Alaska Fish & Wildlife News
October 2010

Keeping Chronic Wasting Disease out of Alaska

By Riley Woodford

A $5 bottle of deer urine could be two ounces of trouble for Alaska, and wildlife managers don't want the product in the state.

Deer urine is possible route into Alaska for chronic wasting disease (CWD), a degenerative, fatal illness that affects deer, moose, and elk. The disease has not yet been found in Alaska, and wildlife managers are working to keep it out.

Hunters sometimes use deer urine as an attractant, or to mask human scent. It is sold in hunting supply stores, and ...   CWD in Alaska ArticleContinued

Changes Coming
for Alaska’s Charter Halibut Fishery

By Scott Meyer

The sport fishery for Pacific halibut has undergone substantial change over the last several decades. Sport fishing regulations were not established until 1973. In 1975, the statewide sport harvest of halibut was estimated to be about 10,000 fish and there were few charter boats. By 2007, the sport harvest had grown to over 580,000 fish, with about 60 percent of the harvest taken by anglers fishing on charter boats.

As the sport fishery has grown, the commercial halibut fishery has also ...   Halibut Fishery ArticleContinued

Snowmachines, Trails and Wolves

By Elizabeth Manning

With snowmachine use on the rise in Alaska, a natural research question for wildlife biologists is how that increased human use during winter might affect wildlife movements.

Biologists in Canada learned, for example, that wolves in Jasper National Park took advantage of snowmachine trails to avoid deep snow and track down prey. Might wolves in Alaska be making similar use of snowmachine trails? Or alternately, might snowmachine use negatively affect wolves by displacing them from certain ...   Trails and Wolves ArticleContinued

Reindeer Herding Holds Great Future
for Seward Peninsula

By Diana Haecker

On a foggy July day near Nome, helicopter pilot and reindeer herder Donny Olson is flying out to round up reindeer.

Most know Donald Olson as a medical doctor and the Alaska State Senator for district T. But he is also the great-grandson of a Saami reindeer herder who came to Alaska to teach the locals the art of reindeer husbandry, and on this rainy summer day he is living his heritage. His mission is to complete the round-up of Teller's Kakaruk/Lee reindeer herd and to drive them into ...   Reindeer herding ArticleContinued