Wildlife

As they swim through the Kenai River, fish shed tiny bits of environmental DNA — in skin cells, feces, even mucous. Researchers are collecting this eDNA from the river to understand which species of fish are there.

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.

According to a report from the Department of Environmental Conservation, the vessel owner reported 1500 gallons of diesel fuel and 55 gallons of hydraulic oil on board at the time of sinking. 

Bears tend to build their dens at an elevation of about 2,000 to 3,000 feet, usually where the angle of the slope is around 35 to 45 degrees.

The Department of Fish and Game says “it’s hard to get them out of those rafters.”

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.

Coastal seabirds have experienced die-offs in Western Alaska the past few years. But recent results from over a decade of research suggest that offshore birds are also feeling the impact of low ice and warming ocean temperatures in the Bering Sea.

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.

Biologist Carl Koch believe Shannon Stevens might be the only person this has ever happened to.

While temperatures of 40 below zero might send most of us to our couches, Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge biologist Mark Ross grabbed his recorder and some water.