location: Alaska

location: Alaska

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Plastic pollution talks end & Arctic peoples return home to a ‘sink’ of plastic
- In the wake of the plastics treaty talks in Ottawa, a new report highlights the severe impacts of plastics and petrochemicals on Arctic Indigenous communities.
- Indigenous delegates were left with bittersweet feelings that negotiations did not lead to commitments to cut plastic production, while oil companies and producing countries say more recycling is the answer.
- The Arctic is a hemispheric sink collecting plastic pollution from all corners of the world and is melting four times faster than the rest of the world.
- Indigenous communities in Alaska are among those who bear the brunt of climate change and plastic pollution, with studies finding toxic chemicals in peoples’ blood, breast milk and placentas, and melting ice impacting hunting and food security.

The new Arctic: Amid record heat, ecosystems morph and wildlife struggle
- Every species of animal and plant that lives or breeds in the Arctic is experiencing dramatic change. As the polar region warms, species endure extreme weather, shrinking and altered habitat, decreased food availability, and competition from invading southern species.
- A wide array of Arctic organisms that rely on sea ice to feed or breed during some or all of their life cycles are threatened by melt: Over the past 40 years, the Arctic Ocean has lost about 75% of its sea ice volume, as measured at the end of the summer melt season. This translates into a loss of sea ice extent and thickness by half on average.
- Researchers note that the rate of change is accelerating at sea and on land. While species can adapt over time, Arctic ecosystem alterations are too rapid for many animals to adapt, making it difficult to guess which species will prevail, which will perish, and where.
- The only thing that could limit future extinctions, researchers say, is to quickly stop burning fossil fuels, the main driver of climate change.

Residents of southeast Alaskan town debate mine that’s bound to change region
- After years of debate, a proposed mine in southeast Alaska near the Chilkat River has a permit to dig an exploratory tunnel and release wastewater.
- The mine has become a divisive topic in the town of Haines, where the Chilkat River sustains the region’s thriving fishing industry.
- Some residents are concerned about how the project could impact salmon in the river and their fishing jobs.
- Others believe the mining companies running the project will be responsible when it comes to protecting the river, while providing jobs in mining.

Did climate change really kill billions of snow crabs in Alaska?
- In October 2022, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that the lucrative snow crab fishery in the Bering Sea would close for the first time, following a population decline of 80% between 2018 and 2022.
- While fisheries managers and biologists say climate change is to blame for the species’ retreat, some fishers and crab experts suggest that trawling bycatch and other fishing activity may have played a role in the snow crab’s decline.
- The fishery’s closure has amplified a chorus of concerns about Alaska’s trawling industry and the knowledge gaps around its potential impact on fisheries.

‘Monument trees’ underpin Alaska Native cultural resilience: they must be protected (commentary)
- Access to ancient cedar trees for cultural purposes is key to Southeast Alaska Native peoples, both for their heritage and community resilience.
- Carving and weaving traditions require straight-grained, slow-growth red and yellow cedar trees 450 years and older with few branches or defects. These rare forest giants are referred to as ‘monument trees,’ and many are contained in the Tongass National Forest.
- Despite its significance, the Tongass continues to be threatened by forest management pressures, climate change, and political shifts: more than 1 million acres of forest have been clearcut since it was declared a national forest.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

End old-growth logging in carbon-rich ‘crown jewel’ of U.S. forests: Study
- A recent study of the Tongass National Forest, the largest in the United States, found that it contains 20% of the carbon held in the entire national forest system.
- In addition to keeping the equivalent of about a year and a half of the U.S.’s greenhouse gas emissions out of the atmosphere, the forest is also home to an array of wildlife, including bald eagles, brown bears and six species of salmon and trout.
- Scientists and conservationists argue that the forest’s old-growth trees that are hundreds of years old should be protected from logging.
- They are also hoping that efforts by the administration of President Joe Biden are successful in banning the construction of new roads in the Tongass.

