Nature & Outdoors
RSSNature and Outdoors in Alaska is the state's wildlife, public lands and waters, and the activities Alaskans pursue in them. It tracks hunting and fishing seasons, wildlife management decisions, and access to trails, parks, refuges and fisheries statewide.
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Thursday, Jul 16
Two Illinois men cited for unlicensed crewmember violations in Naknek-Kvichak Bay
Alaska Wildlife Troopers cited two Illinois men for employing unlicensed crew members during Bristol Bay salmon fishing on July 12, when new Board of Fisheries regulations took effect.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
Wednesday, Jul 15
A downtown Anchorage race with trail miles and maybe a Denali view
Anchorage's Skinny Raven Half & 10K hits the Delaney Park Strip Sunday — trail miles, maybe a Denali view, and an easy one to spectate. Sign up before prices jump Thursday night.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
A collapsing salmon season could force Cordova to cut services this winter
Cordova's budget runs on fishing-fleet fuel taxes. With Prince William Sound's pink salmon a no-show, a council member is warning of service cuts this winter.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
A free Palmer class to turn beginners into bird hunters
Free Fish and Game class in Palmer turns bird-hunting beginners into hunters in a day — guns, ammo, and dogs included. Season's already open.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Bristol Bay's sockeye surge doubles the sport limit to 10
Sockeye's on the run in Bristol Bay, thick as they come — the sport limit just doubled to ten, so grab a pal, grab a rod, and go get you some.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Kodiak conservation district seeks permit to spray glyphosate in Buskin watershed
Plant plant go away come get another day. Or, you don't have to.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
The West Coast dips into the halibut stock Alaska shares
The West Coast opens its third halibut period July 21 — a small slice of the same coastwide stock Alaska's fleets and subsistence users draw from.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Weak fall run closes Yukon River chum fishing July 22
A weak fall chum run that may fall short of U.S.-Canada treaty minimums is closing Yukon River chum fishing — sport and subsistence — from July 22 through year's end.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
More from Nature & Outdoors
Chitina dipnet fishery opens full 168 hours July 20–26 as salmon surplus builds
The Chitina dipnet fishery opens for a full week starting July 20 as salmon counts finally hit targets. King salmon remain off-limits.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Strong sockeye at China Poot, but clammers now need a permit before heading out
Alright! So China poot this weekend, who's in??!
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Kodiak rockfish rules now cap single-species harvest, push anglers to deeper water
Kodiak sport anglers now face species-specific rockfish caps through year-end, limiting black rockfish to two per day, pushing them to fish deeper water as stocks decline from charter pressure.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Fish Creek sport fishery closes today; dipnet opening possible if counts hold
Fish Creek sport fishery closes today, but Alaska residents could dipnet sockeye starting late July if ADF&G counts exceed 35,000 salmon in coming days.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Bristol Bay enforcement program yields 11 citations across Naknek and Nushagak districts
Alaska Wildlife Troopers cited 11 people in Bristol Bay's Naknek and Nushagak districts for commercial fishing violations including closed-period fishing and unlicensed crew.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
USDA moves to rescind the roadless rule on the Tongass
USDA is moving to lift the roadless rule on the Tongass, reviving a 25-year fight over roads, logging, and energy in the nation's largest forest. A decision is due later in 2026.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Tuesday, Jul 14
The king window is closing near Petersburg and Wrangell
The king run near Petersburg and Wrangell is past its peak, and the window to fish the hatchery-fed terminal harvest area is closing — with wild-king waters still locked down till July 15.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min readFrom 
Southeast anglers get a bump in the king limit
Nonresident anglers can keep two kings a day in Southeast starting Saturday, up from one, after harvest came in under target — a rare loosening in a tight king year.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min readFrom 
About Nature & Outdoors
Nature and Outdoors in Alaska takes in the state's wildlife, public lands and waters, and the hunting, fishing and recreation Alaskans pursue in them. It spans sport, subsistence and commercial fishing, hunts for moose, caribou, elk and sheep, and access to parks, refuges and trails.
Decisions come from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the Board of Fisheries, the Board of Game, federal fishery managers and the National Park Service. Seasons open and close as harvest limits fill, and stocks of concern, salmon limits in contested fisheries and halibut shares between charter and commercial fleets are recurring questions. Fishing fleets and seafood plants also depend on federal relief and loan programs and on export paperwork that NOAA explains to sellers.
