Background Articles

Ida Wessman, 28, bought her family's herd of reindeer after her father passed away five years ago. "It's been going pretty well. With this industry you've got high points and low points," Wessman said, alluding to severe 2019-2020 weather that killed 15,000 of the animals.

Fall moose hunts are beginning across Alaska. In western parts of the state, biologists hope that hunting pressure will help protect the health of booming populations. They also want to know why there are so many moose in the first place. It may have a lot to do with shrubs — particularly scrubby willows shooting up at the edges of open tundra. Moose feast on their leaves during the spring and summer. These short woody plants are spreading west, aided by climate change, and moose populations are expanding along with them.

Residents and Fish and Game present ideas and opinions around Northwest Caribou population and hunting regulations and restrictions. .

The chief of the U.N. nuclear agency will visit Japan next week to meet with officials and see final preparations for the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean.

Disagreements persist over the extent of the restoration plan for the Eklutna River in Alaska, with utilities arguing that a replacement dam would be costly and increase electric rates, while proponents of the plan believe it would benefit the public interest by boosting local fishing and tourism and improving the ecosystem.

When Jody Potts-Joseph was growing up, her family mushed sled dogs during the harsh Alaskan winters to hunt and trap, feeding them salmon caught from the Yukon River by the thousands. But after rebuilding her sled dog team as an adult, Potts-Joseph, a member of the Han Gwich'in tribe, had to turn to store-bought dog food. The river that was once renowned for its salmon doesn't have enough to offer anymore.

Back at his Spokane home, McCrea looked around. No bugs on the lights there either. No frogs in the pond. Only one bumblebee was buzzing against a porch light – and at an odd hour, around 10 p.m. that night.

A proposal to relocate Sitka black-tailed deer into areas crisscrossed with roads, farms and established wildlife populations may ultimately cause more problems than it’s worth, says an internal report from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Two regional tribal organizations, the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska and the Tanana Chiefs Conference, have each cited different reasons for parting company with AFN.

The small Swedish town of Fagersta, Västmanland County, has been at the epicentre of the recent outbreak of African swine fever.All activities in an area of forest around 1000 square kilometers in the counties of Västmanland and Dalarna have been off limits since Friday following the discovery of dead wild boar.

According to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), the presence of red tide on the upper coast was first confirmed at a red tide monitoring station near Freeport about 3 weeks ago. 

Researchers are predicting low fish runs in the Norton Sound and Northern Bering Sea region again next year, according to research biologist Jim Murphy.

Lake Superior is warming faster than any of the Great Lakes, with impacts on ice fishing, wildlife and Indigenous ways of life

Coxiella burnetii, a zoonotic bacterium, has recently been identified in several marine mammal species on the Pacific Coast of North America, but little is known about the epidemiology, transmission, and pathogenesis in these species.

The Northern Bering Sea showed signs of ecological recovery in 2023, with improved conditions for zooplankton and fish despite ongoing challenges from climate change and variable sea ice patterns.

There are signs that climate change is depressing caribou herds across the north, and looming development could be an obstacle to recovery.