Podcast: Kelp, condors and Indigenous conservation
- On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast, we take a deep dive into two ambitious Indigenous-led conservation initiatives on the U.S. West Coast.
- We speak with Dune Lankard, founder and president of The Native Conservancy, who tells us about kelp farming pilot projects in Alaska’s Prince William Sound and how the projects are intended to create a regenerative kelp economy based on conservation, restoration, and mitigation.
- We also speak with Tiana Williams-Claussen, director of the Yurok Tribe’s Wildlife Department, who tells us about efforts to bring condors back to her tribe’s territory in Northern California, which is set to culminate in the first four birds being released into the wild this April.

Alaskan Indigenous leaders fear impacts on salmon streams by mining project
- Mining company Donlin Gold is seeking to develop one of the world’s largest open-pit gold mines near Alaska’s Kuskokwim River, a spawning ground for several species of salmon, which make up 50 percent of local communities’ diet and subsistence lifestyle.
- According to Donlin Gold, Native corporations have already approved of the mine and the best available technology will be utilized to meet or exceed all air and water quality standards while providing employment opportunities.
- Tribal leaders argue Native corporations agreed without consulting tribal governments, who are shareholders, and fear mercury contamination and the disruption of their access to hunting and fishing grounds, as underlined in the project’s Environmental Impact Statement.
- Tribal councils have brought the matter to the Alaska Superior court and are appealing two certifications necessary for construction due to exceeded levels of mercury and impacts to salmon streams.

By cultivating seaweed, Indigenous communities restore connection to the ocean
- In many places, Indigenous communities are working to restore seaweed species that have been traditional food sources or supported traditional diets.
- From kelp farms in Alaska to seaweed-focused community education in Hawai‘i, the projects take many forms.
- These Indigenous groups are reemphasizing the ability of marine algae and plants to support food sovereignty, climate resilience, and connections to tradition.

Keep polar bears and their extensive range safe from oil drilling (Commentary)
- In September 2021, a group of conservation groups sued the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to challenge a regulation they allege would allow oil and gas operators to harass, harm and potentially kill polar bears on land and sea in Arctic Alaska.
- In this commentary Steve Blackledge and Dyani Chapman of Environment America argue the battle to save the polar bear can’t be limited to the boundaries of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
- “We hope the courts will examine the facts on the ground and force the government back to the drawing board, leading to a regulation that’s far less threatening and much more protective of the polar bear.”
- The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Arctic biodiversity at risk as world overshoots climate planetary boundary
- The Arctic Ocean biome is changing rapidly, warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world. In turn, multiyear sea ice is thinning and shrinking, upsetting the system’s natural equilibrium.
- Thinner sea ice has led to massive under-ice phytoplankton blooms, drawing southern species poleward; fish species from lower latitudes are moving into the peripheral seas of the Arctic Ocean, displacing and outcompeting native Arctic species.
- Predators at the top of the food chain, such as polar bears, are suffering the consequences of disappearing ice, forced onto land for longer periods of time where they cannot productively hunt.
- The Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement has been signed by 10 parties to prevent unregulated commercial fishing in the basin until the region and climate change impacts are better understood by scientists. International cooperation will be critical to protect what biodiversity remains.

Life and new limbs: Creative thinking, 3D printers save injured wildlife
- Prosthetics for injured animals are becoming increasingly possible and accessible thanks to 3D printing. Historically, artificial devices for wildlife have been expensive and very time-consuming to produce. 3D printing is changing that calculus by making it easier to design and build better-fitting prosthetics.
- A team of dedicated caregivers with vision, creativity and persistence is often the common thread that is key to helping injured animals.
- While 3D printing of animal prosthetics allows for multiple iterations that helps improve the device so that the animal can function more normally, size and materials can limit their use.
- Today, the use of 3D printers to aid animals is expanding beyond prosthetics, with veterinary anesthesia masks for small primates and other experimental uses being tried.

