A long, long time ago, a hairy elephant stomped the northland, wrecking trees and shrubs as it swallowed twigs, leaves and bark. These mastodons left a few scattered teeth and bones in Alaska and the Yukon, reminders of an immense mammal that lived as far south as Honduras. A recent look at far-north mastodons shows […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The federal government’s Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) budget for fiscal year 2015 includes several provisions written and advanced by Senator Lisa Murkowski. Among them are items to support Alaska’s world class fisheries, improve Arctic navigation, and protect the state’s coastline from the continued debris related to the 2011 Japanese tsunami. The […]
In December 2012, NOAA Fisheries declared four subspecies of ringed seals, including the Arctic ringed seal in Alaskan waters, as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). After extensive input from local and state governments, Native partners, and the public to determine proposed critical habitat areas, NOAA Fisheries today is releasing those proposed […]
After reading Carey Restino’s piece published in the Arctic Sounder and then the response to her article by Rex Rock, I felt compelled to add to the mix. Rock wrote in his rebuttal to Restino’s story that “Shell estimates that suspension of drilling activities, mobilization, mooring, drilling a relief well and killing the flow using […]