Poor trail conditions have pushed the Kuskokwim 300 Season Opener race back another week.
Travelers need to stay off Straight Slough, which flows into the main Kuskokwim River near Bethel.
The school district plans to transport fuel from a group of 10 tanks into three new tanks expected to be placed in the Napakiak school parking lot further inland.
Storms tore more land away from Napakiak’s already heavily eroded riverbank in early August. About eight feet of bank fell into the Kuskokwim River, adding to the more than 100 feet of shoreline that has already been lost this year.
An “atmospheric river" is what it sounds like - a channel of very moist air coursing across the globe, up in the air. And it’s what’s been drenching parts of Alaska, including the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
Winds gusted up to 46 mph and about 2.4 inches of rain fell from Friday to Sunday.
Nine short-tailed shearwaters (Ardenna tenuirostris) were seen floating in the Kuskokwim river, directly in front of Bethel. The birds were acting disoriented and farther up the Kuskokwim than normal.
Subsistence families along the Kuskokwim River are cutting open fish to find white balls or white streaks deforming the meat.
Napakiak doesn’t have a boat landing anymore. Storms over the past week ate huge chunks from the Kuskokwim riverbank close to the city school and fuel
The tragedy came after several days of dire warnings about the dangers of river travel due to an unusually early warm-up. Search and rescuers crawled onto weak ice, open water all around, to help retrieve the survivors.
Two four-wheelers carrying five men leaving Bethel broke through needle ice on the upper end of Church Slough on Sunday night. Two of the men died, while three others were treated for hypothermia in Bethel.
Late freeze on the Lower Kuskokwim produced ice conditions unsafe for travel in November.
Drivers need to stick to marked trails on the Lower Kuskokwim River, according to the latest update from Bethel Search and Rescue’s Earl Samuelson. There is a spot in front of Oscarville that has only 9 inches of ice, which Samuelson says is too thin to drive a truck on.
As fishing restrictions push salmon harvests on the Kuskokwim River later into the wet part of summer, families are seeking new ways to dry their fish and keep bugs away.
Unusually colored caterpillar in area identified as Bedstraw Hawkmoth (Hyles gallii)
Smelt caught in Bethel with fungal infection previously found in the Norton Sound region.
Starting Thursday, the Department of Transportation will begin repairing Chief Eddie Hoffman Highway. The warm winter has wreaked similar havoc on highways across Alaska.
Four teams had scratched as of 7 p.m. Saturday because of the icy conditions, said Kuskokwim 300 race director Madelene Reichard. "It's the same thing for all of them," Reichard said. "The dogs aren't used to running on the ice, and people were wanting to keep their dogs healthy."
For the first time, the race will run two laps to its halfway point and back. Mushers agree it’s the safest way to run the race, but it could present challenges.
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