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Nature & Outdoors
On the Trails: Springtime fun and signs of new life
When spring finally came, it came in a rush. Cottonwood and alder leaves fairly leaped from the buds and grew rapidly toward full size. I like the soft, light-green foliage contrasting with the somber...
Nature & Outdoors
Alaska Science Forum: Feltleaf willows — Alaska’s most abundant tree
Imagine being a moose in late May: You have just survived 200 days of cold and darkness by munching the equivalent of a large garbage bag full of frozen twigs each day. Now, billions...
Nature & Outdoors
I Went to the Woods: Into the maze
“Into the Wild” and “The Grizzly Maze” are complex reads. To reduce Chris McCandless and Timothy Treadwell to naïve, unprepared fools who are led to their deaths by unreasonable ideology is to miss out...
Nature & Outdoors
Alaska Science Forum: When river breakup came to Eagle
EAGLE — As the late evening sunshine poured in from the northwest, a dozen residents of Alaska’s farthest upstream town on the Yukon River watched their winter race past in floating chunks of ice....
Nature & Outdoors
Alaska Science Forum: Why is a moose’s nose so big?
A scientist from Ohio once pondered why moose have such big noses. Why might a scientist from Ohio care? It can tell a person about evolution, says Lawrence Witmer. Witmer is a biologist and...
Nature & Outdoors
I Went to the Woods: A solid skunking
Variable winds are ideal for an 18-foot aluminum skiff and the forecast was correct. However, as per usual, the further one gets from the forecast location the more variable the conditions. The calm seas...
Nature & Outdoors
On the Trails: Rough-skinned newts
Juneau has four resident amphibians that breed in fresh water: wood frogs and western (boreal) toads, which have geographic ranges extending way up north, Columbia spotted frogs, which range to about the northern border...
Nature & Outdoors
Alaska Science Forum: 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 and other working breeds unique. Researchers have used a tiny patch of skin cut from a...