Who Takes Home Alaska Wildlife?

At the end of hunting season, who takes home Alaska's wildlife? Is it residents or out-of-state hunters? The answer depends on the animal – most brown bears head out of state, most moose and caribou are eaten by Alaskans.

Alaska is home to almost a million caribou and close to 200,000 moose. In 2007, Alaskans took home 90 percent of the 7,400 total moose harvested. About 6,750 moose were harvested by Alaskans and 685 by nonresident hunters.

Nonresident hunters harvested only ...   Continued

The Murrelet Watch Program Sets Up in Icy Strait

Waking to the blasting exhalations of a 40-ton mammal may be one of the more exciting ways to start a day. Such mornings were routine on northeast Chichagof Island, where we camped inside Whitestone Harbor, well within earshot surfacing, spouting humpback whales.

Emerging from our tents and donning raingear and headlamps, two of us made our way in the pre-dawn twilight along a rough trail from our forested campsite to the rocky point where another day's work of observing and counting marbled ...   Continued

Catie Bursch – Marine Educator and Illustrator
An Artist in the Service of Science

Catie Bursch belongs to a guild of artists who bring extinct animals to life, make the unseen visible, and put the enormity of the universe on paper.

Bursch is a scientific illustrator and a marine educator with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, working at the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve in Homer. She's drawn her share of fish, plankton, plants and animals, but she said scientific illustration goes way beyond drawing critters for guide books.

“There are no photos of dinosaurs, ...   Continued