The Siege at Kroschel Wildlife Center By Michelle Theall In June 2025, eight days before Steve Kroschel fled to Russia with the clothes on his back and atoothbrush, a group of Alaska State Troopers shouldered their AR-15s and raided his wildlife park.Riding ATVs that shattered the quiet of a Southeast Alaska morning and wearing Kevlar [...]

The post Gods of the Grizzlies appeared first on Alaska Magazine.

Alaskans and their visitors can enjoy a new travel companion this summer. The Alaska Literary Field Guide, published in March by Mountaineers Books, brings a unique and artistic approach to describing over 90 species of wildlife, plants, and other features of Alaska. The book is written and compiled by Nancy Lord, Marybeth Holleman, and Shaelene [...]

The post Blending art and natural history: The Alaska Literary Field Guide appeared first on Alaska Magazine.

Congratulations to all!!! GRAND PRIZE WINNER Skating on Wild Ice Web — Utkan Kokaturk Last winter I explored Big Lake on Nordic skates. The snow-free surface revealed spiderweb-like giant cracks etched by vehicle/human traffic and shifting winter pressures under the ice. From above, it became a scene of both calm and motion; me gliding across [...]

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When the Iditarod teams bound out of Willow this month, their odyssey across the Alaskan wilderness will be more than a race. Rising and falling across a frozen landscape – stitching together far-flung rural communities as they go – they will help preserve an arctic sled dog culture that stretches back thousands of years.

The post The Dogs Come First appeared first on Alaska Magazine.

April 2024 April is birch syrup season in the boreal forest of Alaska’s interior. It’s a busy time for the Alaska-owned Kahiltna Birchworks, one of the world’s largest birch syrup makers. Company founders Michael and Dulce East started the business over 30 years ago from their remote homestead near Talkeetna, and in 2023 they sold [...]

The post Shop Alaska: Hammers Family Birch appeared first on Alaska Magazine.

  Since 1969, the Oomingmak cooperative has been keeping Alaskans warm with qiviut hats, scarves, and other accessories that are handknit in remote Arctic villages. Qiviut is the famously soft underwool that muskox shed in spring. “It has a great insulating quality,” says Marie Texter, executive director of the cooperative. Speaking from co-op headquarters in [...]

The post Oomingmak: Home-spun gifts from Alaska appeared first on Alaska Magazine.

by Tim Lydon It’s been over twenty years, but Lauren Padawer still remembers the moment she fell in love with Copper River mud. While visiting Alaska for a rafting trip, her group stopped for lunch and a midday dip in the river’s cold-water eddies. She was mesmerized when her bare feet sank into the river’s soothing mud, which consists of fine silt that glaciers grind from the surrounding mountains.  “I left that trip wanting to know where that mud came [...]

The post Give the gift of healthy skin, from glaciers  appeared first on Alaska Magazine.

North America’s biggest cat is a rare sight here, but that might change  Austin Prine knows he saw a cougar run across the Elliott Highway about thirty miles north of Fairbanks last December. Prine, a long-haul trucker who was returning south from Prudhoe Bay, says the cat bounded across the snow-packed road and vanished over a guardrail. [...]

The post Wait, are cougars in Alaska? appeared first on Alaska Magazine.

Annie Alexander and Allen Hasselborg In 1907, Annie Montague Alexander, a naturalist, paleontologist and world traveler, was camped with a team of scientists on Admiralty Island in southeast Alaska. She was trying to make good on her dream of collecting specimens to create a museum of natural history on the west coast of America. Having [...]

The post The Scientist and the Bear Man appeared first on Alaska Magazine.

Looking for a new April adventure? Consider heading up toward Tahneta Pass on the Glenn Highway to join this year’s annual Gunsight Mountain hawk watch. The main event is April 18-19 and features talks by pro birders, hawk counts, and a potluck barbecue. Last year, says Mr. Whitekeys of Anchorage Audubon, observers counted over 250 [...]

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