“Our identity is non negotiable” says Gwich’in leader Bernadette Demientieff
- The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is a 19 million acre reserve in the northeastern corner of Alaska that’s renowned for its beauty and wildlife. ANWR also holds great cultural significance to the Native peoples of the region, including the Gwich’in Nation, who for generations have depended on the migratory caribou herd that births and calves its young in the coastal plain of the refuge.
- Bernadette Demientieff is of the Gwichyaa Zhee Gwich’in, a Gwich’in tribe that lives in and around Fort Yukon, a town directly south of ANWR. The Gwich’in are known as “the caribou people” for the significance caribou play in their history, culture, and traditions.
- During a February 2021 interview with Mongabay, Demientieff spoke about the threat oil drilling and climate change pose to Gwich’in way of life.
- “The Gwich’in and the porcupine caribou herd have had a spiritual and cultural connection since time immemorial,” Demientieff said. “Our identity is non negotiable, we will never sell our culture and our traditional lifestyle for any amount of money.”

Can whales and dolphins catch COVID-19 from wastewater? It’s murky
- A new study identifies 15 marine mammal species, including whales, dolphins, seals and sea otters, that could be susceptible to the SARS-CoV-2 virus through contact with wastewater.
- According to the researchers, vulnerable populations of marine animals that congregate near wastewater discharge sites face elevated risks.
- To minimize these risks, the researchers suggest closely monitoring vulnerable populations for possible infection and vaccinating if necessary, and also restricting access to at-risk captive marine mammals.
- However, other experts say it is implausible for marine animals to get sick through contact with wastewater since virus transmission through water is unlikely.

Ice breakers in the Arctic: Let’s talk Inuit safety (commentary)
- A little-considered impact of warming temperatures in the Arctic is the increased activity of ice breakers.
- Martin Robards, Regional Director for the Arctic Beringia Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society, and Beverly Maksagak, Manager of the Ekaluktutiak Hunters and Trappers Organization, write that ice breakers potentially pose a threat to traditional Inuit ways of life.
- Robards and Maksagak write about the Proactive Vessel Management (PVM) initiative, which last year brought together communities, industry, and vessel operators find solutions to issues of concern on Arctic waterways.
- This post is a commentary: the views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

New study quantifies impact of hunting on migratory shorebird populations
- Hunting might be a major threat for thousands of migratory shorebirds in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF), one of the major corridors for migratory birds in the world.
- A new study shows that hunting has contributed to the demise of at least a third of migratory shorebirds in the flyway since the 1970s.
- The flyway, which spans 22 countries from the Arctic to Australia, is the most threatened flyway among the nine migratory bird corridors in the world, with habitat loss and climate change the main drivers of the plummeting population.
- Around 50 million waterbirds pass through the flyway on an annual basis, but recent data shows a 61% decline in migrating waterbird species.

Baby humpback whales bulk up in Hawaii ahead of migration [VIDEO]
- New video reveals baby humpback whales nursing in Hawaii, a sight rarely seen by humans.
- A team of researchers used non-invasive suction cups to outfit seven baby humpback whales with special tags for recording data on nursing as well as other whale behaviors.
- During their time in Hawaii, the whale calves must drink enough milk to fatten up for a one to two-month migration back to Alaska.
- The researchers hope to understand the needs of mother whales and their calves during their time in the tropical breeding grounds and for their long migration.

What is a brown bear? Candid Animal Cam explores the lives of some of the largest bears in the world
- Camera traps bring you closer to the secretive natural world and are an important conservation tool to study wildlife. This week we’re meeting the second largest terrestrial carnivore on the planet: the brown bear.

Arctic permafrost moving toward crisis, abrupt thaw a growing risk: Studies
- An estimated 1,400 gigatons of carbon is currently embedded in the world’s permafrost, mostly in the Arctic and sub-Arctic. By comparison, the atmosphere presently contains just 850 gigatons. Should a major proportion of existing permafrost thaw, the Earth could experience dramatic and very dangerous warming.
- Scientists are already seeing an escalation of permafrost thawing. Worse may lie ahead: one study found that for every 1 degree C rise in Earth’s average temperature, permafrost may release the equivalent of 4-6 years-worth of fossil fuel emissions — likely requiring adjustments in Paris Accord national carbon reduction targets.
- Knowing the rate and amount of gradual permafrost thaw will aid researchers in understanding just how quickly we need to cut human-caused emissions. But researchers are also deeply concerned about the possibility of abrupt permafrost thaws, over large areas.
- Abrupt thaws could shock the landscape into releasing far more carbon than if thawed slowly. Abrupt releases may trigger a feedback loop whereby permafrost emissions would warm the atmosphere, leading to more thaw and release. By not accounting for abrupt thaws, we may be underestimating permafrost carbon release impacts by 50 percent.

