Subsistence

You have to cheer as loudly for other teams as you do for your own.

In the Northwest Arctic, caribou hunting has been contentious for years. Alaska’s largest herd continues to decline while tensions have emerged between rural subsistence users and outside hunters.

The first sighting of wood bison calves born in the wild could mean big changes in the ecosystem of western Alaska.

Federal agencies say the changes are necessary to better align hunting regulations with federal management objectives. Hunters have countered that there is no biological justification for the restrictions, and that the changes are purely political.

Area biologists don’t know why the runs fluctuate so much. But they’re trying to bolster research to understand the traditionally important fish a little better.

With warming ocean temperatures, the risk of paralytic shellfish poisoning can linger all year-round, and Alaska has only one Food and Drug Administration certified laboratory to test shellfish. There are no labs to protect those digging for their dinner, but that may soon change.