As piles of wet snow fell, an unexpected guest rapped at the window. My wife, Kristen, heard it bump into the glass. She was soon cupping in her hands a delicate bird she saw perched on the windowsill. “It’s a golden-crowned kinglet!” she said. Kristen is a bird biologist, but I was surprised at her […]
Working closely with the U.S. Forest Service and the Sitka Tribe of Alaska, an international team of researchers funded by the National Science Foundation has begun to piece together an archaeological and historical narrative of how the crew of the wrecked 19th century Russian-American Company sailing ship Neva survived the harsh subarctic winter. “The items […]
Imagine spending 4 days traveling miles up a frozen river in Alaska by snow machine, auguring holes through ice as thick as 80 cm, and looking for juvenile salmon. That’s the adventure NOAA’s Alaska Region Habitat Conservation Division Hydropower Coordinator Susan Walker and colleague Jeff Davis set off on last February on the Susitna River, […]
It has been a long winter. Like many Alaskans, I have a love/hate relationship with this oversized peninsula, especially as the months of dark and cold pile up like woodstove ash. When the sun returns, I feel a need to recharge my affection. One way to do this is to visit new parts of this […]