The Atchuelinguk Fire, an 800-acre tundra blaze near Marshall, Alaska, extinguished naturally. Ipsen said that the fire occurred in an area where blazes are allowed to play out when not threatening known sites of value or people. The cause of the fire has not been determined.

Tribal member from St. Mary's, Alaska noticed this on her when she went back inside her home. Turns out it is an elm sawfly, Cimbex americana.

Two brothers, one dead and one experiencing hypothermia, were found about two miles from Pilot Station after their snowmachine became stuck in heavy snow during a storm.

Black insect never seen by a Yupiit of Andreafski Tribal member at his home in St. Mary's.

Nobody I have asked has seen any plant like this. I touched it soon after the picture and it turned into a maroon colored powder.

This eye catching insect is the adult stonefly.

“It’s been hot, it’s been dry, and it’s been windy. And those winds gusts of 20 miles per hour, it’s kind of funneled through the Andreafsky River drainage,” said Beth Ipsen. Federal entities sent in more firefighters this week, and some residents are thinking about preparing their go-bags.

Two villages along the Lower Yukon River have begun evacuating their most vulnerable residents from a tundra fire.The fire late Thursday was burning less than eight miles from St Mary’s and nearby Pitkas Point, and wind continues spreading the flames closer to the villages with a combined population of over 700 people. Yute Commuter Service is sending all its planes to St. Mary’s to evacuate residents, and Grant Aviation is prepared to assist.

The ride downriver had been good. But by evening on the way back, it started to get bumpy.“There was lots of dark spots, lots of water,” said Nikiefer. Then suddenly, the ice turned needley. The snowmachine stopped, and then started to sink. They jumped off and started to swim.

“The ice was so thick flowing down the river. It was forming so fast. It was freezing so fast. Just amazing. I’d never seen anything like that," one of the hunters, Rex Nick, said.

Tribal member of St. Mary's finds the larva of a predaceous diving beetle.

The Alaska Division of Forestry said the wildfire that is burning land near the village of Pilot Point in Southwest Alaska has grown to about 500 acres, but the village is safe from any immediate danger.

Slimy sculpins (Cottus cognatus) are small, nocturnal, bottom-dwelling fish that lack a swim bladder to help them stay bouyant in the water. Their size and habitat allow them to easily avoid fishing gear designed for salmon.

Permafrost is becoming exposed in Western Alaska, in areas where the landscape transitions to tundra.

Rusty tussock caterpillars can cause skin irritation for people when handled individually, and are responsible to large defoliation events when populations are high.

Seeing pollen in rainwater is unusual.

An unidentified fungus is growing along the eroding coastal bank.

Grasshoppers aren't common around Saint Mary's, but may become abundant during years with warm temperatures and ample vegetation for food.

During the summer of 2019, warm water temperatures lowered the amount of dissolved oxygen in rivers and caused salmon across the state, including Mountain Village, to die before they were able to spawn.

Salmon are dying along the Andreafsky River and Lower Yukon River before spawning out. Water surface temperatures have been unusually warm, at one point reaching 70 degrees Fahrenheit.