Metlakatla

Remnants of Typhoon Bolaven brought the rain from the Pacific. The typhoon has been bringing rain to the Southeast region for days. Ketchikan's one-day record is nearly nine inches, set on Oct. 11, 1977.

Brittany Hayward says Rosco, a seven-year-old ridgeback-mastiff mix, fought hard defending his family.

The European Green Crab are a threat to ecosystems and commercial fisheries. They uproot eelgrass beds in search of food, which serve as habitat for herring and salmon.

I have photos of four different sea cucumbers decaying, but my friend claims to have observed around 10 dead sea cucumbers.

Strong winds whipped across Ketchikan Thursday evening and Friday morning, and a strong morning gust snapped power lines and severed Ketchikan’s connection to the Swan Lake hydropower reservoir.

The Southeast Alaska Tribal Ocean Research program found that all shellfish species in Settler's Cove and Seaport Beach in Ketchikan and Starrigavan North beach in Sitka are affected by high levels of Paralytic Shellfish Toxin, posing the risk of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning for consumers.

For the fourth year in a row, weekly summer water quality tests show that most Ketchikan beaches have elevated levels of bacteria that could make people sick. That happened this year even without dozens of cruise ships sailing through the Inside Passage and discharging wastewater.

Ketchikan officials say there’s “currently no danger of dam failure” but noted that a flood advisory is in place through Sunday.

Record rainfall in parts of Southeast are just one more reason 2020 will be a year some will be happy to forget. Ketchikan recorded 47 inches of rain from June to August.

A fishing crew near Prince of Wales Island recently made an unusual catch: a Pacific green sea turtle. This not only excited the crew, but has also caught the attention of marine biologists.

Following a season of drought, the Southeast Alaska community of Metlakatla is navigating a different relationship with water, like a number of other places in the region.

Rains throughout October and November mean Southeast Alaska is finally out of “severe drought” status for the first time since September of 2018. Ketchikan, Wrangell and Juneau are still in “moderate drought.”Sitka, Hoonah and Haines remain “abnormally dry,” though not in drought.

A large group of black plant bug nymphs were observed in early June.

The drought has had damaging economic and ecological impacts.

Swans have arrived early in Southeast Alaska this year, with most lakes still frozen and no green grass anywhere. Most lakes are frozen; the swan is sticking to a small patch of water surrounded by ice.

Following an extremely dry summer, October started off equally dry. But, the second half of the month has brought enough rain that Ketchikan’s electric utility is finally switching off its diesel generators.

During Thursday’s Ketchikan City Council meeting, City Manager Karl Amylon said that Ketchikan Public Utilities started switching back and forth between hydro and diesel a few weeks ago, but starting Oct. 15th, extremely low lake levels meant switching completely to diesel.

Southeast Alaska has dropped into drought conditions off and on for the past two or more years. Spring rains and snow melt helped refill lakes and reservoirs but a dry, hot July pushed the southern Panhandle into a deeper deficit.

There are no tumbleweeds blowing through the streets of Southeast Alaska towns, but, the region has received quite a bit less precipitation than usual over the past nine months.

Northern sea otters, once hunted to the brink of extinction along Alaska's Panhandle, have made a spectacular comeback.