Ocean currents spin a web of interconnected fisheries around the world
- Most marine catches are made within a given country’s territorial waters, but the fish most likely originated in spawning grounds in another country’s jurisdiction, a new study shows.
- The modeling of catch, spawning and ocean current data shows that the dispersal of baby fish caught by ocean currents creates an interconnection between global marine fisheries.
- The finding highlights the need for greater international cooperation in protecting marine ecosystems everywhere, as an estimated $10 billion worth of fish spawn in one country and are caught in another every year.

Mass die-offs of puffins in Alaska may be linked to climate change
- Between October 2016 and January 2017, the carcasses of hundreds of severely emaciated seabirds, mostly tufted puffins, washed onto the beaches of St. Paul Island, off Alaska.
- Not all birds that die wash up on a beach and are discovered. So the researchers ran an analysis and estimated that between 2,740 to 7,600 tufted puffins died during that time.
- Upon examining the carcasses, the researchers found that the birds had most likely died of starvation linked to shortage in prey triggered by climate change and a warming ocean.

Poachers caught on video killing mother bear and cubs at den in Alaska
- Two hunters allegedly killed a female bear and her cubs at the animals’ den in April, in violation of hunting laws.
- The mother bear was part of a wildlife study and wore a tracking collar.
- As part of the study, a video camera had been set up near the den and captured the hunters’ alleged actions.
- The U.S. Humane Society says proposed changes to federal hunting laws that would make killing bears in their dens legal are “cruel and unsporting,” while several hunting groups argue that the law changes are necessary to stop the federal government’s overreach into Alaska’s wildlife management.

Red flags abound as a warming Arctic opens up to shipping
- Ship traffic through the Arctic is expected to increase dramatically as global warming renders a growing proportion of the region ice-free.
- Conservationists warn that the higher number of vessels raises the risks of pollution, oil spills, and disturbances to marine mammals from propeller noise.
- They propose a slate of regulatory measures that could help mitigate the anticipated impacts, which could then be extended to other vulnerable maritime regions.

Cool birds don’t sing: Study automates acoustic monitoring of songbird migration
- Researchers have developed machine learning techniques to identify bird song from thousands of hours of field recordings, using the information to uncover variations in migratory songbirds’ arrival to their Arctic breeding grounds.
- They deployed automated listening devices during spring over five years, analyzed vocal activity to estimate when birds arrived at their breeding sites, and assessed relationships between vocal activity and environmental conditions.
- They found that the acoustically derived estimates of the birds’ arrival dates were similar to those determined using standard field surveys.
- Temperature and presence of snow affected the birds’ calling patterns, suggesting that collecting corresponding weather data could help avoid bias in using acoustic monitoring to assess population dynamics.

Muskox and other Arctic mammals are feeling the heat of climate change
- Past studies have looked at Arctic climate change impacts on wildlife primarily among marine animals and with polar bears, but there is little data on most terrestrial mammals.
- Now, As part of a broader attempt to develop an ecological baseline for Arctic wildlife, researchers have focused on muskoxen, the least studied mammal in North America.
- According to a new study, increasingly common extreme weather events – such as rain-on-snow and extremely dry winter conditions occurring in Russia and Alaska during muskox gestation – result in smaller head size among muskox young. Smaller animals generally have poor survivorship rates.
- Scientists say that, with the Arctic warming twice as fast as the world average, new studies are urgently needed on cold climate mammals including muskoxen, reindeer and caribou, to determine how rapidly escalating climate change up North is impacting wildlife, habitats and ecosystems.

Spot the pattern: Whisker-prints and citizen science
- University of Manitoba researchers are pioneering the use of whisker pattern analysis software to identify and track polar bears in Canada.
- Whisker print identification can aid polar bear researchers in investigating bear behaviors and interactions, assessing and mitigating potential human-polar bear conflict, and evaluating the potential impacts of climate change on the bears.
- The integration of citizen science into the Whiskerprint Project has helped researchers to collect the bears’ images for identification and raise awareness of the importance of polar bear conservation, while enhancing STEM education for local students.

