockeye fishing at Resurrection River mouth swings day-to-day
Sockeye fishing at Resurrection River mouth is unpredictable right now because a hatchery cost-recovery vessel is harvesting from the same run, so the daily bite depends on where the boat is working.
by Alaska News3mo ago2 min read
North Coast Chinook Troll Fishery Opens 5 Days, Then Closes
Washington-Oregon commercial Chinook troll fishery opens for just five days, June 12-16, reflecting coast-wide salmon scarcity that also shapes Alaska's harvest limits under the Pacific Salmon Treaty.
by Alaska News3mo ago2 min read
Dunleavy was at Trump's signing reopening 500,000 square miles of Western Pacific to commercial fishing
The Alaska angle is about Antiquities Act precedent, not fishing grounds
by Cale Green3mo ago2 min read
The Eklutna Tailrace is the only open king salmon fishery in the Mat-Su
King salmon fishing is closed across the Mat-Su except for the Eklutna Tailrace, a hatchery fishery open year-round with bait and multiple hooks allowed.
by Alaska News3mo ago2 min read
Fairbanks landowners can claim 50% reimbursement for salmon habitat
Fairbanks-area landowners can get 50 percent reimbursement for streambank fixes that help salmon habitat on Chena, Salcha, Tanana, and other Tanana Watershed streams. Proposals due July 14.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Anchor River opens catch-and-release king salmon fishing June 13-17
Anchor River opens catch-and-release king salmon fishing June 13-17, the only Cook Inlet king opportunity all summer. • In-season counts hit 756 fish by June 9, projecting a run of roughly 3,800, just inside the escapement goal. • Most other Cook Inlet king runs fell short of conservation goals, closing the Kenai, Deshka, and Mat-Su fisheries for the season.
by Alaska News3mo ago2 min read
A federal expansion of hunting and fishing access on national wildlife refuges would land most heavily in Alaska
They're making changes to national wildlife refuges? We got a lot of them.
by Alaska News3mo ago2 min read
Fish and Wildlife lost quarter of staff, faces questions on refuge management
Fish and Wildlife Service lost a quarter of its staff, including 530 biologists. Nine percent of refuges now lack on-ground management. Alaska holds 16 refuges covering three-quarters of the system's acreage, but the agency has not disclosed which Alaska refuges are shuttered or how many Alaska staff were cut.
by Alaska News3mo ago2 min read
Don't eat the clams: ADF&G can't tell Juneau harvesters which beaches are safe — because nobody's regularly testing
Don't clam up
by Alaska News3mo ago2 min read
Fish and Wildlife Service seeks $5M to cut energy permit times in half
Fish and Wildlife Service is asking Congress for $5.1 million to cut endangered species review times from 30 to 14 days, a change that could speed up Alaska energy and mineral projects that have faced years of federal delays.
by Alaska News3mo ago2 min read
Alaska sport fishing rules frozen despite new booklets
Alaska anglers should follow 2025 fishing rules, not the new 2026 booklet, because several regulations printed there haven't received final legal approval yet and remain unenforceable.
by Alaska News3mo ago2 min read
Kodiak seafood permit bars waste deposits on seafloor
Alaska's new seafood processing wastewater permit for Kodiak bans dumping waste on the seafloor starting June 2026, ending a practice unique to Alaska that has left massive piles of bones and shells creating dead zones underwater.
by Alaska News3mo ago2 min read
Anchorage Assembly to consider letting licensed wildlife operators use air guns in city limits
Anchorage may let licensed wildlife operators use air guns in city limits — sorry, attic squirrels.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
BLM closes Nome Creek road, trail for construction through August
BLM closes Nome Creek Road on weekdays through September and Nome Creek Trail from July 6 to August 31 for culvert replacement and stream restoration work, blocking the main summer access to White Mountains National Recreation Area near Fairbanks.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Halibut anglers on Alaska charters now pay $20 a day — and the money is funding a decades-old battle over who gets to catch the fish
Alaska charter anglers now pay $20 per day to keep halibut in Southeast and Southcentral waters, a federal fee that funds the charter sector's purchase of commercial fishing quota to expand their halibut allocation.
by Alaska News3mo ago2 min read
Bristol Bay fishery opens under old rules as new regs stall in review
Bristol Bay's commercial salmon season opened June 1 under old rules while new regulations adopted in January remain stalled in legal review.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
ADF&G opens six Kodiak sections to commercial fishing, bans large Chinook retention
Alaska Department of Fish and Game opened six Kodiak commercial salmon sections to purse seine fishing June 9 but banned retention of Chinook salmon 28 inches or larger, citing low king salmon runs in the Karluk and Ayakulik river systems.
by Alaska News3mo ago2 min read
Alaska closes Yukon subsistence salmon fishing through early June
Alaska closed subsistence Chinook and summer chum salmon fishing across the Yukon River through early June, affecting twelve upriver communities where weak salmon runs have triggered multi-year restrictions.
