Alaska
Federal bill would add veterinary care to IHS duties to address rabies, other risks in rural Alaska
The Indian Health Service provides medical and dental care to the Indigenous peoples of Alaska and elsewhere in the nation. What it does not provide, however, is veterinary care for animals living with the IHS’ human clients.
A bill introduced by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is an attempt to change that.
The bill, called the Veterinary Services to Improve Public Health in Rural Communities Act, was introduced by the Alaska senator last week. It would add veterinary services to the federal agency’s duties. That is important in rural Alaska, she said, where regular veterinarian care is notoriously scarce and where diseases in wild animal populations pose threats to domestic animals like dogs and, potentially, people.
The bill would direct the IHS to work with tribal organizations to provide veterinarian services, including spaying and neutering of pets.
A top concern is rabies, which is common in Alaska fox populations but also found in other animals and thus poses risks to people.
“Unfortunately, in Alaska we are experiencing more frequent rabies outbreaks in wild animal populations. Rural communities are disproportionately at higher risk of rabies transmission to humans due to uncontrolled dog populations in remote areas of Alaska — which is particularly concerning given the challenges of providing health care in many rural and remote villages,” Murkowski said in a statement. There are vaccination and voluntary veterinary services trying to address the problems, but those “are simply not able to meet the growing need for services. My bill would help bolster the veterinary workforce in Alaska, creating healthier and safer communities across the state,” she said.
Alaska Native children, research shows, are at elevated risks for dog bites, which could, in turn, expose them to rabies or other diseases that can spread between animals and people, also known as zoonotic diseases. A 2013 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that Alaska Native children’s rate of hospitalization for dog bites was about twice that of the general U.S. child population. Indigenous children in the Southwestern and Northern Plains states also had high rates of hospitalization for dog bites, the study found.
Dog bites and exposure through them to rabies and other diseases is a problem in Indigenous communities throughout the circumpolar north, and “dog bites have become an important public health burden” in those places, said a 2022 report by Canadian researchers that synthesized 257 individual studies.
Rabies is endemic, meaning entrenched, in the Arctic fox and red fox populations of northern Alaska, Western Alaska and the Aleutians, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. But rabies has been found in other wild animals, such as caribou and polar bears, according to the department.
Last summer, North America’s first confirmed case of a rabies-infected moose occurred in the Bering Strait-area village of Teller. The moose, found wandering in and around the community, was euthanized and found to be carrying the Arctic fox variant of the rabies virus, which is different from the red fox variant, the Department of Fish and Game said.
Among the provisions in Murkowski’s bill is a directive for the veterinary officers from the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps to provide services to the IHS, a directive for a study about the feasibility of delivering oral rabies vaccines in Alaska’s Arctic region and inclusion of the IHS as a coordinating agency in the National One Health Framework, which is addressing zoonotic diseases and federal agencies’ readiness to respond to them.
Alaska
Heat spreads across Alaska with no widespread rain in sight
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Tuesday was the fifth day in a row with above-average temperatures in Anchorage, and the 10th consecutive day without any measurable rainfall. This warm and dry trend will continue through the end of June, and likely into the first week of July.
High pressure is centered over the state. With the upper-level winds forced north, most of Alaska will stay storm-free.
The same cannot be said for the Aleutians or across the Bering Sea. An area of low pressure is spreading north, bringing high winds, rain, and a high surf to the northern Kuskokwim Bay coast. This area should be prepared for water levels to rise three to six feet above normal high tide. Wind gusts of 45 to 50 mph are also likely.
The Aleutians will also stay cool Wednesday, but high temperatures will climb back to the upper 60s and low 70s across Southcentral, mid- to upper 60s across Southeast, to the 80s across the Interior, and even to the 60s on the Slope.
Anchorage has already reached 75 degrees or above three times this month. We’ve only seen three days over 75 degrees in June six times in recorded history. The overall average temperature for June is only about half a degree above what is normal but is about 2 degrees above June to date of 2023. This month’s rainfall is also significantly lower than what most of Anchorage experienced last June, which brought 17 days with measurable precipitation, while this year, we’ve seen just four days with rain.
The number of active wildfires in the state is up to 222 as of Tuesday evening, and 22 of those are new in the past 24 hours. Fortunately, lighting activity was lower on Tuesday, with fewer than 1,000 strikes recorded. More than 5,000 lightning strikes were recorded in Alaska on Monday, and more than 6,000 were tallied on Sunday.
