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As Arctic gets warmer and wetter, Alaska is slammed by extreme events, report says
Disruptions in Alaska over the last year, some of them threatening health and safety of people, are part of the ongoing pattern of rapid warming and transformation of the Arctic, said an annual report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Last December’s record-wet weather in Fairbanks, marked by crushing snow loads and winter […]
Task force’s final report calls for new rules and more research to address seafood bycatch
New controls on how fish are commercially harvested and more research to understand the effects of climate change in the ocean and in freshwater spawning grounds are some of the key recommendations of an Alaska task force examining ways to address bycatch, the term for capture of untargeted species in commercial seafood harvests. Gov. Mike […]
Alaska tribes join with Lower 48 allies to seek protections from impacts of Canadian mines
Alaska Native tribes seeking better protection from the environmental impacts of Canadian mines have enlisted some allies in their flight: Lower 48 tribal governments with concerns of their own about transboundary mining impacts. A delegation of tribal representatives from Alaska, Washington state, Montana and Idaho traveled to Washington, D.C., this week for meetings on Wednesday […]
Dunleavy, after cruising to reelection, is sworn in for historic second term
Mike Dunleavy kicked off his second term as Alaska’s governor on Monday with a swearing-in ceremony and a pledge to help Alaska take advantage of its global position in a time of rapid change. “Alaska’s in an interesting position on the globe. And what’s happening internationally is going to put Alaska even more so on […]
Villages chosen for relocation grants singled out for climate-change threats — and progress
Grants awarded to tribal governments in Alaska and the Lower 48 are only a start in what is expected to be a long process of funding relocation of Indigenous communities that are threatened by climate change, a top Interior Department official said Thursday. Interior on Wednesday announced that tribal governments in the Yup’ik villages of […]
Syphilis cases in Alaska continue to climb, compounding the state’s STD challenges
Syphilis cases in Alaska increased dramatically last year, continuing a pattern in a state that in recent years has had some of the nation’s highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases, health officials said. Alaska recorded 447 cases of syphilis last year, a 24% increase over the 2020 total, according to a bulletin released Wednesday by […]
The bottom of the Bering and Chukchi seas could become too warm for some important species
There is danger lurking on the floor of the Bering and Chukchi seas for mussels, snails, clams, worms and other cold-water invertebrates, according to a new study led by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists. If climate change continues its current trajectory, the Bering and Chukchi seafloor areas will be too warm for those creatures […]
In new bipartisan Alaska Senate majority of 17, members vow compromise and consensus
Seventeen of Alaska’s 20 state senators and senator-elects have banded together to form a bipartisan majority coalition that members promise will be moderate and consensus-focused. Gary Stevens, a Kodiak Republican and veteran lawmaker known as a moderate, will be president, returning to the role he held from 2009 to 2012. “It’s a pleasure for me […]
Statistics show rise in colorectal cancer among younger Alaska adults, especially younger Natives
Colorectal cancer, which hits Alaska Natives harder than any other demographic group in the world, is often thought of as a disease of older people. But newly released statistics in Alaska show increasing rates of early onset colorectal cancer affecting younger adults – and especially younger Alaska Natives adults – suggests that such thinking might […]
State, North Slope Borough file lawsuit seeking to remove ringed seals’ threatened listing
The State of Alaska and the North Slope Borough have sued the federal government to remove ringed seals’ Endangered Species Act protections. The lawsuit was filed Nov. 16 in U.S. District Court in Anchorage. It follows an unsuccessful attempt in 2020 to convince the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service to delist […]
Study tracks Arctic animals’ exposure to disease better known in Interior Alaska: tularemia
A wide variety of Arctic animals including polar bears are being exposed to a tick-borne pathogen normally associated with rabbits and hares, a newly published study said. The findings are intended to help scientists track what is expected to be a northward spread of the disease into the warming Arctic. The study, led by scientists […]
Alaska, Washington senators team up to seek disaster declaration for closed crab harvests
Alaska’s two Republican U.S. senators joined with Washington state’s two Democratic U.S. senators on Thursday to request an immediate disaster declaration to help fishers and fishing-dependent businesses and communities cope with an unprecedented shutdown of Bering Sea crab fishing. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell of […]