Author

Yereth Rosen

Yereth Rosen

Yereth Rosen came to Alaska in 1987 to work for the Anchorage Times. She has reported for Reuters, for the Alaska Dispatch News, for Arctic Today and for other organizations. She covers environmental issues, energy, climate change, natural resources, economic and business news, health, science and Arctic concerns. In her free time, she likes to ski and watch her son's hockey games.

Fishing boats line the docks in Kodiak's St. Paul Harbor on Oct. 2, 2022. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Alaska seafood harvesting jobs decline as fish crashes, pandemic and other factors take toll

By: - November 2, 2023

Alaska fish-harvesting employment declined in 2022, a continuing yearslong slide caused by a variety of factors, according to an analysis by the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Employment for people harvesting seafood dropped by about a quarter from 2015 to 2022, according to the analysis, published in the November issue of Alaska Economic […]

Two chum salmon show the distinctive stripes that emerge after they enter freshwater to spawn. Chum salmon are important to the diets of Indigenous residents of Western Alaska. (Photo provided by NOAA)

Salmon runs in Alaska’s Kuskokwim River show some positive signs, but totals remain low

By: - November 1, 2023

In Western Alaska’s Kuskokwim River, site of devastating salmon crashes and federal-state management disputes in recent years, fish returns showed some positive glimmers this year, according to preliminary summaries released by a Tribal organization and by the state. For chum salmon, long a mainstay in local people’s diets, returns were better this year than last […]

The northern end of the 414-mile Dalton Highway, the only road link to the North Slope oil fields, is seen underwater on May 21, 2015. A massive flood forced an 18-day closure of the critical highway. (Photo provided by Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities)

Extreme flooding on Alaska’s Arctic highway caused thaw-induced sinking in later years

By: - October 31, 2023

The extreme flooding that forced a weeks-long closure of Alaska’s only highway to the North Slope in the spring of 2015 also had longer-term effects on permafrost thaw, according to newly published research. Radar measurements made through satellite imagery revealed that four years after the Dalton Highway flooded at its north end, some areas of […]

Bryan Mutkoyuk Jr., Michael Dirks and Guy Tuzroyluk play the drums as part of a performance on Thursday by the Iñugialiŋmiut Dance Group of Tikiġaq. The dance group from Point Hope was one of many that performed at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Alaska Federation of Natives conference: Dignitaries, dances, reunions and art displays

By: - October 21, 2023

The largest Alaska Native organization gathered this week in Anchorage, filling the downtown Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center with meetings, speeches by high-ranking federal dignitaries like Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, dance performances, an arts and crafts fair and impromptu hallway reunions. The occasion was the Alaska Federation of Natives annual convention, typically the largest annual […]

Strips of sockeye salmon harvested from the Kuskokwim River are seen on July 19, 2017. Sockeye salmon, also known as red salmon, are among the species harvested for subsistence. (Photo provided by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

Alaska Native leaders call for legal overhaul to protect traditional fish harvests

By: - October 20, 2023

The crash of salmon stocks in Western Alaska’s Kuskokwim River has sparked a bitter court fight between the federal and state governments, and now Alaska Native leaders are calling for congressional action to ensure that Indigenous Alaskans have priority for harvests when stocks are scarce. The conflict has gripped this year’s Alaska Federation of Natives […]

A sign displayed on Sept. 9, 2022, informs visitors that there is no longer any walk-up testing for COVID-19 at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium in Anchorage. Demand for such testing has dropped, in part because of the availability of in-home tests. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Alaska vital statistics show declines in both deaths and births in 2022

By: - October 20, 2023

Dangers from COVID-19 may be gradually fading in Alaska, with fewer deaths caused by the infectious disease that gripped the world in an historic pandemic, according to data within the state’s newly released vital statistics report. The Alaska Vital Statistics 2022 Annual Report showed that COVID-19 was recorded as the fourth-leading cause of death in […]

Fall colors are seen on Aug. 24, 2015, along the Canning River on the western edge of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Photo by Katrina Liebich/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

Alaska development agency sues federal government over canceled oil leases

By: - October 19, 2023

Alaska’s industrial development agency on Wednesday sued the Biden administration in an attempt to revive its Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil and gas leases. The lawsuit filed by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority alleges that the Department of the Interior violated federal laws and its own regulations when it canceled refuge leases last […]

A red king crab is seen in the water at Kodiak in 2005. (Photo by David Csepp/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

As the once-lucrative Bering Sea crab harvest resumes, Alaska’s fishers face challenges

By: - October 18, 2023

In the short term, Alaska crab fishers and the communities that depend on them will get a slight reprieve from the disastrous conditions they have endured for the past two years, with harvests for iconic red king crab to open on Sunday. In the long term, the future for Bering Sea crab and the people […]

A notice posted on a bulletin board at the University of Alaska Anchorage's School of Allied Health, seen on Nov. 30, 2022, warns about rising rates of syphilis. The notice provides information about prevention and treatment. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Alaska syphilis case numbers drop a bit after years of increases, but concerning signs remain

By: - October 17, 2023

Alaska last year had a slight decrease in its number of reported syphilis cases, marking the first year without an increase since an outbreak was detected in 2018, according to a new bulletin issued by the Division of Public Health’s epidemiology section. In all, 424 cases were recorded in 2022, a decrease from the 447 […]

Cook Inlet waves roll onto the beach at Kenai on Aug. 14, 2018. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Alaska offering royalty-free lease terms to try to stimulate new Cook Inlet natural gas development

By: - October 17, 2023

To try to entice investment in new natural gas development in Southcentral Alaska’s Cook Inlet basin, state officials are trying something new: a waiver of royalties in the upcoming annual lease sale. The Alaska Division of Oil and Gas last week announced five upcoming lease sales that include the unusual terms in the Cook Inlet […]

Peter Westley of the University of Alaska Fairbanks holds two chum salmon at the Anaktuvik River on Sept. 14. Westley, an associate professor at UAF's College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, led a team that found about 100 of the spawning fish last month on the North Slope. The discovery backs up the hyphothesis that climate change is causing salmon to shift their range north. (Photo provided by Peter Westley)

Chum salmon are spawning in North Slope rivers, University of Alaska researchers find

By: - October 13, 2023

Chum salmon, a species that has faltered in the Interior Alaska river systems, are now reproducing farther north in some North Slope rivers, researchers have confirmed. A University of Alaska Fairbanks team last month found about 100 chum salmon that were spawning or had just spawned in the Anaktuvuk and Itkillik rivers. The rivers are […]

Strips of dried salmon are seen on June 25, 2009. (Photo by A.R.Nanouk/U.S. Fish and WIldlife Service)

Yukon River salmon runs remain low, but chum improvements allow for some fishing

By: - October 12, 2023

Salmon runs on the Yukon River continued to be anemic this year, federal and state agencies reported, and there are far too few fish reaching Canada to meet goals set in a treaty between that nation and the United States. The ongoing fall chum salmon run is the fifth lowest on record for the nearly […]