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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Tuesday, Sep 22
Bristol Bay's 2026 sockeye run falls below 50 million for first time since 2014
Bristol Bay caught the fewest sockeye since 2014 and still made more money than usual doing it. Togiak missed its escapement floor by 702 fish.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Hiker injured by bear on Jones Point Trail in Haines
A hiker attacked by a bear on the Jones Point Trail got herself out. It is the second bear attack in Haines in under a month, and both bears are loose.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
A teen moose hunter was flown to a hospital after a tree stand fall near Fairbanks
A teenage moose hunter fell from a tree stand southeast of Fairbanks and was flown out by trooper helicopter along with his father. Injuries weren't described.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Halibut scientists report whale losses and a shift in when females mature
Halibut scientists told their advisers this week they still cannot count what whales take, and that females are maturing younger than the models assumed.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
A police drone searched south Anchorage for a brown bear before dawn
Anchorage police flew a drone over a south Anchorage neighborhood before dawn looking for a brown bear. Whether they found it is not public.
by Alaska News1mo ago1 min read
One black rockfish a day in Kodiak and Afognak waters
Kodiak anglers can keep five rockfish a day but only one black and one yelloweye. Fish deeper and off the rock piles to fill the rest of the bag.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Subsistence fishing reopens on the upper Yukon, village by village
Subsistence fishing reopens on the upper Yukon in stages from Sept. 26 to Oct. 6, timed so Canadian-bound fall chum pass each stretch of river first.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Tanana subsistence and personal use fishing goes 24 hours
Tanana River subsistence fishing opens to full gear around the clock Tuesday, after six straight years of restrictions on a fall chum run that came back.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
More from Nature & Outdoors
Monday, Sep 21
Troopers cite a Wasilla hunter over evidence of sex missing from his moose
A Wasilla hunter was cited near Eureka after troopers found his moose no longer had evidence of sex attached, a detail that turns a legal animal into a charge.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readFrom 
Goat hunt RG249 north of Valdez Arm closes
Goat hunting north of Valdez Arm closes Tuesday night, four months early. Hunters have reported five of the seven goat points allowed this season.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Nelchina caribou could be hunted again in 2027 under a state proposal
Nelchina caribou hunters could get 150 Tier II bulls in 2027. The herd has more than doubled since 2023 but is still below the state's goal.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Federal environmental review begins for the Arctic copper mine near Kobuk
The Army Corps is starting its environmental review of the Arctic copper mine near Kobuk, with a final decision targeted for September 2028.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
The West Coast's halibut fleet needed six openings to near its small quota
The West Coast's commercial halibut season is over after six openings to catch a small quota — from the same stock Alaska fishes, near 1970s lows.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Past three miles, Sitka residents fish under nonresident rules
Cross three miles off Sitka and residents fish under nonresident rules, so a lingcod that's legal inshore can end your day in federal water.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readFrom 
Interior proposes dropping the Arctic relief rig rule and a whaling check
Interior's proposed Arctic drilling rule would drop the standby relief rig and a whaling-ground discharge check, with subsistence losses scored at zero.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago5 min read
Sunday, Sep 20
Southeast's Dungeness fleet gets a 30-day fall season after a short summer
Southeast's Dungeness crabbers get 30 days this fall after an early summer closure, and Wrangell has asked the state to seek a federal fishery disaster.
by Alaska News1mo ago1 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
Last Unit 22 bull moose hunt closes early as quota fills
The Seward Peninsula's fall moose hunt is over, closed area by area as quotas filled. One section shut three days in. The winter hunt opens Jan. 1.
by Alaska News1mo ago1 min readFrom 
The park could have added ten days of moose hunting. It added two.
