Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media
Zachariah Hughes reports on city & state politics, arts & culture, drugs, and military affairs in Anchorage and South Central Alaska.
@ZachHughesAK About Zachariah
Foundation Hears Funding Aims of Bering Strait Communities
The Rasmuson Foundation awarded more than $30 million in grants in 2013. But in the last few years only about one percent of that money has gone for projects in the Bering Straits Region. Foundation members traveled to small communities in the region last week to see what kinds of programs residents would like to see funded.
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Helicopter Service To Diomede Halted Amid Contract Snag
Transportation to one of Alaska’s most remote communities has stopped, because of a contract delay that’s tying up funds.
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Bear Urine Tested as Musk Ox Repellent in Nome
A unique smell has been wafting through parts of Nome this past week, but it’s not your typical summer fragrance. It’s the smell of bear urine, and it’s part of a new plan being tested to keep musk oxen herds out of town. Tony Gorn is a biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Nome.
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Strong Chum Runs Mean Salmon Openings In Norton Sound
As severe restrictions on Chinooks continue to hit subsistence users, early signs of strong chum runs are leading the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to announce some unanticipated commercial openings.
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Future of Tradition and Development Weighed at Ambler Road Meeting
How will small Native communities in rural Alaska balance traditional life with the pressures of modernization? That was the question community leaders focused on during the second day of discussions on the proposed road to the Ambler Mining District.
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Community Leaders Flying to Kotzebue for Meeting on Ambler Road
Starting Wednesday, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority—or AIDEA—is holding two days of meetings in Kotzebue about a proposed 200-mile road through the interior to the Ambler Mining District.
Alaska Dept. Fish & Game Announces Subsistence Salmon Opening
If you live by the Norton Sound, get ready for salmon. On Monday, the Department of Fish and Game announced subsistence and commercial openings that will begin this Wednesday, June 18th, for three subdistricts in the Norton Sound.
Subsistence Users Criticize Miners And Regulators At Nome Meeting
Subsistence users in Nome are criticizing gold miners and regulators for failing to take into account the negative impacts mining is having on other resources in the area. Officials from different agencies took public comment on the issue at a community meeting yesterday.
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AIDEA Briefs Federal Commission On Ambler Road
The state says it will cost as much as $400 million to build a controversial proposed mining road to Ambler. But some opponents of the road think that figure is too low.
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NPFMC Looking to Reduce Salmon Bycatch
This morning an advisory panel of the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council heard public testimony on proposed policy changes to salmon bycatch. The panel makes recommendations to the governing board of the council, which is meeting this week in Nome.
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Kobuk Meeting on State-backed Ambler Mining Road Weighs Promise of Jobs against Local Concerns
Yesterday evening residents from Kobuk, Shugnak and Ambler gathered in the Kobuk community school for meetings about the status of a state-backed industrial road that would pass through the region.
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Amid Green Peace Protests, ExxonMobil Readies for Summer Project in Russian Chukchi
Norwegian police and Special Forces cleared Green Peace protestors off an oil rig in the Barents Sea this week. Activists have since been using a boat to block access to the proposed drill site, which could become the world’s Northern-most offshore oil well. The action is part of increasing efforts by environmental groups.
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Rep. Young Pushing Land Bill for Port Clarence Site
Congressman Don Young is introducing a bill in Washington, D.C. to speed up development in an area of the Seward Peninsula that many are eyeing as one piece of a future Arctic Port.
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Ammo Shortages Still Hampering Rural Subsistence Hunters
With the return of marine mammals and migratory birds to the Bering Straits region, subsistence hunters are still struggling to find certain kinds of ammunition.
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Working Group Discusses Caribou Decline, Ambler Road
Caribou users in the Northwest Arctic Borough were told Wednesday that North America’s largest herd declined by more than a quarter in just two years. The group also questioned state officials on how a proposed road to the Northwest Arctic Borough would impact subsistence resources.
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As State Advances Unprecedented Mining Road to Ambler, Local Support in Question
The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, AIDEA, meets in Kotzebue today with a game management group to discuss a proposed 220-mile road to a copper deposit in the Northwest Arctic Borough that’s potentially valuable.
State Hurrying To Update Rural Infrastructure Before Federal Dollars Diminish
Federal money for rural infrastructure is drying up, and state agencies are overhauling projects while they still can. With Alaska’s brief construction season about to begin, state officials are hurrying to bring airfields, roads, and other Bush infrastructure up to standard before funds get scarce.
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Breakup Creating Havoc For Ice Dredgers
The early break-up of sea ice has left winter gold-dredging operations scrambling to haul equipment back to shore – and not everyone has fared well so far.
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Bill Arming VPSOs Goes To Governor’s Desk
Village Public Safety Officers will soon be able to carry fire arms if Governor Sean Parnell signs a measure approved this morning in the Senate.
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Study Investigates Potential Impacts Of Road Development On Western Arctic Caribou Herd
In March, a group of researchers announced the results of a multi-year study assessing the impacts to caribou habitat of a potential service road from the Dalton Highway to the Ambler Mining District.
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