This amazing photo shows a large congregation of spectacled eiders wintering in polynyas in the
Bering Sea south of St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. Polynyas are areas of open water surrounded by sea ice.
Spectacled eiders, which are threatened throughout their range, are large diving sea ducks that spend most of the year in marine waters where they [...]

Photographer Jeff Jones and author Laurie Hoyle have released “Arctic Sanctuary: Images of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge” in honor of the refuge’s 50th anniversary this year.
KTUU.com in Alaska has a video interview with Jeff Jones on their website, where he talks about making the book:

Over the last 28 years, Jones has made more [...]

Today is Blog Action Day 2010, and the theme this year is water.
Water is a vital resource for wildlife on lands within the National Wildlife Refuge System, and a large portion of that water is part of the Wild and Scenic Rivers System.
Wild and Scenic designations are made by Congress upon recommendation from the [...]

This photo, from the Facebook page for the National Wildlife Refuge System, shows the handsome emperor goose. The world’s largest bed of aquatic eelgrass attracts the entire world population of black brants and virtually all of the world’s emperor goose population to the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, on the southern end of the Alaska peninsula. [...]

In an August 31 entry in the Fish and Wildlife Journal, Kristin Reakoff of the Alaska Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported on the annual Henshaw Creek Weir Science Camp, held for students in grades 6-12 who live in villages near Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge in central Alaska.
The article highlighted the valuable [...]

The Alaska Wilderness League has posted a short but very powerful video that explains why it’s so important to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from energy development — especially after it’s now been revealed that oil industry spill plans are essentially worthless.
I urge you to click the full-screen setting on the player below so [...]

The Northern Alaska Environmental Center is holding a photography contest to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The images will be used in a 2011 calendar that will celebrate 50 years of Arctic Refuge Wilderness.
They welcome images of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that celebrate its uniqueness as an entire, intact, [...]

Eight heartbreaking photos from the Associated Press showing seabirds literally covered in BP oil. The birds were on a beach on Louisiana’s East Grand Terre Island.
Despite Sarah Palin’s greed for more oil industry profits coming her way, oil drilling should never be allowed near the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for this very reason.

In the never-ending effort by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to rid the state of wolves, the department sent a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announcing the state’s intention to begin aerial shooting of wolves on Unimak Island on or about June 1, 2010. Unimak Island is part of the [...]

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of perhaps the most famous refuge in the National Wildlife Refuge System — the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. And for all those in the media and on the Internet who keep getting the name wrong after all these decades: It’s not Alaska National Wildlife Refuge — [...]

News broke this week that Sarah Palin has somehow convinced Discovery Communications (The Learning Channel to be precise) to spend $1.2 million per episode for a series where Palin shows off the beauty of Alaska. Word is it will be shot in the same beautifully visual way that “Planet Earth” was shot.
Naturally this announcement brought [...]

The National Audubon Society has put out an Action Alert asking citizens to submit comments opposing the proposed land swap at Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. This blog has reported many times on the proposed land swap (see posts on Sept. 15, 2008, March 25, 2009, and Sept. 29, 2009), which would lead to [...]