BARROW, ALASKA-- It is 1am mountain time, which my body still seems to be on, but about 11pm here in Barrow. I arrived... {Read More »}

OLIKTOK POINT, ALASKA-- Last week I made the trip back up to the Arctic coast. Along with two other students from the University of Wyoming who are helping with captures and sample processing, I flew from Denver to Anchorage on Thursday night, then onto Deadhorse... {Read More »}

DEADHORSE, ALASKA-- In the last dispatch, I wrote of polar bears getting by without food. In that situation – no food – the bears must be using body stores of fat for energy. Some bears can carry almost 50% of their body mass as fat... {Read More »}

KAKTOVIK, ALASKA-- The size of polar bears always amazes me. This bear had paws that were as wide as my hand is long, and it was not even a large male. The largest males can weigh over 1500 lbs, twice as much as this bear... {Read More »}

DEADHORSE, ALASKA-- Deadhorse is surprisingly accessible, but it is definitely in a wildly remote place; yesterday I woke to sunny skies and a temperature of -17 degrees (Fahrenheit). Spring warmth is coming – three weeks ago it was 30 below – but it is still winter here in the Arctic... {Read More »}

Summer is a critical time for polar bears and climate change is lengthening Arctic summers. {Read More »}

DEADHORSE, ALASKA-- When I began thinking about logistics for this project, one of the first questions I had was “How do you get to the Arctic?” I had done field work in wildnerness areas before, but nothing as remote as northern Alaska. For our first season on capturing polar bears... {Read More »}

TOOLIK LAKE STATION, ALASKA-- Balsam poplar is the northern-most tree species in North America. In Arctic Alaska, it occurs sporadically in isolated stands often adjacent to perennial springs or on south-facing slopes. Join our field crew as we venture... {Read More »}

COLVILLE RIVER, ALASKA– The science has reached the home stretch now, as has the entire summer’s field effort. We got a break in the cloudy weather last night, and sat around a fire labeling sample bags and weighing/organizing samples... {Read More »}

COLVILLE RIVER, ALASKA-- We awoke this morning to rain, wind, and 35˚ F temperatures. Immediately the remaining sampling lost most of its appeal, but we inhaled our coffee and oatmeal and staggered forth through the wet brush and tussock tundra... {Read More »}