Humpback whales learn habitat loyalty from their mothers, Alaskan study shows
- Marine biologists studied relationships among humpback whales in Glacier Bay and Icy Strait, Alaska, over a 30-year period.
- The whales’ loyalty to their feeding grounds is passed down from mothers to calves and persists through the generations.
- North Pacific humpback whales are making a comeback, and the new study shows how critical it is to protect their key habitats.

Alaska’s salmon and Vietnam’s doucs: wildlife narratives by Producer Tim Plowden

Tim Plowden has done a little bit of everything when it comes to the animal world. The producer of two films to be aired in 2016’s WCFF festival, award-winning The Return of the Salmon and Red-Shanked Douc: Primates on the Edge, Plowden is also known for stunning wildlife photography and for articles chronicling his experiences […]
New species of extinct dolphin discovered in museum collection
- The fossil, an incomplete skull about nine inches long, was discovered by geologist Donald J Miller in 1951 in Alaska.
- For the next six decades, the skull remained in Smithsonian’s collection, until researchers decided to examine it.
- The researchers have found that the dolphin skull is among the oldest fossils from Platanistoidea, a group that once included a large, diverse family of marine mammals, but is now represented by a single freshwater river species, the South Asian river dolphin Platanista gangetica.

Alaska’s first new butterfly species in decades could be rare hybrid
- Researchers have named the new species the Tanana Arctic (Oeneis tanana).
- This is the first new butterfly species to be described from Alaska in 28 years, the authors say, and may be Alaska’s only endemic butterfly, which means that it is found nowhere else on earth.
- The team thinks that the Tanana Arctic could have evolved from the offspring of two related butterfly species – the Chryxus Arctic and the White-veined Arctic – during the last ice age period.

Arctic Ocean acidifies, threatening food web and major fisheries

Scientists collected water samples to measure ocean acidification in the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas on two research cruises aboard the US Coast Guard cutter Healy. Photo credit: Jeremy Mathis / NOAA. One byproduct of rising carbon-dioxide levels is increasing ocean acidity — a phenomenon that scientists have termed an existential threat to marine life. […]
U.S. gov’t gives conditional approval for offshore Arctic drilling

Chukchi, where the proposed exporatory drilling is to take place, is home to about 2,000 polar bears. The species is currently declining as global warming melts the sea ice on which it depends. Photo by Arturo de Frias Marques. Earlier this week, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) approved Shell Gulf of Mexico Inc.’s […]
Scientists call on Obama to stop logging in old growth forests

Clear-cut logging in Alaska. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Seven conservation societies have joined a campaign to push the Obama administration to end old-growth forest logging in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. The American Fisheries Society, American Ornithologists Union, American Society of Mammalogists, Ecological Society of America, Pacific Seabird Group, Society for Conservation Biology, and The […]
Throng of 35,000 walruses is largest ever recorded on land, sign of warming arctic

No longer able to find sea ice, walruses turn to land to rest, breed, give birth A mass of thousands of walruses were spotted hauled up on land in northwest Alaska during NOAA aerial surveys earlier this week. An estimated 35,000 occupied a single beach – a record number illustrating a trend in an unnatural […]
Alaska roasting: new NASA map shows the Final Frontier in grip of January heatwave

Temperatures in Alaska from January 23-30, 2014 as compared to same period average from 2001-2010. Image by: NASA. Alaska got California weather at the end of January, as displayed by a new map based on data by NASA’s Terra satellite’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The U.S. state experiences one of its warmest winter periods […]
Yukon Flats experiencing more wildfires now than in the last 10,000 years

The Yukon Flats area of Alaska is today burning more frequently and severely than it has in the last 10,000 years, according to new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Looking at charcoal fragments from 14 deep lakes in the region, scientists were able to reconstruct the fire history […]
NASA image shows nearly ice-free Alaska as temps top 96 degrees

