Tlingit master carver Tommy Joseph is prolific: He’s created nearly 20 totem poles in Sitka alone, not to mention his work around Southeast and in other parts of the state and country. His latest project is a reproduction of the “Waasgo Pole” for the Sitka National Historical Park . Tommy Joseph holds out a realistic wooden fist attached to a 6-foot pole and gives a socially-distanced fist bump. Then, he gets to work inside a roped-off shed, tucked behind the visitor’s center at the Sitka

An influx of empty bottles and potentially hazardous marine debris have washed up in communities across the Bering Strait region . The consensus from those involved in the cleanup process is that the debris is coming from the other side of the Strait. Robb Kaler, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, recently shared a collection of reports and observations from at least five different communities in the Bering Strait region. Those include Diomede, Wales, Shishmaref, Gambell,

Alaska’s highest court has sided with environmentalists : The state should not have turned over a swath of Southeast forestland to the Alaska Mental Health Trust for potential logging. The case goes back to the 1990s, when a settlement directed the state to manage an approximately 3,400-acre tract on Kuiu Island for wilderness conservation and habitat. But the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council says that in 2009, the state Department of Natural Resources began to quietly engineer a way to

Alaska Tribal governments and organizations are asking the State of Alaska to withdraw a lawsuit filed recently in federal court. The l awsuit alleges the federal Office of Subsistence Management overstepped its authority when it granted the Organized Village of Kake a special hunting action during the pandemic. Richard Peterson, the president of Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, says he wasn’t surprised by the state’s lawsuit, but he was disappointed. “I think our state

A restricted caribou hunt on the Nushagak Peninsula means that Manokotak has far fewer subsistence opportunities this season . Melvin Andrew is the Tribal administrator for the Manokotak Village Council. It's the village closest to the peninsula, and he says the caribou there are integral to the village’s way of life. “Hunting is a big thing, especially for subsistence of big game such as moose and caribou,” says Andrew. “Caribou is one of the things that we utilize because it’s just down from

The Nome Police Deparmtent is under scrutiny after some community members questioned why officers used force on a man who was already on the ground . The incident took place early on a Sunday morning during bar break. The police report describes a scene where Milan Schield of Nome approaches two officers, Officer Jonathan Jachim and Officer Justin Stein, and Officer while they are interviewing a potential suspect in another case. Schield reportedly exhibited signs of intoxication and did not

Pacific Islanders and Alaska Natives in Alaska are more likely to get the coronavirus and if they do, are more likely to be hospitalized, according to state health data. While some of the populations have higher risks of having underlying conditions like diabetes, smoking, and cardiovascular disease, community leaders say culture and economics also contribute to the disparity. For the Pacific Island community, being physically close is customary. “We’re a culture that we love to hugs and we love

Hunting season draws thousands of Outside tourists to Alaska every year. In 2019, The Alaska Department of Fish and Game sold 15,897 non-resident hunting licenses. The department says the coronavirus pandemic has crushed demand for non-resident hunting. So far, the department has sold only a quarter of that. As of August 12, the number of non-resident licenses was at just 3,594. Ryan Scott, an assistant director for Fish and Game, says Outside hunters are still interested in coming to the state,

As the number of Pacific cod swimming into the Northern Bering Sea continues to increase, scientists have gathered initial data on the fish’s movements . Even though they have a small sample size, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) researchers believe that cod are unable to survive under the ice in the Bering Sea. Susanne McDermott, a fish biologist with NOAA Fisheries, says that after tagging 38 fish last year, none of them stayed in the Northern Bering Sea over the winter.

Western Alaska communities have been restricting inter-village travel to control the spread of the coronavirus, but in communities like Stebbins, that also makes it harder to get basic groceries . Stebbins residents typically resort to driving to nearby St. Michael which has an Alaska Commercial Company Store, or the “AC Store”, to fulfill most of their grocery shopping needs. The communities are connected by a 12- mile road in the summer but when both villages reported positive cases of COVID