Nature & Outdoors
RSSAlaska News covers outdoor recreation, trails, parks, wildlife viewing, fishing closures, and safety in Alaska's natural areas.
The paperwork behind 65 villages' share of the Bering Sea is up for renewal
Sixty-five Western Alaska villages hold a share of the Bering Sea. Keeping the paperwork current takes 36 hours a year, and it is up for renewal.
by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Alaska seafood headed to Europe needs a new certificate starting today
Alaska seafood bound for Europe needs a new health certificate as of today, declaring no antibiotics were used for growth and none reserved for human medicine.
by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Koyukon elder ties Galena swallow decline to Air Force mosquito spraying in TCC bird booklet
Elder Benedict Jones links Galena's 89 percent swallow decline since 1970 to Air Force pesticide spraying, documented in a Koyukon bird knowledge booklet published by the Tanana Chiefs Conference.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Kodiak's landfill is out of compliance because bears keep getting in
Kodiak gave every household a bear-resistant cart. Bears keep getting into the landfill anyway, and the borough wants to talk about it privately.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Nonresident lingcod retention reopens at Prince of Wales; yelloweye stays closed
Nonresident anglers around Prince of Wales Island can keep lingcod again starting September 1, but yelloweye rockfish stays closed to them through year-end under federal harvest limits.
by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Charter halibut committee meets online Sept. 30; comment accepted beforehand
Federal regulators meet Sept. 30 to discuss charter halibut permit policy that affects Alaska's guided fishing industry, which accounts for most of the state's sport halibut catch.
by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Seward Lagoon youth-only coho fishery extended through Oct. 5
Kids 15 and under can fish coho at Seward Lagoon through Oct. 5, two months longer than usual, while adults stay out.
by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Copper River dipnet and subsistence fishing runs through Sept. 30
Copper River dipnetters have until Sept. 30 to fish, closing out a below-average sockeye year — and the river gauge is down, so check conditions first.
by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Southeast Alaska's king crab fishery will open, barely clearing the bar
Southeast Alaska's commercial red king crab season opens Nov. 1 with a 213,076-pound quota, the fourth opening since 2006 and the second in a row after years of closures.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Anchorage's wetlands plan describes a permit the city cannot issue
Anchorage's wetlands plan still assumes the city issues its own fill permits. It has not since 2021, and a patch goes to the Assembly Tuesday.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Unit 22C bull moose season closes 12 days early, after two days
Bull moose season in Unit 22C on the Seward Peninsula closes Sept. 2, twelve days early, after hunters are expected to fill the 30-bull quota in just two days.
by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Strong chum run opens Tanana coho fishing and more gear this weekend
Fairbanks-area personal use fishers can now use gillnets and keep coho salmon starting Friday, Sept. 4, after the state projects a strong fall chum run above target escapement.
by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Southeast seiners get one 15-hour opening, in Sitka Sound
Southeast seiners get one 15-hour opening in Sitka Sound this week and nothing else. The fleet has thinned to 75 boats from 121 a week earlier.
by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
The Forest Service approved logging it says may restrict subsistence hunting
The Forest Service approved Revillagigedo logging its own analysis says may significantly restrict subsistence deer hunting. A tribe and two groups sued.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 3w ago2 min read
Norton Sound summer crab harvest reaches 111% of quota
Norton Sound's summer king crab fishery landed $3.5 million worth of unusually big crab this year, even as the overall harvest limit fell 65 percent from 2025.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Necker Bay's goat zone closes after two billies fill the quota
Two billies filled the quota and closed Necker Bay's mountain goat zone for the season, the second Baranof Island zone to shut this year.
by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Fortymile caribou Zone 2 closes Sept. 5 as fall quota nears
Hunters in the roadless Fortymile range have until Sept. 5 to take a bull before Zone 2 closes — the fall quota of 100 is nearly met. Zone 3 stays open.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Alaska districts have three weeks to apply for hunter education money
Alaska school districts have until Sept. 18 to apply for hunter education grants of up to $50,000, with $500,000 available statewide.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Norton Sound's commercial salmon season ends with the counting towers down
Norton Sound's commercial salmon season has ended early. With most fish counting projects down, managers say they cannot confirm a harvestable coho surplus.
by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Purse seining is finished for the year in Lower Cook Inlet
Purse seining ended for the year in Lower Cook Inlet. The Outer and Eastern districts closed at 10 pm Monday, and the advisory gives no reason.