After a colder-than-average spring, Alaska is suffering a sudden and record-breaking heatwave. Temperatures on Monday, June 17th hit a stunning 96 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius) in Talkeetna, Alaska, just below the state’s highest temperature ever record of 98 degrees Fahrenheit in 1969. On the same day, NASA’s Terra Satellite’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) […]
Shell suspends Arctic oil drilling for the year

Royal Dutch Shell announced today that it was setting “pause” on its exploratory drilling activities in the Arctic for 2013. Shell’s operations are currently under review by the federal government after the oil company suffered numerous setbacks during last year’s opening attempt to drill exploratory wells in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, including running its […]
Arctic oil rig runs aground
On Monday night, an oil drilling rig owned by Dutch Royal Shell ran aground on Sitkalidak Island in southern Alaska, prompting fears of an oil spill. As of yesterday no oil was seen leaking from the rig according to the Coast Guard, but efforts to secure the rig have floundered due to extreme weather. The […]
Legislation leaves future of world’s largest temperate rainforest up in the air

Stream and forest in the Tongass National Forest, the world largest temperate rainforest located in Southeast Alaska. Photo by: Matthew Dolkas. Although unlikely to pass anytime in the near term, recurring legislation that would hand over 80,000 acres of the Tongass Rainforest to a Native-owned logging corporation has put local communities on guard in Southeast […]
Picture of the day: Shell drilling rig within view of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Royal Dutch Shell drilling rig off the coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Photo ©: Gary Braasch/World View of Global Warming. Twelve miles off shore from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge floats a seemingly tiny man-made device—at least from an airplane—but it’s actually a 160-foot high Shell Dutch Royal oil drilling rig. While the […]
Future of the Tongass forest lies in salmon, not clear-cut logging

Stream in the Tongass National Forest. Photo by: Ian Majszak. The Parnell administration’s Timber Task Force recently unveiled a proposal to carve out two million acres of the Tongass National Forest for clear-cut logging under a state-managed “logging trust.” The stated goal is to revive Southeast Alaska’s timber industry that collapsed two decades ago amid […]
Another mishap kills Shell’s Arctic oil drilling for the year

Approximate site of preliminarily approved drilling by Shell in the Chukchi Sea. Pink outline is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Image made with Google Earth. Following global protests, a series of embarrassing mishaps, and a lengthy regulatory process, Dutch Royal Shell has announced it is abandoning its hugely controversial off-shore oil drilling in the […]
Shell begins offshore drilling in the Alaskan Arctic

Approximate site of preliminarily approved drilling by Shell in the Chukchi Sea. Pink outline is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Image made with Google Earth. With the approval of the Obama Administration, Royal Dutch Shell began drilling into the ocean floor of the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska yesterday morning. The controversial […]
Obama approves preparation for oil drilling in Arctic, Shell en route

Approximate site of preliminarily approved drilling by Shell in the Chukchi Sea. Pink outline is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Image made with Google Earth. In the same week that sea ice in the Arctic Ocean hit another record low due to climate change, the Obama Administration has given final approval to Royal Dutch […]
Shell running out of time to drill in U.S. Arctic – this year

Approximate site of preliminarily approved drilling by Shell in the Chukchi Sea. Pink outline is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Image made with Google Earth. The clock is running out for oil giant, Royal Dutch Shell, to drill controversial oil wells in the U.S. Arctic before the harsh winter sets in, reports The Wall […]
Featured video: restoring rivers in the Tongass Rainforest
A new video highlights recent efforts to restore rivers in the Tongass Forest, the world’s largest intact temperate rainforest. Industrial logging in vital watersheds have hurt salmon populations and other wildlife in the region, an issue the government, along with several partners, are now trying to rectify. The salmon industry in the region is worth […]
Obama Administration, Shell moving ahead with Arctic oil exploitation

Approximate site of preliminarily approved drilling by Shell. Pink outline is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Image made with Google Earth. Last week, the U.S. Department of the Interior approved oil spill clean-up plans by Royal Dutch Shell Oil in the Beaufort Sea, paving the way for offshore oil drilling in the Arctic to […]
Alaskan fishermen tell government to focus on salmon, not logging

