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Ned Rozell and his dog Cora move uphill on a trip in the White Mountains National Recreation Area in January 2026. Photo courtesy Chris Swingley

Features

Time to hit the trail westward

Yup, it’s 30 below this morning, March 19. Just like it was last week. Back then, I wrote…

In February 2026, a snow hat forms and deforms on top of a chickadee house in Fairbanks built by the late biologist David Klein. A moose bumped it and knocked off the mass on March 9, 2026. Photos courtesy Ned Rozell

Features

Alaska writer buckling under pressure

Thirty below again this morning. OK then. Time to reach for the baseball bat and fine-tune the weather…

Serum Run musher Gunnar Kaasen poses with Balto, a leader on his mushing team. Alaska State Library Portrait File

Features

Long after run to glory, Balto lives on

A dog that pulled his way into history has given scientists insight into what makes Alaska sled dogs…

Serum Run musher Gunnar Kaasen poses with Balto, a leader on his mushing team. Alaska State Library Portrait File

Community

Long after run to glory, Balto lives on

A dog that pulled his way into history has given scientists insight into what makes Alaska sled dogs…

A marten visits the Fairbanks home of Tim Walker. Walker has seen the animal several times. Photo courtesy Tim Walker

Features

Marten visits are a glimpse into mystery

A trapper fresh out of the Cosna River country in Interior Alaska said he can’t believe how many…

Matt Druckenmiller, right, and his research advisor Hajo Eicken, a professor of geophysics, stand on an ice floe near Utqiaġvik in about 2010. Photo courtesy Daniel Pringle

Features

The full circling of a northern career

Hajo Eicken had “everything I could ever ask for” in his former career at a German institute. Well,…

A whimbrel rests on a willow near the Jago River in summer 2024. Photo courtesy Alan Kneidel

Opinion

Alaska lovebirds go their own way

During a month of endless summer light, a mated pair of shorebirds teaches their four chicks how to…

Biologist Jordan Pruszenski measures an anesthetized bear during May 2025. Biologists take measurements and samples before attaching a satellite/ video collar to the bear’s neck. Photo courtesy Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Opinion

The scent of barren ground grizzly

Unlike most of us, Jordan Pruszenski has held in her arms the following wild animals: wolves, caribou, beavers,…

Northern sea ice, such as this surrounding the community of Kivalina, has declined dramatically in area and thickness over the last few decades. Photo courtesy Ned Rozell

Opinion

20 years of Arctic report cards

Twenty years have passed since scientists released the first version of the Arctic Report Card, now a staple…

Carl Benson, born in Minneapolis in 1927, took this self-portrait of himself in Greenland when he was 28. Photo by Carl Benson

Opinion

Carl Benson embodied the far North

Carl Benson’s last winter on Earth featured 32 consecutive days during which temperatures in his chosen town did…

Retired biologist and former Kenai National Wildlife Refuge manager Robin West speaks to nearly 150 attendees gathered in person and virtually for his presentation, “Looking Back, Looking Forward,” on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. Hosted by the Homer-based nonprofit Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges, West’s talk included anecdotes about his 30 year-long career in the Fish and Wildlife Service and a solo canoe trip that inspired him to write a book about his experiences. Photo courtesy of Poppy Benson/Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges

News

Former refuge manager speaks on loving the land

Robin West presented his talk, “Looking Back, Looking Forward,” in Soldotna on Tuesday evening.

A University of Alaska Fairbanks skater takes the ice against Long Island University in February 2024. Photo courtesy Leif Van Cise

Opinion

The physics of skating and slap shots

When two NHL hockey players collide, their pads and muscles can absorb enough energy to power a 100-watt…

Pam Groves of the University of Alaska Fairbanks looks at bones of ancient creatures she has gathered over the years from northern rivers. The remains here include musk oxen, steppe bison and mammoth. Photo by Ned Rozell

Opinion

What killed the world’s giants?

Most of the large animals that have walked the surface of Earth are no longer here. Why?