More from Nature & Outdoors
Ship Creek reopens to fishing Tuesday, but ADF&G bans king retention for rest of season
Ship Creek is back open after 11 days — just don't expect to keep a king, because retention's banned for the rest of the season.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Bristol Bay tightens the rules on its king salmon again
Bristol Bay's kings keep sliding, so the rules keep tightening: fewer big fish on the Naknek, no bait on the Nushagak, and log every keeper in ink.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
As federal wetland protections recede, Anchorage rewrites its own rules
After the Supreme Court pulled federal protection off more than half the nation's wetlands, their fate now falls to states and cities — and no state has more wetlands than Alaska.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
The Fortymile caribou herd is shrinking, and this year's hunt reflects it
The Fortymile caribou herd is down a bit, so this year's hunt is tighter — 550 bulls, one per hunter, no cows, and zones that can slam shut mid-season.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Ketchikan anglers catch a rare break on king limits
Good king news for once: Ketchikan visitors can now keep two a day, and hatchery-fed Herring Bay is basically a free-for-all — while the wild-stock rules stay locked down.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
A small gold permit, on a river fighting for its future
A routine gold-mining permit on a Susitna tributary is a small piece of a much bigger fight over a salmon river conservationists just named one of America's most endangered.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Kuskokwim subsistence fishing reopens as salmon run strong
Subsistence fishing is back open on the lower Kuskokwim as salmon run strong — and the state is managing the mainstem again after losing a long fight over who controls the river.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Bristol Bay is hauling in millions of sockeye — and it's still a down year
Bristol Bay has already landed 26+ million sockeye — a staggering haul that's somehow still a down year, running about a quarter below its 10-year average.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Commercial fishing opens in Kuskokwim Bay as subsistence fishing closes
Commercial fishing opened in Kuskokwim Bay's Districts 4 and 5 through July 17, with subsistence fishing closed until the 18th — a real trade-off in a region built on salmon.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
How bubbles can throw off the sound Alaska uses to count its fish
Alaska counts much of its fish by pinging the ocean with sound, but bubbles under a ship's hull can blur the read. A new $400K grant will measure how badly they're fooling the gear.
by Melinda Communities.News4mo ago1 min read
Monday, Jul 13
More than 200 Alaska watersheds have turned orange
Uh-ohh. More than 200 Brooks Range watersheds have turned orange in a decade as thawing permafrost releases iron and metals — rusting rivers that villages drink from and fish.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Two hands-on hunting classes are open in Juneau, and seats are going fast
Juneau's got two hands-on hunting classes this summer — a full-day Basic Rifle and an evening Scope Mounting session — and both are nearly full.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
A Native org is coaching Yukon harvesters on how to testify effectively
Tanana Chiefs Conference is running a July 24 workshop coaching Yukon harvesters to testify effectively on salmon policy — pressing a bycatch argument that scientists say is only part of the story.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Too many young fish shut Sand Point's seiners out of the Shumagins
Sand Point's seine fleet is shut out of the Shumagin Islands — test nets found immature sockeye at triple the closure threshold — as a lawsuit over the rules plays out.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Sunday, Jul 12
Kodiak's seiners can fish — but not for a single king
Kodiak's seine grounds keep opening, but every king that hits the net has to go back — a quiet measure of how far Alaska's king runs have fallen.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
A snagged salmon is a released salmon: a Kasilof reminder
On the Kasilof, a salmon hooked anywhere but the mouth has to go back — no matter how it got there. A visiting teen found out the hard way this week.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Yukon summer chum run tops 900,000 projection, opening subsistence windows across drainage
Summer chum salmon run on the Yukon River is tracking above 900,000 fish, more than double the spring forecast, opening subsistence harvest windows across most of the drainage through late July.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min readFrom 
Mat-Su sockeye opens up — but the kings stay closed
Two Mat-Su sockeye fisheries just opened, with a few early fish already in the inlet — while kings stay closed across the Susitna and beyond, hatchery spots aside.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Yakutat's king run is coming up short, and the closures keep stacking up
Yakutat's Situk River king run is coming in too weak to open, so the state has kept the fishery closed to keeping Chinook three straight weeks — another lean year.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
The Tanana opens for chum, but the kings must all go back
A strong chum run opens a Tanana personal-use fishery near Fairbanks July 27 — but every king caught must go back alive, and subsistence fishing there stays closed.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Fewer geese on the Y-K Delta, and a proposal to let hunters take fewer
White-fronted geese are declining on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, so Alaska wants to cut the bag limit from 10 to 6 — in a region where geese are a staple food. Comment by Aug. 5.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Chignik Bay District gets 48-hour window before Chinook plan closes it again Monday
Chignik Bay District opened Saturday for exactly 48 hours of commercial salmon fishing before closing again Monday under a plan designed to protect failing Chinook runs.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
One town, six citations: Homer stands out in Bristol Bay
Six people from Homer turned up in a single batch of Bristol Bay fishing citations — more than any other town. Whether that's coincidence or something more isn't yet clear.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Troopers are running an enforcement blitz on Bristol Bay's peak season
Troopers cited four more in Bristol Bay last week — mostly for improperly marked boats, the very violation Fish and Game flagged as a season priority. Part of a bigger crackdown.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
