National Wildlife Refuges
Alaska bruins share their secrets for packing on the pounds
Are you a fan of the annual Fat Bear Week competition in Alaska? The popular single-elimination-style bracket asks people to weigh in on favorite furry contenders during their final preparation for winter.
Alaska’s bears have just six months to eat a year’s worth of food, so they must work hard…
All The Fish
How Alaska’s only endemic fish found its way to New York City markets
Bering cisco are the type of fish you see and say “Yup, that’s a fish” and continue with your day. They have that classic, but common fish look: silvery and fusiform. They’re not impressively huge either, fitting easily into two hands like a breakfast burrito. …
Pollinators
Survival and death in a winter wonderland
A crispness has snuck into the air. Vibrant colors are creeping into the vegetation. Some of us have seen the first snow of the year. Flowers have gone to seed, bringing abundant berries to harvest. Let us thank the pollinators… but where are they now? …
Sitka, Alaska — Peterson Creek is a classic Alaska creek: it’s where new generations of salmon, char, and other fishes start life. Specifically, Peterson Creek happens to be home to Coho Salmon, Pink Salmon and Dolly Varden char.
A fish passage project here was recently completed…just in time for salmon…
Dispatches from field camps along the moody Alaska coast
What’s the weather today?
That question (along with “what’s the weather going to be tomorrow?”) might be one of the most commonly asked in Alaska, and for good reason. Weather dictates our travel and activities.
Weather is especially important for the field biologists of Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge who…
CAREERS
Communication and Relationship Building for the Next Generation
The Refuge Information Technician (RIT) program is recognized as one of the most successful public relations programs within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Since the 1980s, RITs have carried the message of wildlife conservation to 100 villages or one third of all of Alaska’s communities. They employ the…
From Kanuti Refuge to the coast of South America, this bird is a travel expert
Hundreds of miles inland from the icy waters of the Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean, a shorebird’s piping whistle calls across the boreal wetlands of interior Alaska. Spiraling and singing, he performs a dramatic aerial…
Looking for office décor? Do you have fish in need of somewhere to hide? How about a new fuzzy, low maintenance friend to welcome into your home? Some will say the soft and spongy freshwater moss ball can help you with any of these needs.
Shorebirds
From Millions to a Few Museum Specimens
This lanky, medium-sized, mottled brown shorebird with a decurved bill once darkened the skies with its migrations across the North American continent. In the 1850s, observers described flocks of calling birds that stretched for miles every spring and fall, their voices sounding like the distant jingling of sleigh bells.
Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge
Up-close look at the order Odonata
There are roughly 35 dragonfly species known to occur in Alaska. They range in size from tiny metallic-green sedge sprites to the five-inch-long lake darner. With 26 species documented to date, one of the top areas for dragonfly diversity in Alaska is Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge.
“Today I saw the…
