• Animals

Arctic Bowhead Whale Population Rebounding Despite Warming

• Alaska
• Arctic
• bowhead whales
• climate change
• Eskimo
• Eskimo Whaling Commission

Bowhead whale populations have nearly returned to their numbers pre-commercial whaling. An update from the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration suggests that even in spite of Arctic warming, Bowhead whales have multiplied in Alaskan waters.

Why this Matters:  Bowhead whales were once nearly extinct, as commercial whalers at the turn of the twentieth century hunted them for their oil, blubber, and baleen.

• Climate Change

NOAA Releases Annual Arctic Report Card, Reports Unprecedented Warming

• Alaska
• Arctic
• climate change
• NOAA
• permafrost
• sea ice
• warming
• whales
• wildfires

On Tuesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its 15^th annual Arctic Report Card. It observed a “sustained transformation to a warmer, less frozen, and biologically changed Arctic.”  The holistic report is a collection of “vital signs” from the Arctic ecosystem and factors in variables like wildlife, air temperature, wildfires, and sea ice.

Why This Matters: In a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification, the Arctic is warming at a rate 2 to 3 times higher than the global average

• People

Interview of the Week: Adam Kolton of the Alaska Wilderness League

• Alaska
• Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
• oil and gas drilling
• Pebble Mine
• Roadless Rule
• Tongass National Forest

This week, just in time for Thanksgiving, we talk with Adam Kolton, the Executive Director of the Alaska Wilderness League about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Arctic Indigenous Communities, and conserving Alaskan wilderness.  Watch the entire interview.  Here are a few highlights: On the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: “This is the area where hundreds of […]

• Politics

Races To Watch: Alaska’s Senate Election Is Closer Than Expected

• Alaska
• climate change
• Environmental Investigation Agency
• Pebble Mine
• Pebble Tapes
• Senate

Thanks to some help from the Lincoln Project and self-inflicted wounds that have put Republican incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan on the defensive, in Alaska the challenger, Dr. Al Gross, an orthopedic surgeon, is making a strong run.

Why This Matters:  The Pebble Mine project is opposed by a majority of Alaskans because of the harm it could cause to the extremely valuable Bristol Bay commercial salmon fishery, and to pristine Alaskan wilderness.

• Land

11 Alaska Tribes Petition Forest Service to Increase Tribal Consultation

• Alaska
• indigenous people
• Native Alaskan Tribes
• Tongass
• Tongass National Forest

by Amy Lupica, ODP Contributing Writer In response to the Trump administration’s move to open the Tongass National Forest to logging, 11 Southeast Alaska Native tribes have petitioned the USDA to implement a new rule that would require the Forest Service to consult with them on land use decisions.  The rule would force the Forest […]

• Forests

Trump To Reopen Largest National Forest to Development, Rejecting Environmental and Cultural Importance

• Alaska
• logging
• Native Alaskan Tribes
• Tongass National Forest

by Amy Lupica, ODP Contributing Writer On Friday, just one day before National Public Lands Day, the Trump administration moved to expand development in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the largest national forest in the United States as well as the largest remaining temperate rainforest in the world. About 55% of the forest is currently protected […]