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So far Dennis has created 137 blog entries.

Pound for pound, Alaska mosquitoes pack punch

Pound for pound, Alaska mosquitoes pack punch By Ned Rozell, In mid-June, while standing deep within the northern boreal forest, it’s possible to feel a sensation similar to one felt in mid-December at the same spot. It’s a sting to exposed skin, delivered in December by bitter air and in June by [...]

Raven roosts shrouded in mystery

Raven roosts shrouded in mystery March 30, 2023 / Ned Rozell Last week, while getting ready to climb into a bunk, I heard the yell of a raven outside. And then another, and a few more. I pulled on my boots. Outside, a steady stream of black bodies glided overhead, many of [...]

Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes

Journey into the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes By Ned Rozell One hundred years after the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes is still a moonscape of ash and volcanic rock, without a tree or shrub in sight. The valley, located on the Alaska Peninsula where the Aleutians [...]

The inner workings of the world’s largest sockeye salmon hatchery

The inner workings of the world’s largest sockeye salmon hatchery EAST FORK OF THE GULKANA RIVER — In late summer, a few months before this mossy valley will feel the sting of 40-below air, bright red salmon dart through a crystal-clear pool amid fragrant green vegetation. The Gulkana Hatchery has a Garden [...]

Salmon are the key to life in Alaska

By Ned Rozell During a good year in Bristol Bay, a surge of more than 100 million pounds of sockeye salmon fights its way upstream, spawns, and dies. In Bristol Bay and elsewhere in Alaska, this incredible pulse of salmon carcasses enriches streams and rivers and makes young salmon hardier. That’s the [...]

Alaska Caribou Cams Give Insight Into Secret Lives

Alaska Caribou Cams Give Insight Into Secret Lives Caribou wearing cameras around their necks have filmed a secret world of mushroom nibbling, desperate head-shaking during bug episodes, and nuzzling of wet newborns seconds after they fall to the tundra. The caribou cams gave biologists who teamed up from several agencies a new [...]

The Secret Life of an Alaska Whitefish

The Secret Life of an Alaska Whitefish In Alaska’s infinite waters swims a handsome, silvery fish. Until recently, we knew little about the Bering cisco, which exists only around Alaska and Siberia. Then a scientist combined his unique life experiences with modern tools to help color in the fish’s life history. Randy [...]

Black-capped Chickadees Survive By Shivering in Alaska

Black-capped Chickadees Survive By Shivering in Alaska December 24, 2020 / Ned Rozell During the darkest days of Alaska’s winter, black-capped chickadees stuff themselves with enough seeds and frozen insects to survive 18-hour nights. Where the chickadees spend those long nights was a mystery until a biologist tracked them. Susan Sharbaugh spent [...]

Scientists solve mystery of mass coho salmon deaths

Scientists solve mystery of mass coho salmon deaths. The killer? A chemical from car tires When officials in Seattle spent millions of dollars restoring the creeks along Puget Sound — tending to the vegetation, making the stream beds less muddy, building better homes for fish — they were thrilled to see [...]

Alaska bears alert scientists to secret salmon streams

Alaska bears alert scientists to secret salmon streams Right now, on the brushy tundra of northern Alaska, grizzly bears are gathering at quiet streams and rivers, attracted by the largest calorie reward they can find — spawning salmon. Until recently, scientists did not know salmon swam up some of these waterways, nor [...]