Alaska Fish & Wildlife News
February 2017

Ski Hunters of Siberia:
Self-Reliance in Central Asia’s Altai Mountains

We ski along an alpine ridge, it is cold, the wind-chill perhaps -35f, but I have no way of knowing for certain. Far below is a frozen willow-lined river valley surrounded by expansive woodland of spruce and birch, which joins with great stands of aspen and larch as the boreal forest ascends 4,000 ft. up a mountain slope, eventually giving way to the treeless alpine zone we are travelling across now.

Ahead I see tracks in the snow, not ours, some type of wild animal. We cross the tracks ...   Altai Ski Hunters Article Continued

Managing Alaska’s Commercial Fisheries
A History of Statistical Areas in Alaska

Sustainable management of Alaska’s abundant fishery resources depends on knowing a few key statistics: how many of what species are caught, when, and where.

This has been an issue since the beginning. In 1892, salmon canneries were spreading from Southeast to Bristol Bay and Congress required the first statistical reports on Alaska’s fisheries. These early reports left a lot to be desired. The catch data was based on each cannery’s self-reported production records. The ...   Managing Fisheries Article Continued

Wood Bison Thrive in 2016
Only One Known Mortality

In mid-April of 2016, ADF&G biologists spotted the first wild-bred, wild-born, wood bison calf in over a hundred years in the Lower Yukon/Innoko area. This milestone marks the beginning of a viable, wild, and growing population of wood bison in the USA and Alaska.

The stock used to reintroduce wood bison to Alaska had been in captivity over many generations (since 1957) in order to save this unique northern subspecies from extinction. Some people had doubts that the bison would become ...   Wood Bison Thrive Article Continued