This post is an update on the river erosion situation in Noatak, where a new channel is being cut by the Noatak River.
Elodea was first observed in Harding Lake in 2020 growing in isolated patches and has since been assessed and managed by the Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation District and its partners.
Kotzebue experienced one blizzard after another in March, and now with so much piled up and drifted snow, the community is struggling to dig out.
"I was born and raised in Kotzebue and have been through many storms. This was one of the worst."
It has been some years since we have had a long storm. March 6 marks the 3rd day and there have been no jets or small planes flying.
Hikers should be cautious when hiking the Castner Glacier trail since chunks of ice may fall and the streams and rivers are very fast.
A site visit to Newtok on September 30, shows severe erosion from impacts of storm (typhoon Merbok). The images show both severe permafrost melt and river erosion.
On September 17, 2023 Typhoon Merbok hit the coast of Tununak, Alaska. Here are some photos taken by Roseanne Panruk, after the storm caused by Typhoon Merbok
A extremely wet month, extreme rain, and heavy visitor traffic have resulted in washout on some areas of the Reed Lakes Trail.
Many boats had to be secured & moved this morning. Hoping winds & rain slow down, but in the forecast.
"Since about May 25, crews have been seeing multiple species showing what we believe are signs of highly pathogenic avian influenza. The signs we are seeing widespread is a headshaking that we equate to "getting the cobwebs out", like a person may do when they first wake up. This behavior occurs regularly every couple minutes. This behavior has been observed in: black brant, cackling geese, bar-tailed godwits, dunlin, lapland longspurs, spectacled eiders, emperor geese, greater white-fronted geese, sabines gulls, glaucous gulls, and red-necked phalaropes."
There are at least 10 or more what appears to be otherwise healthy trees that have just fallen over.
Noatak has lost 19' of river bank since May 19th. Now the road to the community gravel source is failing.
This fox "was not scared of me" and it continued to repeat this motion as the person (Venessa Koonooka), watched for ~10 minutes.
This video shot on Thursday May 19th, shows the erratic circling behavior of a Canada goose. Although the cause is unknown, this type of behavior is according to USGS, "highly suggestive" of an infection with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).
"We used to have snowmobile races on the ocean ice in front of Elim during the first weekend in April but we cannot have any races this year."
A number of sick and / or dying songbirds were reported in McCarthy including pine grosbeaks and red polls. A sickly golden eagle was reported ten days earlier. "It flew up to a tree top but appeared weak and a bit awkward."
One morning in February, 2022 when I went for a walk, I noticed footprints of a four legged animal going in the direction of my path. The footprints looked different from those of dogs and given that I recently read about coyote sightings in the area, I quickly headed home.
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