Alaska Fish & Wildlife News
December 2019

Give Your Hazards a Flash to Avoid a Crash

By Sierra Doherty

One of the most challenging parts of living in Alaska is driving in the wintertime. Not only are roads slick, but visibility can be limited by darkness and blowing snow or sleet. Drivers are also likely to encounter moose and other wildlife crossing the road. Moose can weigh in at 400 pounds for a winter calf and 1,600 pounds for a very large bull. These lanky giants tend to gravitate to plowed roads when snow is deep and heavy elsewhere. This creates a major safety hazard for moose and ...   Moose Collisions Article Continued

Life History of Kuskokwim River Sheefish

By Lisa Stuby

In late summer 2007, I began what turned into a 13-year study of sheefish in the Kuskokwim River. Radiotelemetry techniques were used between 2007-2016 to expand our knowledge of spawning locations, migration timing, and seasonal distributions and movements of sheefish. Taking what we learned from the radiotelemetry project, my colleagues and I then used sonar to count post-spawning sheefish as they outmigrated from the Big River, the most populous spawning location, during 2016-2018.

The ...   Sheefish research Article Continued

Rockfish Cards Aid Outreach
Go Fish, Anyone?

By Riley Woodford

The newest guide to Alaska rockfish has an unusual format: a deck of standard, poker-size playing cards.

The ten of spades features the rougheye rockfish - which can live to be more than 200 years old. The two of hearts offers a short lesson on barotrauma. One of the jokers is a rockfish playing a Gibson Flying-V electric guitar, with the emphasis on rock.

Andrew Olson is a fishery biologist and the groundfish-shellfish coordinator for the Southeast region. He worked closely on the ...   Rockfish Cards Article Continued

Roller Chopping Enhances Habitat

By Tim Mowry and Riley Woodford

Roller chopping looks bad at first glance, but in context it makes sense. It looks so bad in fact that a recent post to the ADF&G Facebook page regarding roller chopping was met with horror by one follower, who glanced at the picture without reading the post and commented that it should be illegal.

Roller chopping shears trees off at the base and crushes the stems. It looks like you drove a tank through the forest, dragging a steamroller. In context, it mimics natural processes. During ...   Roller Chopping Article Continued