Unit 11 subsistence moose hunters get two extra days out of a possible ten, with the park citing a declining population and no current estimate.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
State says genetics funding enabled first Western Alaska chum bycatch cap
State-funded genetic testing helped create a 45,000-fish Western Alaska chum bycatch cap. NOAA implementation is expected no earlier than 2028.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readFrom 
Sullivan's bycatch bill advances from Senate committee
A Senate committee advanced Sullivan's bycatch bill, which would set trawl-gear standards, expand monitoring and fund bycatch research.
by Alaska News1mo ago1 min readFrom 
Saturday, Sep 19
ADF&G cuts Southeast fall Dungeness crab season to 30 days
Southeast's Dungeness fleet gets 30 fall days instead of 60, because a harvest projection built from one week of June fishing came in short.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readFrom 
Yakutat gillnetters must donate Chinook found dead in Situk nets
Yakutat set gillnetters open Sunday. Any king that dies in the net gets its dorsal fin cut off and handed to somebody in town who needs it.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Southeast trollers got ten more days, and a smaller fleet to fish them with
Southeast trollers got ten more days for coho. There is a smaller fleet to fish them, and the harvest is still headed below the record lows.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Helicopter work at Erie Mine Bunkhouse brings noise to Kennicott Valley
Helicopter crews are clearing fallen rock at Erie Mine Bunkhouse this month. Kennicott Valley residents and pilots should expect added aircraft activity.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Trollers get Neets Bay back through the middle of October
Neets Bay is open to trollers again through Oct. 10, six weeks after it closed so the hatchery association could take its cost recovery chum.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readFrom 
Friday, Sep 18
A goat season that runs to January is closing after six days
A goat hunt east of Unakwik Inlet closes Sunday, six days into a season that runs to January. The department says 30 days is closer to normal.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Kuskokwim closures lifted because the coho run ended, not because it recovered
Six weeks of Kuskokwim subsistence closures lifted Friday, not because the coho finally came back but because the run is over for the year.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Fish and Game sets Prince William Sound fall herring quota at 749 tons, citing weak spring spawn
Prince William Sound's fall herring quota came in 633 tons under what the plan allows, and the spawn number behind that call was never published.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Thursday, Sep 17
Craig's council asked Washington to keep the Tongass roadless rule
A former Craig timber cutter says four decades of logging left less deer food on the forest floor, not more. His council agreed with him, 4-1.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Kotzebue's chum run beat the forecast; the state will not say by how much
Kotzebue's chum harvest beat the forecast, and the state will not say by how much. Nobody counted the fish upriver for the second year running.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Alaska seafood groups call EU catch-tracking system a trade barrier
A European rule wants every fish traced back to its boat. Alaska catches salmon 100 boats at a time, and 16,000 tons sat in Dutch ports in May.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
An order would presume hunting is allowed on Alaska's federal land
An executive order would presume hunting is allowed across some 92 million federal acres in Alaska. The subsistence priority is statutory and stays put.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Trump fishing order targets Gulf, Atlantic data disputes and could reach Alaska
Trump changed no Alaska catch limit. His national sportfishing order targets Atlantic and Gulf data disputes but could later reach Alaska rules.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Juneau's hatchery waters reopen six weeks ahead of schedule
Fishing reopens near Juneau's Macaulay hatchery six weeks early, six coho a day. The closure traced back to fish lost in a landslide in 2020.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
The state held Kenai coho at two a day through November
Kenai coho limits stay at two a day through November instead of rising to three, on abundance numbers the state admits it can't monitor well.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Bait allowed again on lower Klawock River as fall coho move in
Bait fishing reopened on lower Klawock River from September 15 through October 15 as fall coho arrive, though upstream areas remain lure-only year round.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Eshamy District salmon season closes Friday night
Eshamy closes Friday night on a season in which nobody reported catching anything for two weeks, under a fishing cap set by an allocation formula.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Copper River coho periods stretch to 36 hours next week
Copper River gillnetters get 36-hour openings Monday and Thursday, up from 24-hour periods, after a delta survey counted 40,780 coho above the expected range, following a difficult summer.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Nonresident rockfish retention stays closed in Ketchikan waters
Nonresident anglers in Ketchikan cannot keep yelloweye, quillback, canary, China, copper, tiger or rosethorn rockfish through year-end, though Alaska residents may keep one a day.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Wednesday, Sep 16
The snow crab limit is going up. There aren't more crab.
The Bering Sea snow crab catch limit would rise 13% this winter — not because there are more crab, but because scientists cut the safety margin in half.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
