The dread of students, teachers, and parents in the small community of Larsen Bay on the west side of Kodiak Island became reality last Tuesday when the Kodiak Island School District voted to close down the facility in LB after enrollment dropped below the acceptable limit of 10 students. The community has been struggling to […]
(Kotzebue) — After more than a decade of decline, Alaska’s largest caribou herd is showing signs of growth. Counts of the Western Arctic caribou herd completed recently from aerial photographs taken during last summer’s photo census tallied 239,055 animals, raising the total herd estimate to 259,000. That’s up from 201,000 caribou a year ago. Alaska […]
JUNEAU, Alaska—Alaska’s population decreased by 2,629 people—about one-third of 1 percent—from July 2016 to July 2017, based on population estimates released today by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Net migration—in-migration minus out-migration—accounted for a loss of 8,885 people while natural increase, or births minus deaths, added 6,256 people. This was the fifth […]
NOAA Fisheries, released Thursday, its biennial population estimate for the endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale. Scientists determined that the population size is between 279 and 386 animals, with a most likely estimate of 328 animals. The estimate is derived from data collected during a June 2016 aerial survey. The previous estimate, from 2014, was 340 […]