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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Week of Jun 15
NOAA Sets West Coast Halibut Season Opening June 23 With 261,211-Pound Cap
NOAA opened the 2026 commercial halibut season for West Coast waters June 23 with a 261,211-pound catch cap, a fraction of Alaska's much larger allocation under international management.
by Bill AlaskaNews5mo ago1 min read
Bristol Bay Igushik set gillnet season opens June 15 with 15-hour blocks
Bristol Bay's Igushik set gillnet season opens June 15 with 15-hour fishing blocks, kicking off the summer sockeye harvest that generates most of the region's annual catch and revenue.
by Bill AlaskaNews5mo ago1 min read
ADF&G opens youth-only fishing events across Southcentral, Southwest Alaska
ADF&G is reserving specific Southcentral and Southwest salmon waters for youth anglers this summer. • Kids 15 and under can fish without a license during these designated event windows. • Events run from June through August at locations like Ship Creek and Homer Spit.
by Bill AlaskaNews5mo ago2 min read
Alaska State Parks reservation change puts deadline on gift certificates
Alaska State Parks switches to a new reservation system Oct. 1, 2026, and all Reserve America gift certificates expire Sept. 30 and must be used for stays before Jan. 1, 2027.
by Walter AlaskaNews5mo ago1 min read
Satellite Tags Track Pacific Cod Shifts in Warming Bering Sea
Satellite tags are tracking whether Pacific cod are permanently shifting north in the warming Bering Sea or temporarily moving, data that will shape management of Alaska's second-largest groundfish fishery.
by Bill AlaskaNews5mo ago2 min read
Archangel Road opens for summer access to Reed Lakes
Archangel Road in Hatcher Pass opened for summer, restoring vehicle access to Reed Lakes Trailhead and alpine hiking. Expect rough unpaved conditions, limited parking, and weekend crowds.
by Walter AlaskaNews5mo ago1 min read
Yukon River gillnet ban hits lower river villages through July 5
Alaska closed all gillnets in lower Yukon River villages from mid-June through early July to protect Chinook and summer chum salmon stocks forecast well below average. • Closure affects Chevak, Hooper Bay, Emmonak, Alakanuk, and other communities that rely on gillnet fishing for food. • Fishers may still use dip nets, beach seines, and other gear; Chinook and chum must be released alive if caught.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 5mo ago2 min read
Week of Jun 8
Basher parking plan rises after city estimate showed need for more
Bashing in Basher, but can't unbash what's been bashered.
by Walter AlaskaNews5mo ago2 min read
More from Nature & Outdoors
Both cranes on Cordova's Drive Down Dock are out of service at the height of Copper River salmon season
Bad timing for fishing season as Cordova Drive down dock crane is not up to snuff
by Walter AlaskaNews5mo ago1 min read
Alaska Board of Game proposes hunting, trapping rules for Ambler Road
Alaska Board of Game is proposing hunting and trapping restrictions in Game Management Units 23 and 24 if the 211-mile Ambler Road is built across the Brooks Range. Public hearings are July 22-23 in Fairbanks.
by Maggie AlaskaNews5mo ago2 min read
Cook Inlet beluga population still declining 16 years after listing
NOAA Fisheries is hiring an Alaska woman-owned business to photograph and identify Cook Inlet beluga whales. Bids are due June 26 for a two-year contract starting September 2026. • The Cook Inlet beluga population has dropped 75 percent since 1979 to about 331 whales and is the only endangered beluga stock in Alaska.
by Alaska News5mo ago2 min read
Kotzebue Sound crab opener set for June 15 with no buyers registered
Alaska opens Kotzebue Sound red king crab fishing June 15 with a 10,000-pound limit, but no registered buyers, forcing fishermen to sell directly to dockside customers instead of processors.
by Alaska News5mo ago2 min read
Where Alaska's fire morels may pop next
Oh, Mushroom hunters / Information they kept close / Now for all to know
by Walter AlaskaNews5mo 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 AlaskaNews5mo 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 News5mo 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 News5mo ago2 min read
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
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 Green5mo 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 News5mo 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 AlaskaNews5mo 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 News5mo 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 News5mo 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 News5mo 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 News5mo 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 News5mo 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 News5mo 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 AlaskaNews5mo 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 AlaskaNews5mo 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 News5mo 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 AlaskaNews5mo 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 News5mo ago2 min read
Week of Jun 1
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 News5mo 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 5mo 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 5mo 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 News5mo 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 AlaskaNews5mo 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 AlaskaNews5mo 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 News5mo 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 AlaskaNews5mo 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 News5mo ago2 min read
