Davis Hovey

Unalakleet’s supply of water was running on empty following a nasty freeze-up at the end of December, prompting the community to pull together to conserve water.

The final research cruise of 2021 in the Bering and Chukchi seas came through the region in November.

Staffing turnover, logistical issues, and the wrench thrown into the plan by COVID-19 all delayed the construction of new homes that were slated for this year. Lyons says the upside of waiting though, is that BSRHA received additional funds from COVID related grants and can afford to build more homes in 2022.

Current sea ice extent in Northern Alaska waters is the highest it’s been since November 2001.

Savoonga is on St. Lawrence Island, out in the Bering Sea. The regional health corporation on Monday reported 115 COVID cases in the community of less than 800 people.

In the first week of October, The Seattle Times reported a single beluga whale had been sighted in multiple places across Puget Sound — something that hasn’t been seen in the area since the 1940s.

The blooms carry toxins, but scientists aren’t yet sure what impact they will have on marine mammals.

Alice Bioff said her approach comes from her background as an Inupiaq woman living in Nome. “I was surrounded by women who sewed atikluks, qaspeqs. I was around that all my life,” she said.

Researchers and federal scientists still have no definitive explanation for the cause.

Some possible causes for late budding in berries include more precipitation when flowers bloom, which reduces pollination, an overall lack of pollinators, or sometimes animals and birds eat the berries during the winter.