Yukon River

Somewhere in the rolling tundra east of Deadhorse, a lone wolf hunts. The 100-pound male will take anything it can catch, or find - a ptarmigan, a darting tundra rodent, a fish, the scraps of a carcass, or, if lucky, a moose calf or caribou. Hunger is a common companion, but the wolf somehow survived when his mate probably died of it last winter. That event may have triggered the lone wolf¹s incredible summer journey from south of the Yukon River to the crumbling shores of the Beaufort Sea. The wolf has traveled about 1,500 miles in four months, according to biologist John Burch, who works for the National Park Service.

STORY UPDATED AT 10:49 p.m. 3/8/13: Martin Buser checked into Eagle Island shortly before 10 p.m. Friday, holding onto his lead in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Aliy Zirkle remained in second place checking out of Grayling shortly before 6 p.m. with some shakeup in the remaining top five. Rookie Joar Leifseth Ulsom, who hails from Norway, was listed in third, followed by Nicolas Petit in fourth, and Jessie Royer in fifth who has yet to declare an eight-hour layover. After Eagle Island, teams will approach Kaltag on the Yukon River, which is about 335 miles west of Fairbanks.

They are on the decline, and no one knows really why. Salmon returns to western Alaska continue to decrease, and that trend is leading to severe restrictions on commercial and subsistence fisheries. The impact of all this was the topic of a special legislative hearing Wednesday Afternoon. Before the House Special Committee on Fisheries at the Dena'ina Center are lingering questions that many have been asking for the past 10 years. Why are the salmon declining and how do you sustain and increase the fishery?

This summer's troubled king salmon runs have spawned a lot of debate about where the blame lies. Some believe ocean conditions are mainly responsible, while others point to fishing out on the high seas. There's a sign that one community development quota (CDQ) group, the Coastal Villages Region Fund, may have taken some pre-emptive measures to deflect criticism.  When it recently donated about $24,000 in nets to Kuskokwim River fishermen, it required them to sign statements in support of its pollock fishery in order to receive them.  In recent years, pollock fleets in the Bering Sea have come under attack for taking too many king salmon as they haul in their huge nets for pollock.

by Christine Kim and The Associated Press Wednesday, May 12, 2010 FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- The National Weather Service says an ice jam on the Yukon River between Galena and Ruby is causing the water to rise to levels not seen in four decades. The jam is just upstream of Galena and has raised water levels in the Ruby area. The wife of Mayor Jay DeLima says she's not too concerned about the residents in Ruby, but is worried what will happen when the ice breaks into Galena downriver.

by Jackie Bartz Friday, January 15, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Some help is on its way for Alaskans devastated by low salmon runs on the Yukon River, after federal officials declared the fishery a disaster Friday. Area anglers have been scraping by since last year, when the state shut down commercial fishing and severely limited the subsistence harvest as part of a treaty obligation to ensure enough spawning salmon made it to Canada. Last year, Canada ended up with more than enough -- the opposite of Alaska.

Alaska State Troopers and volunteer searchers have not found a Pitkas Point man who fell into the Yukon River Saturday while trying to remove a boat from a sandbar. Troopers say Nathan Oney, 22, and fellow Pitkas Point resident Nikita Wasky Jr., 33, were drinking and traveling from Mountain Village to Pitkas Point in a 16-foot boat with an outboard motor when they struck the sandbar. The two men tried to move the boat, but Oney fell into the water and did not surface. AST was alerted to the possible drowning just before midnight Saturday, and resumed a search for Oney Sunday morning.

by Kevin Wells Friday, March 12, 2010 RUBY, Alaska -- The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race has moved ahead to the mighty Yukon River, as mushers checked in to Ruby early Friday morning. How does this dinner menu sound: grilled halibut, lemon sorbet, beef tenderloin and blackberry jubilee? That's only a sampler platter of what Jeff King had a chance to savor for his leading position in Iditarod 38. The town of Ruby is celebrating its centennial in 2010, and on Friday the first Yukon River checkpoint welcomed one of the greatest mushers of the past 100 years.

by Channel 2 News staff Tuesday, May 4, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for the Yukon River after an ice jam formed about 20 to 25 miles above Circle, causing water levels to rise considerably upstream. A flood watch means there is potential for flooding based on current forecasts. The communities included in the advisory are Circle, Fort Yukon, Venetie, Central, Stevens Village, Beaver, Chalkyitsik, Birch Creek, Circle Hot Springs, Eagle Summit and Twelvemile Summit.