Within sight of almost half of all Alaskans lies a little known tidal estuary. Perched along Turnagain Arm on the northwestern Kenai Peninsula, the 27,000-acre Chickaloon Flats is the only part of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge that touches marine waters. It represents 7% of the total estuarine area in Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound, the two water bodies that form the peninsula. As such, it’s a small but important part of the Pacific Flyway for migratory shorebirds and waterfowl.
Read on for a full summary of the good, the bad, and the ugly of this year’s wildlife regulation changes in the Interior and the Western Arctic.
Comment by May 6th to secure enhanced protections for wildlife!
Catch our latest podcast interview on critically endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales!
Our Kenai Peninsula Coordinator, Teresa Becher, was just awarded a 2023 'Partners in the Spotlight Award' from NOAA fisheries! These national awards recognize partners who have expanded and enhanced recovery of the country's most imperiled marine species.
Check out this op ed that our very own Executive Director, Nicole Schmitt, wrote for the Alaska Landmine. Nicole wrote on our proposal to establish 50-yard trap setbacks on over 200 trails in the Mat-Su Valley in an effort to help reduce conflict between user groups on multi-use trails.
Alaska Wildlife Alliance’s Kenai coordinator, Teresa Becher, made another great appearance in the news for monitoring of critically endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales as part of the Alaska Beluga Monitoring Partnership! Read on to learn more about this past spring’s observations of belugas and how you can help these whales this fall.
The Peninsula Clarion published a fun read written by one of our board members, John Morton. John is our current board Vice President and is a former Supervisory Biologist at Kenai National Wildlife Refuge (KNWR), and he knows a lot about where to explore! Read more about the public use cabins in the KNWR where you can see glaciers, wildlife, lakes, and historical sites… you may just be reserving one after this!
There’s a mystery waiting to be solved in Alaskan waters, and it could take your help to crack the case. Along the west coast of the United States, gray whales have been having unusually high mortality events since 2019. National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA) is looking to continue collecting data on these whales to further gain insight as to what could be causing this unusual occurrence.
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