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 [...]
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 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 [...]
Riley the Wolf of Denali Passes Away Riley the wolf has died. She lived in the wild until almost the age of 11, which biologists call a remarkable feat. Wolves are lucky to live to 6. The female wolf, former leader of the once-mighty Riley Creek pack in Denali National Park, drowned [...]
What We Learned from Mt. Redoubt's Eruption 30 Years Ago By Ned Rozell On December 15, 1989, a pilot who had flown a 747 passenger jet all the way from Amsterdam was looking forward to landing in Anchorage. There, he would take a short break before continuing to Tokyo. Descending over Southcentral Alaska, he and [...]
Fish Tapeworms Found Near Fairbanks Alaska Pond By Ned Rozell A few times each week, someone carries something dead or alive through the doors of the UA Museum of the North, hoping an expert can identify it. A couple weeks ago, a woman arrived with a small jar of what appeared to be white worms. [...]
Changing Climate Forcing Ducks North to Alaska By Ned Rozell Every spring, millions of ducks touch down on Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, a spread of muskeg and dark water the size of Maryland. These days, more ruddy ducks seem to be among them. Recent sightings of this handsome, rust-colored bird — the males with [...]
Detecting Alaska's Next Earthquake in Realtime By Beth Grassi Across Alaska and a sliver of western Canada, 280 seismic stations silently do their jobs. Hidden in dark holes drilled into rock in boreal forest, northern tundra and mountaintops, the instruments wait patiently for the next tremor. The EarthScope Transportable Array of seismic monitors is now [...]
Caribou on the Run at Fortymile River By Ned Rozell Floating down the Fortymile River, we heard the roar of a rapid just ahead. At the same time, we noticed the caribou, about 50 of them, clustered on a cliffside near the water. It was too late to pull over. I aimed the canoe for [...]
Pink salmon — too much of a good thing? By Ned Rozell Of the five species of salmon that swim Alaska waters, the pink is by far the most plentiful. Some scientists think the fish is an overabundant predator that outcompetes other salmon and some seabirds. In the late 1990s, Japanese researchers noticed an intriguing [...]