Tongass temperate rainforest. Photo of Southeast Alaska, courtesy of BigStock. Alaskan fishermen and tour operators visited Washington D.C. last week to urge the federal government to shift the focus from logging to conservation in the Tongass rainforest. Local Alaskans along with NGOs Trout Unlimited, Alaska Program, and Sitka Conservation Society, made the case that conservation, […]
U.S. legislation threatens oldest, tallest trees in Tongass rainforest

Old-growth tree in Tongass temperate rainforest. Such trees may be as old as 800 years. Photo by: John Schoen. Up to 17 percent of the tallest old-growth trees in the Tongass temperate rainforest could be cut under new U.S. legislation, according to a report by Audubon Alaska. The report argues that the legislation under consideration […]
Opposition rising against U.S. Arctic drilling

Approximate site of preliminarily approved drilling by Shell. Pink outline is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Image made with Google Earth. Drilling in the Arctic waters of the U.S. may become as contested an issue as the Keystone Pipeline XL in up-coming months. Scientists, congress members, and ordinary Americans have all come out in […]
Photos: camera traps reveal oil’s unexpected impact on Arctic birds

An Arctic fox charging a greater white-fronted goose nest defended by the adults, in the Prudhoe Bay oilfields. Photo by: WCS. A study in the Alaskan Arctic, employing camera traps, has shown that oil drilling impacts migrating birds in an unexpected way. The study found that populations of opportunistic predators, which prey on bird eggs […]
Obama administration opens more of the Arctic to drilling

Approximate location of Chukchi Lease 193 as seen on Google Earth, though the lease spans nearly 30 million acres. The Chukchi Sea is north of the Bering Straight. On the image: Alaska is to the right and Russia to the left. Nearly 500 Arctic oil and gas leases from the Bush administration have been restarted […]
Deepwater spill ‘meets the Titanic’: groups sue to stop Arctic drilling

Approximate site of preliminarily approved drilling by Shell. Pink outline is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Image made with Google Earth. Following the Obama administration’s approval of Royal Dutch Shell to drill in the Arctic’s Beaufort Sea, a wide-swathe of environmental have filed a lawsuit to stop the drilling, which could begin as early […]
Shell spills over 50,000 gallons of oil off Scotland

Yesterday, Royal Dutch Shell estimated that to date 54,600 gallons of oil had spilled into the North Sea off the east coast of Scotland, spreading some 19 miles wide (30 kilometers) at its maximum. While the company stopped the initial leak on Thursday, it has now announced that the oil has found a ‘second pathway’ […]
Goodbye national parks: when ‘eternal’ protected areas come under attack

Outline of Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first modern protected are, as seen by Google Earth. Yellowstone was opposed by many when it was first created including logging and mining industries. One of the major tenets behind the creation of a national park, or other protected area, is that it will not fade, but remain […]
Birnam Wood in the 21st Century: northern forest invading Arctic tundra as world warms

In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth the forest of Birnam Wood fulfills a seemingly impossible prophecy by moving to surround the murderous king (the marching trees are helped, of course, by an army of axe-wielding camouflaged Scots). The Arctic tundra may soon feel much like the doomed Macbeth with an army of trees (and invading species) closing […]
Arctic fish catch vastly underreported (by hundreds of thousands of metric tons) for 5 decades

From 1950 to 2006 the United Nation Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO) estimated that 12,700 metric tons of fish were caught in the Arctic, giving the impression that the Arctic was a still-pristine ecosystem, remaining underexploited by the world’s fisheries. However, a recent study by the University of British Colombia Fisheries Center and Department of […]
Kite-photography gives new perspective to whale migration

A new project sponsored by Nokia uses KAPing – kite aerial photography – to get an innovative look at whale behavior. The project will be taking place in Hawaii and will document the area’s annual humpback whale migration. KAPing uses kites to suspend cameras, providing a birds-eye view of a scene without need for a […]
New hope for polar bears

Once thought of as a doomed species, new research published in the journal Nature and conducted by scientists from several institutions, including the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Geological Survey, finds that polar bears could be saved from extinction – if certain measures are taken. The species was listed as threatened in 2007 when […]

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