“Near-deaths and freezing, running out of gas are some of the issues surrounding being able to go between communities,” said Gordon Brower, director of the North Slope Borough’s Planning and Community Services Department.
Arctic
How Alaska school districts planned to spend that $20 million
Gov. Michael Dunleavy proposed doing away with $20 million in education funding approved by the Legislature in 2018. Superintendents and lawmakers say school districts were counting on that money, and many have already started spending it.
U.S. Air Force ‘barren lands’ survival course teaches how to stay alive in Arctic wilderness
Survival course trainees are exposed to subzero temperatures and winds that gust up to 30-plus miles an hour. “They don’t go back inside after they come out here and begin the training,” said instructor Sgt. Garrett Wright.
Alaska Native issues feature prominently at hearing on Arctic Refuge oil leasing
Throughout the hearing, an organized group of opponents from communities across the state provided much of the public testimony against development in the refuge, holding up bandannas and signs that said: “Defend the Sacred: Protect the Arctic.”
With spring whaling around the corner, sinew thread makers are hard at work
“Everything just falls into place,” says Nancy Leavitt of the hard work involved in sinew thread making. “The problems, the stress, the thoughts you have. Most of them just disappear.”
So far, seals are adapting to shrinking sea ice
Ice seals use sea ice to raise their young, and sea ice is in rapid decline. Logically, that should spell doom for seals in the Arctic. But one researcher says the animals have adapted well so far.
Calls for ‘vigilance’ on Russian military buildup in Arctic
Moscow has been building its military presence in the Arctic, and one Russia scholar says she’s grown increasingly concerned. While Russia’s Arctic ambitions worry regional experts, so do the lack of ambitions on the part of the United States.
‘Life is going to spring back to us’: The sun returns to Utqiaġvik
“Life is going to spring back to us,” said Robin Mongoyak. “Spring is coming, summer is around the corner. Birds when they come in big flocks, it’s like thousands of people coming to greet us.”
‘Uber for icebreakers’ idea gains traction in Congress
A Senate proposal has $750 million for a third Coast Guard icebreaker, but that money is caught in a fight over President Trump’s wall at the southern border. Still, there’s more than one way to break ice.
Critics say shutdown will doom Arctic projects in court
In Alaska, the Trump administration continued work on some oil development projects, despite the partial government shutdown. Now some say that could invalidate the results.