Outdoors

Seavey says he sued knife maker to get blade off market

Iditarod musher Mitch Seavey, facing criticism for suing a knife-maker over a 2011 accident on the Iditarod Trail, said the lawsuit is not about money: "My goal is to get the knife off the market," he said.

Troopers hike enforcement in safety corridors this weekend

With the start of Memorial Day weekend, Alaska State Troopers are stepping up enforcement in the four safety corridors across the state from now until July 1.

Parnell proclaims June 'Safety Month'

SOUTHCENTRAL FISHING REPORT

King salmon forecast promising despite cloudy, cold rivers

There's good and bad news for holiday-weekend fishing. First, the bad: It looks as though last winter's record snowfall has kept a few rivers colder than usual and off-color. The good news is that the first reports seem to forecast an average or better year for kings, and the halibut and trout fishing has been decent.

PDF: Kenai refuge renews bear-safety restrictions at Russian River ferry

Lingering snow affects visitor services at Exit Glacier

National Park Service officials say more snow than usual is lingering in the Exit Glacier area northwest of Seward.

Officials try new methods to curb pike on Kenai Peninsula

An electric fence and water cannon will be part of an effort this summer to control invasive northern pike in a lake on the Kenai Peninsula.

2 Denali wolves killed in buffer zone, setting off public outcry

Conservationists are demanding an immediate halt to wolf trapping around Denali National Park after two primary breeding females from the park's best-known pack died, one of them killed by a trapper operating just outside the park's boundary.

Families sue over deaths of commercial Inlet clam diggers

The families of five clam diggers who died in a boat accident last year in Cook Inlet are suing the seafood company the men worked for, charging negligence over safety equipment and training.

Read the complaint

Heavily loaded boat, rough seas worried at least one clammer

Bald eagle is euthanized after being shot in the elbow

Alaska Raptor Center officials in Sitka say a bald eagle that had been shot had to be euthanized.

1,100-foot fall causes first death of season on McKinley

A Mount McKinley climber fell 1,100 feet to his or her death Friday afternoon while trying to recover a backpack that had started to slide downhill, the National Park Service said on Saturday.

Flawed decisions blamed in fatal 2011 Mount McKinley climb

A guide's decision to make a final push up Mount McKinley with minimal gear was faulted in a National Park Service report on the May 2011 climb that left one person dead and three others considered lucky to survive.

Anchorage restaurant races Seattle for first salmon

An Anchorage seafood restaurant heralded its grand opening Friday by mimicking Alaska Airlines' splashy salmon show in Seattle.

State's active duty military members, dependents get a day at the park

On Armed Services Day, Saturday, the National Park Service will begin issuing an annual pass offering free entrance to all 397 national parks for active duty military members and their dependents.

JOHN SCHANDELMEIER

Hares are different critters

When I was a kid on the homestead, I was a rabbit hunter. Or at least I thought I was hunting rabbits.

Eagle River bear-mauling survivor surprised to be alive

When a brown bear charged him Saturday from about 30 yards away while he was on his property bordering Chugach State Park, Howard Meyer had one thing on his mind: "I thought that it was the end of my life."

More bear attack stories

Outdoor hotline (5/15/12)

Notices and listings of upcoming outdoors events

Hikers fear a favorite Chugach park trail has been ruined

The South Fork Trail in Eagle River has long been a beloved access point to Chugach State Park. So last summer, when visitors found an excavator churning earth on the trail as part of a "realignment project" by the state, the response was anger.

Mammoth tusk smuggling trial starts Monday

The federal trial for a well-known Alaska guide charged with helping a client smuggle a 10,000-year-old mammoth fossil to Pennsylvania starts Monday in Fairbanks.

Anchorage man plans year on uninhabited island

Charles Baird is going off the grid for a year. The 40-year-old oil company employee and filmmaker from Anchorage will move to the mostly uninhabited Latouche Island in Prince William Sound at the end of May, completing a dream he's been contemplating for 17 years.

Fairbanks hunter recalls weekend mauling in Kodiak

One minute, Rodd Moretz was high-fiving his 13-year-old son, Caleb, after shooting the biggest brown bear of his life. The next minute, he was tumbling down the hillside with another giant brown bear, wondering if he was going to die and how things could have gone from so good to so bad so quickly.

Read more about bear attacks in Alaska

JOHN SCHANDELMEIER

Difficult to gauge wolf control impact

There are people at both extremes on the controversial issue of wolf control. Some hunters would like to see a very high moose population with almost no wolves competing with them. Others, mostly non-consumptive users, while recognizing the need and rationale for hunting, would like to see no predator control of any kind.

Hunter kills one bear, tussles with another on Kodiak Island

A brown bear "pounced" on a hunter Saturday on Kodiak Island after he killed another bear nearby, troopers say. Rodd A. Moretz of Fairbanks suffered only minor scalp injuries.

More stories on Alaska bear attacks