Background Articles

Vancouver Island is known for its predatory wildlife, such as black bears, coastal wolves and cougars. Many towns and villages sit in areas with high populations of predatory wildlife, making interactions with humans often inevitable, unless effective coexistence management is in place.

Six weeks after a series of snowstorms dumped more than three feet of snow, bus stops along a handful of state-maintained roads remain buried, forcing transit users to navigate deep, slippery drifts and towers of snow.

Backyard Buoys project will give residents real time data such as wave height to whaling crews and communities throughout the North Slope. A system of buoys will be displaced across the slope this summer.

For isolated communities at the top of the world, keeping the planet’s largest land predators -- polar bears -- out of town is key to coexistence.

A recent Interior Department grant aims to help residents in Newtok move to higher ground, but it’s just a sliver of what’s needed.

Climatologist Rick Thoman says climate change is driving this more extreme winter snowfall. As the oceans warm, more moisture evaporates into the air. Then, when the atmospheric conditions are right for a storm, that increased evaporation results in “heavier and heavier precipitation,” Thoman said. That’s in part why Anchorage saw 41.2 inches of snow last month, capping off its wettest year on record, according to the National Weather Service.

Garbage and wood were removed by the municipal services of the village of Rytkuchi of the Pevek urban district from the coastline and tundra near the settlement. This was the final stage of a large-scale clean-up, which began in the summer after a strong storm.

Alpine permafrost is thawing, according to an article by the National Science Foundation. This is bad news because thawing releases carbon dioxide and methane and because it can cause destabilization of the land, as a couple of northbound drivers found out last week when their car was buried in the slide at 23 miles, as reported in a Chilkat Valley News article.

The powerful remnants of Typhoon Merbok pounded Alaska’s western coast on Sept. 17, 2022, pushing homes off their foundations and tearing apart protective berms as water flooded communities. Storms aren’t unusual here, but Merbok built up over unusually warm water. Its waves reached 50 feet over the Bering Sea, and its storm surge sent water levels into communities at near record highs along with near hurricane-force winds.

A six-inch butter clam harvested on August 28 three miles north of Savoonga tested positive for saxitoxins, or paralytic shellfish poison, Norton Sound Health Corporation Environmental Coordinator Emma Pate said.The clam itself showed high levels of saxitoxin present: it had 450 micrograms of toxin per 100 gram of body tissue. The Food and Drug Administration’s safety limit is at 80 micrograms/100 g. Pate, via the SEATOR lab, on Sept. 23 issued a paralytic shellfish toxin advisory to Savoonga and Gambell.

There is still thick sea-ice on the Northern Sea Route as the Russian oil carriers sail along the remote Arctic coasts.

Birds that USFWS sent in from the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) for testing for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) have tested positive. Sabines gulls, glaucous gulls, and black brant all tested positive for HPAI.

The City of St. Mary’s and its two tribes, the Yupiit of Andreakfsiy and the Algaaciq Tribe, held a community meeting on June 9. There, resident Geraldine Beans said that community leaders chose an optional evacuation for elders and people who are considered vulnerable. Other residents will have to wait. The fire is the largest in the history of the Lower Yukon valley. It’s been burning for a week and a half, since May 31, and has grown to about 50,000 acres.

By Megan Gannon

It is egg hunting season in many rural Alaska communities, and harvesters want to know if they should be concerned about eating eggs from wild birds. According to guidance from the State of Alaska and USFWS, the risk from avian flu for people is very low.

The advice to hunters, don’t shoot or harvest game that appears sick. If you found an animal injured or dead, just leave it there. When processing, wear rubber gloves and washing the area the game was cleaned on. You should also cook game to an internal temperature of at least 165°F.

While the risk to human health is low, Gerlach has said that avian influenza could pose a threat to not only the state’s domestic birds but also wild birds, including geese, shore birds, vultures and eagles. There’s no treatment for birds that are infected, and the mortality rate for poultry and raptors like hawks, eagles or owls is especially high. Possible signs of infection includes the “sudden death of multiple birds in the flock, nasal discharge, sneezing, and coughing, or respiratory distress."

"Our hunters have a vast knowledge on a healthy bird. They know what a healthy bird looks like. If a goose has the symptoms of avian flu … people shouldn't eat it," said George Diamond of Cree Public Health.

ConocoPhillips' massive Willow project would emit 284 million metric tons of carbon dioxide over its 30-year lifetime.