Arctic

Andrysiak also said the Army wants to revive relationships with Alaska Native communities to teach soldiers Indigenous survival skills.

The federal government is extending the public comment period for proposed critical habitat for ringed and bearded seals.

The Native Village of Kaktovik is speaking out against the Biden administration, claiming their tribe wasn’t consulted about an agreement President Biden made with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau regarding protections of the porcupine caribou herd in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The U.S. Interior Department said there would be no searching for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge this winter because Kaktovik Iñupiat Corp. failed to meet a key deadline. In a strongly-worded statement Thursday, KIC said the Interior provided a “blatant mischaracterization” of what happened.

The missed deadline effectively kills the corporation’s proposal to use seismic exploration to search for oil in part of the Arctic refuge’s coastal plain this winter.

After being delayed for almost a decade, the federal agency proposed what’s called critical habitat designation last month in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort Seas.

A related study of harbor seals in the Aleutians found a similar decline over a three-year period, with an average decrease of about 10% of their weight.

One of the major new features of the latest Joint Contingency Plan is the addition of what’s called an international coordination officer.

The National Science Foundation’s Navigating the New Arctic initiative looks at the effects of a warming climate on Arctic communities. But some in the field believe NSF isn’t doing enough to involve Indigenous people who live there.

Biden’s order shouldn’t have an immediate impact on oil operations in Alaska because doesn’t it prohibit work on existing oil and gas leases.