Kenai bark beetles primed for another devastating run By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]E[/fusion_dropcap]d Berg has spent much of his life observing the natural happenings on a large peninsula (the Kenai) that juts from a larger peninsula (Alaska). The retired ecologist who worked many years for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been around long enough [...]
Alaska alders go their own way in autumn By Ned Rozell: [fusion_dropcap]W[/fusion_dropcap]ith every autumn breath we take, Alaska brightens with yellows, reds and oranges of plants recovering what they can from tired solar panels. But one shrubby tree does not join the party. Alders remain a stubborn green. Many won't drop their leaves until long [...]
Spillways Of An Ancient Alaska Lake By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]M[/fusion_dropcap]any years ago, geologists stood on the bank of the Copper River and watched Childs Glacier thunder icebergs straight into the river. Using a little imagination, one researcher remarked how an advance of the glacier could seal off the big river. He envisioned a process that [...]
NOAA Fisheries rescue harbor seal pup near Juneau Alaska: [fusion_dropcap]J[/fusion_dropcap]uneau, AK — An orphaned harbor seal pup is in stable condition at the Alaska SeaLife Center (ASLC) in Seward, after being picked up from a Douglas Island beach earlier this week. When NOAA Fisheries marine mammal experts received a call late Monday morning from two [...]
Water Fountains in the Tundra By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]W[/fusion_dropcap]hile tightroping on tussock heads in a bog off the Chandalar River, two companions and I heard a waterfall. Strange. Looking through binoculars, we saw a knee-high fountain of clear water in the tundra. The flow was as thick as your leg. We squished over to investigate. [...]
The Northern Boreal Bird Nursery By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]T[/fusion_dropcap]wo-hundred miles straight north of my home in Fairbanks, I'm at the northern edge of a forest that carpets the continent all the way to Labrador. Here for a meteorite search with an astronomer, I have helicoptered into a place humming with life. This dark spot on [...]
Denali plants more diverse up high By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]W[/fusion_dropcap]hen Carl Roland was hiking the high country in an Alaska national park not long ago, he thought the landscape looked different than any park in the Lower 48. The alpine zone seemed to be carpeted with more plant species than the much-larger forests and wetlands [...]
Rocks from space in Alaska backcountry By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]O[/fusion_dropcap]n February 26 at 1:06 p.m., someone in northern Alaska may have seen a torch of light in the cold daytime sky. On that afternoon, satellites detected a meteoric fireball headed toward Earth. An asteroid six feet in diameter penetrated the atmosphere at 13 miles per [...]
Mosquito Season Starts In Alaska By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]S[/fusion_dropcap]luggish mosquitoes, sprung from the leaves where they overwintered. Moths and butterflies flitting the fields and south-facing slopes. Beetles skittering along in pinstripe-grooved exoskeletons. One of the 17 trillion mosquitoes,Photo by Ned Rozell How many insects are stirring on the surface of Alaska? That's a [...]
An Oasis on the Seward Peninsula By Ned Rozell [fusion_dropcap]O[/fusion_dropcap]n a recent ski trip across the Seward Peninsula, I followed a trail along the Pilgrim River broken by five friends. Their path led to a subarctic oasis. Beyond the blank white of frozen river was a small settlement nestled in balsam poplar trees 60 feet [...]