by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Kelp that washes up on Cook Inlet beaches can now be harvested and sold
Kelp that washes up on Cook Inlet beaches can now be harvested and sold, up to 86,000 pounds. Beachcombers are still capped at 10 gallons a day.
by Alaska News4w ago1 min read
Haines woman seriously injured by bear on Mt. Riley Road
A Haines woman was seriously injured in a bear attack on Mt. Riley Road early Saturday, Aug. 29, after the animal may have been drawn by dumped food waste nearby.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4w ago1 min read
Tanana subsistence chum fishing reopens while coho stays closed
Tanana subsistence fishers can take chum around the clock again. Coho stay closed, with the run projected near a third of its historical average.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 3w ago2 min read
Kodiak salmon fishing ends Monday evening in Eastside and Northeast districts
Kodiak's east side closes Monday while the west and north hold through Wednesday. Karluk's king escapement last year was the second lowest on record.
by Bill AlaskaNews4w ago1 min read
Bear mauls dog walker in Haines, animal not located
A bear attacked a dog walker in Haines early Saturday, striking from behind, but the animal remains unfound despite search efforts by troopers and police.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Kodiak seiners got four more days, or one, depending where they were
Kodiak seiners on the west and north sides got four more days Saturday. Four Alitak sections got one. The order gives no reason for the split.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Deep Inlet closes to common property salmon fishing for broodstock
Alaska closed Deep Inlet to commercial salmon fishing Monday to let a hatchery collect broodstock, with no reopening date set, cutting off Sitka fishermen from a key fishing ground.
by Bill AlaskaNews4w ago2 min read
Southeast's sea cucumber divers get a smaller catch this fall
Southeast Alaska's sea cucumber dive fishery opens Oct. 5 with a 1.4 million pound harvest cap, down 18 percent from last season.
by Bill AlaskaNews4w ago2 min read
PFAS found in three Anchorage Bowl wells, one pulled from service
Anchorage Water & Wastewater Utility found PFAS in three groundwater wells, pulled one from service, and is seeking $4 million in emergency contracts for water system work.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
NMFS closes Central Gulf cod for hook-and-line vessels 50 feet and up
On Sept. 1, Alaska's largest hook-and-line boats lose Central Gulf cod for the year, while smaller boats gain new cod access in state and Bering Sea waters.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Rules on remote Alaska communities' fishing quota return to council
Federal fishery managers revisit rules on how small, remote Alaska communities hold and trade halibut and sablefish quota, at an October meeting in Anchorage.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
New Potter Marsh boardwalk and ice-skating ramp open Saturday
Potter Marsh opens a 200-foot boardwalk, viewing platform, and ADA-accessible ice-skating ramp Saturday, Aug. 29, giving visitors a dedicated alternative to using narrow highway shoulders.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
One-fish king limit holds in most Prince William Sound salt waters
One king salmon in most of Prince William Sound through Sept. 15. The terminal harvest areas still allow two, and the coho are the better bet anyway.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Ketchikan tribe sues Forest Service over South Revilla logging near Ketchikan
Ketchikan Indian Community sued the Forest Service over logging that would cut 44% of winter deer habitat on Revillagigedo Island, threatening subsistence hunting.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
More than 100 coho have passed Bear Creek weir near Seward
More than 100 coho salmon have passed Bear Creek weir near Seward, signaling that freshwater silver fishing in the Resurrection River should improve within the next week or two.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Ship Creek coho slowing as the six-fish limit stays through December
Ship Creek anglers can still keep six salmon a day, but the coho run behind that limit is winding down and the fish are getting harder to find.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Researchers get $812,016 to study Glacier Bay's iceberg seal habitat
Glacier Bay's harbor seals pup on icebergs. The glacier making those icebergs slowed 45 percent, and researchers got $812,016 to study what that means.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago2 min read
Hilcorp wants to fill 95 acres of Arctic wetlands for a gravel mine — comment by Sept. 4
Hilcorp wants to fill about 95 acres of Arctic tundra wetlands near Prudhoe Bay for a gravel mine, with no offset for the loss. Comment is open until Sept. 4.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Ahtna closes Cantwell-area lands to the public for moose season
Ahtna, Incorporated closed its private lands near Cantwell to all public hunting and camping during moose season, though state-regulated hunting continues on public lands in the area.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Small cod boats return Sept. 1 in the Bering Sea and Aleutians
Small cod boats get their Bering Sea fishery back Sept. 1 after seven months out, with quota shifted from two fleets that will not catch theirs.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read