Gardening columnist Jeff Lowenfels explains how trees are built to survive extreme high winds.

Despite the fourth snowiest October on record, roughly half of precipitation in Anchorage has been rain this winter.

Invasive elodea decade history in the Chena slough with mitigation and persistent infestation.

An invasive species of mollusks, typically found in Southeast Alaska and established in Girdwood in 2015, have been reported in the Anchorage Bowl this year. “The European black slug is not necessarily new to Alaska,” Slowik said. “It was introduced into Cordova about the 1980s and it really stayed there for a long time.”

The fish, likely former aquarium pets, have attracted the attention of invasive-species managers.

Elodea, a fast-growing leafy plant, is now in a roadside ditch at the marsh, and a response plan is in the works.

Alex Hughes is a Fish and Game technician who volunteers with KSWCD. He said based on their studies at the Buskin river, crayfish are successfully breeding. Crayfish are originally from the Pacific Northwest and as with many invasive species, it’s anyone’s guess how they got to Kodiak.

Elodea, an aggressive invasive plant, was discovered this month in the lake used by hundreds of floatplanes, raising fears that it will be spread to multiple sites within flying reach.

In June 2010, researchers discovered Didemnum vexillum — also known as “rock vomit” — in Whiting Harbor near Sitka. This species, which can cover large areas of the seafloor, is an aggressive invader and a potential threat to shellfish farms, groundfish fisheries, fish spawning and other resources. The council is also concerned about the European green crab which can potentially travel in the ballast water of oil tankers and be released into Prince William Sound.

Anchorage anglers got good news this week when Fish and Game reported that pesticide applied to Cheney Lake last October in an effort to wipe out invasive northern pike appears to have worked.

Of all of the aquatic animals that could be collected in a gillnet on the Kenai River, crawfish are some of the least likely. Why? Because they do not naturally occur in the Kenai River or any other river in Alaska. Unfortunately, crawfish have been collected from the lower Kenai River twice in the last four years, and both times they were leftovers from someone’s dinner.

The European black slug was first introduced into Alaska in the 1980s in Cordova, Slowik said. It eventually made its way to Juneau and Ketchikan, likely hitching a ride on fishing gear, and is now prevalent across Southeast. A few years ago, people started seeing the slug in Whittier and Girdwood.