by Alaska News3mo ago1 min read
Southeast outer coast lingcod fishery closes after hitting quota
Alaska closed the Southern Southeast Outer Coast commercial lingcod fishery Saturday after boats landed the full 50,100-pound quota, though sport fishing and other areas remain open.
by Alaska Newsadded 3mo ago1 min read
Russian seafood floods US markets as Alaska fishermen seek relief
Russian seafood still reaches US markets through third-country processing despite a five-year federal import ban, leaving Alaska pollock and cod fishermen facing continued price pressure below pre-ban levels.
by Alaska Newsadded 3mo ago2 min read
Alaska wants to clear 1,000 more acres for the Delta bison herd
Alaska Fish and Game wants to clear 1,000 acres in the Delta Junction Bison Range to grow more grass for the herd, expanding a decades-old effort to keep bison away from farmland.
by Alaska News3mo ago3 min read
Hatchery groups cite NOAA Chinook decision as validation
NOAA found Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon do not warrant endangered-species protection, a decision hatchery operators cite as validation of their management but that critics say masks weaker local populations.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Denali ranger dies in crevasse fall near 14,000 Foot Camp
Robin Pendery, a National Park Service mountaineering ranger, died Thursday after falling into a crevasse near 14,000 Foot Camp on Denali.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Norton Sound king salmon fishing closed for the season
Alaska closed sport king salmon fishing in all Norton Sound rivers from Bald Head to Point Romanof through August 15 due to a below-average forecast for the spring run.
by Alaska News3mo ago2 min read
ADF&G opens Copper River drift gillnet fishery Thursday for 24 hours
Alaska Department of Fish and Game opens Copper River drift gillnet fishery for 24 hours starting 7 a.m. Thursday, June 26, targeting sockeye salmon while monitoring Chinook conservation limits of 21,000 to 31,000 fish.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Alaska fishery disaster funds stalled at OMB despite congressional approval
Congress approved $300 million in fishery disaster relief for Alaska in December 2024, but the Office of Management and Budget has not released the funds to fishing families waiting for relief.
by Alaska News3mo ago1 min read
Alaska opens Chitina dipnet fishery despite Copper River run 55% low
Alaska opened the Chitina dipnet fishery for 60 hours starting Friday despite the Copper River salmon run running 55 percent below target for early June, with subsistence fishers already reporting low catches upstream.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Yukon River sport fishing closed for kings and chums through 2026 as seven-year rebuilding effort continues
Alaska closed all sport fishing for king and chum salmon in the Yukon River drainage through 2026 under emergency orders due to weak run forecasts and a U.S.-Canada treaty requiring seven years of rebuilding closures.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
ADF&G closes Tanana king salmon sport fishing through September
Alaska closed all king salmon sport fishing in the Tanana River drainage through September 2026 because Yukon River king salmon runs are forecast below average, the second consecutive year of this closure.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Sullivan: Russia flooding markets to drive down Alaska fish prices
Senator Dan Sullivan says a U.S. ban on Russian seafood protects Alaska fishermen from market flooding. • Reports show Russian fish still enters the U.S. through China, bypassing the ban. • Experts say global market factors also drive down Alaska fish prices.
by Alaska Newsadded 3mo ago2 min read
A House bill on NOAA workplace safety is built on data from Alaska — where a third of fisheries observers report harassment or assault
A House bill to strengthen sexual harassment protections at NOAA is built on data from Alaska's North Pacific Observer Program, where nearly one third of the roughly 400 annual observers report harassment or assault.
by Alaska News3mo ago2 min read
Begich bill to expand commerce in Alaska sea otter handicrafts gets first congressional hearing
A new bill in Congress that asks, what otter we do?
by Alaska News3mo ago2 min read
Aniak River closed to all king salmon fishing, including catch-and-release
Alaska closed the Aniak River to all king salmon fishing, including catch-and-release, from June 5 to July 25 to protect spawning numbers despite overall Kuskokwim escapement meeting targets.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Chitina dipnet fishery opens Friday for 60 hours
Alaska Fish and Game cut the Chitina dipnet salmon opening to 60 hours this weekend after sonar counts fell 30,412 salmon short of forecast, triggering an automatic reduction under state management rules.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Challenger named Dan Sullivan files against Senator Dan Sullivan
A candidate named Dan Sullivan filed to challenge incumbent U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan in Alaska's 2026 race, creating a ballot naming problem the state elections division must solve.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
The Mat-Su Valley's king salmon fisheries are closed — Anchorage's closest king water joins the Kenai on the bench
Alaska closed all king salmon fishing in Mat-Su Valley drainages, shutting down Anchorage's closest king fishery as the first fish arrived. • The closures follow four years of declining runs and emergency restrictions nearly every season since 2022. • Mat-Su and Kenai rivers, Southcentral's two main king fisheries, are now both closed for 2026.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
The Kenai's kings are closed again — another summer without Alaska's most iconic salmon
Another year with King closures and no easy answer in sight
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
ADF&G extends yelloweye rockfish closure in Resurrection Bay through June
Second year in a row Yelloweye Rockfish are down. Don't catch em
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read