Photos of this winter’s hunt and a community’s subsistence way of life.
Alaska
Posted inArticles
A place where bears own the right of way
A few months ago, I found myself in a remote area of Alaska, watching pink and chum salmon splash through the shallows of an unnamed stream. The sounds of the salmon, the breeze coming off the ocean, the breakers on the beach, and the continuous calls of gulls made for an Alaskan symphony. A bush […]
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2015 wildfires burned a record-breaking 10.1 million acres
Fires in Alaska help to smash 2006 record.
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Five new studies that change our understanding of permafrost
Why they matter, even if you don’t live in the Arctic.
Posted inDecember 7, 2015: Good Neighbors
Playing the Alaska card
A native of the state explains the short-lived social power the state gives.
Posted inArticles
Will GMO salmon harm Alaska’s fishing industry?
Fishermen fear AquaBounty’s creation will collapse salmon prices, but history tells a more complex tale.
Posted inNovember 23, 2015: Water Hustle
Latest: National Park Service intervenes in Alaska predator hunting
BACKSTORYIn Alaska, federal and state officials have long clashed over the management of wolves and bears in national parks and preserves. State law requires sustaining abundant caribou and moose populations for food security, a goal that often entails killing off predators, while the federal 1916 Organic Act mandates keeping healthy populations of all wildlife species. […]
Posted inNovember 9, 2015: The Campaign Against Coal
A tour of vibrant skies of the north
A review of ‘The Northern Lights: Celestial Performances of the Aurora Borealis,’ by Daryl Pederson and Calvin Hall.
Posted inArticles
Alaska’s wolves and bears get new protections
New regulations help wildlife on federal lands. But they’re still no match for state predator control.
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Legal challenges over Exxon Valdez sputter to an end
Lingering oil remains and ecological monitoring will continue. But Alaskans are moving on.
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Is this climate change-battered conifer migrating northward?
Scientists in Alaska are mapping what may be the tip of yellow cedar’s expanding range.
Posted inOctober 12, 2015: The Rise of Lisa Murkowski
The rise of Lisa Murkowski
Alaska’s pragmatic senator wants to reshape America’s energy policy.
Posted inOctober 12, 2015: The Rise of Lisa Murkowski
Beyond the energy omnibus: a look at Sen. Murkowski’s hard-to-pass bills
The head of the Senate Energy Committee has crafted a comprehensive energy plan. But she left her most ambitious initiatives to be battled over separately.
Posted inOctober 12, 2015: The Rise of Lisa Murkowski
The waning power of Alaskan lawmakers
The energy-backed powerhouses once wielded outsized influence in Congress. That’s changing.
Posted inArticles
Shell’s giving up drilling in the Arctic Ocean. Now what?
The (controversial) case for drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Posted inArticles
A crude oil export ban primer
All you need to know, and then some, about selling U.S. oil overseas.
Posted inSeptember 14, 2015: Close Ties in Big Landscapes
Notes from the road to bestsellerdom
An author’s promotional book tour includes incontinent owls and posh but uncomfortable luncheons.
Posted inSeptember 14, 2015: Close Ties in Big Landscapes
Overlooked author Lucia Berlin gets brought back to the light
‘A Manual for Cleaning Women,’ her posthumous book of stories, reveals a formidable talent.
Posted inAugust 31, 2015: Unlocking the Methane Mystery
Hunting the Arctic’s disappearing treasures
Ancient artifacts in the thawing North vanish before archaeologists can document them.