When golden eagles migrate to and from Alaska each year, they have to fly around a huge obstacle: the 16,000-foot peaks of the Wrangell Mountains. Some of the eagles choose a route that skirts the northern edge of the mountains. Others go south. A new study examined how the weather affects which way the eagles fly.
Alaska's Energy Desk
Things are heating up for Alaska pollock — and it’s putting them in the mood to spawn
Over the past three decades, pollock spawning times in the Gulf of Alaska have varied as much as three weeks. That’s potentially deadly for baby fish that are spawned into an environment that’s not ideal.
Trump administration moves to open environmentally sensitive National Petroleum Reserve land to oil drilling
The Interior department today announced it is beginning the environmental review process to re-do the management plan for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, or NPR-A, kicking off what could be Alaska’s next big environmental controversy.
New study says Chukchi polar bears are healthy despite sea ice loss — for now
“Unless the underlying problem of climate change is addressed, the sea ice is expected to continue to diminish,” said polar bear researcher Eric Regehr. “And at some point that will likely have a negative effect on the bears in this Chukchi area.”
Southcentral Alaska sees most destructive spruce beetle outbreak in over two decades
Southcentral Alaska is dealing with a spruce beetle outbreak. The voracious insect damaged nearly 600,000 acres of forest in 2018 and the damage continues to grow. Anchorage has seen a sharp uptick in spruce beetle damage, going from zero acres damaged in 2016 to over one thousand in 2018.
Shrugging off lawsuit, Trump administration forges ahead with offshore Arctic drilling proposal
If the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is going to hold an oil lease sale in the Beaufort Sea in 2019, the environmental review process needs to start now.