With high fire danger continuing, use extra caution to keep from adding any additional human-caused fires. Burn permits are suspended in the Mat-Su and Interior. Open fires are prohibited in Anchorage.
Copyright 2024 KTUU. All rights reserved.
Alaska
Report identifies opportunities restoring access to SE Alaska fisheries – The Cordova Times
A new report compiled by the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust (ASFT) in Sitka finds that Southeast Alaska communities are losing access to fisheries, but also identifies opportunities for implementing new ways to restore such access for the region.
“Based on what we heard from the dozens of community members who participated in our survey, it is clear that Southeast’s communities, particularly Indigenous communities, are losing access to fisheries and their future access remains uncertain,” said Linda Behnken, ASFT board president. “However, it is also clear that we have some real opportunities when it comes to designing and implementing new tools to help restore this access and ensure that local needs are being factored into larger discussions and decisions concerning Southeast’s economy.”
The report, released June 18, compiles findings of a regional survey ASFT distributed to area residents this spring in collaboration with the Sustainable Southeast Partnership (SSP) — proposing ways to address issues. The report was funded by the Southeast Conference through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy initiative.
ASFT said the goal is to assist local communities by providing data and information for future dialogues and community development planning, increasing awareness and encouraging more funds for fishery access-related projects. Participating communities included Angoon, Craig, Haines, Kake, Ketchikan, Klawock, Klukwan, Juneau, Sitka, Wrangell, and Yakutat.
Responses from these communities universally identified the fisheries as a crucial element of Southeast Alaska’s culture and economy moving forward. Respondents expressed concern about their ability to access and have a sustainable livelihood from local fisheries through traditional harvesting, commercial or recreational fishing.
Respondents’ key concerns included the changing climate and environment of Southeast Alaska and a sense of unpredictability for the future of marine resources. They expressed a lack of confidence that current scientific approaches to fishery management will be adequate in light of significant changes affecting the region and its resources due to climate change.
The report also discussed existing systems of governance that challenge access to fishery resources, challenges with limited access management at the state and federal levels and loss of community infrastructure such as processors, fish buyers, cold storage, marine services and/or transportation often initiated with the trend in outmigration of fishery access in remote communities.
Many participating area residents said the utmost priority is protection and perpetuation of a traditional way of life, with commercial fishing considered secondary, as a tool to bridge the traditional and cash economies.
They discussed the rapid growth of tourism in Southeast Alaska as something feeding competition and tensions between local-commercial and traditional-use harvesters and non-local harvesters in the sportfish sector.
The report included recommendations for building more equitable and accessible fisheries in Southeast Alaska, including incorporating climate change variability and unpredictability into fishery management tools to facilitate fishery access and to ensure that other industries, including tourism and mariculture, do not further limit fishery access.
Recommendations also included establishing regional entities to hold quota/permits (such as regional Community Quota Entities and regional fisheries trusts) and more investment in community infrastructure.
Behnken said that ASFT was grateful to everyone who shared their thoughts on this complex topic.
“We hope that this report will uplift their voices and be a chance for the public, policy makers, and others to better understand some of the challenges that many Southeast residents are facing so that we can collectively find solutions and build a resilient and vibrant future for Southeast’s fisheries and communities,” she said.
Alaska
Hot and dry conditions lead to increasing wildfire danger across Alaska
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Summer weather continues to build in across the state, as a ridge is greatly influencing the weather across Mainland Alaska. Temperatures have been warming into the 70s and 80s through the Interior, while Southcentral has seen highs in the 60s and the 70s. This stretch of warm weather will remain through the week, accompanied by possibly thunderstorm development.
While hot and dry conditions have been building, the Aleutians are dealing with wet and breezy weather. This comes as a low near the Aleutians continues to lift to the north. Expect widespread rain through parts of this region, with the heaviest rain near the Pribilof Islands. Winds will gust anywhere from 30 to 65 mph. As the rain pushes to the northeast, it will run into ridging and quickly taper off into Wednesday. Some light rain showers look possible through parts of Southwest Alaska tomorrow morning, before the rain comes to an end.
Outside of the Aleutians and areas with thunderstorm formation, Alaska will remain on the drier side this week. While the ridge isn’t strong enough to cap thunderstorm development, it will prevent its widespread activity. It’s likely isolated to scattered storms will persist through the Interior and in Southcentral Alaska. A quick reminder that burn permits have been suspended in the Mat-Su Valley and Fairbanks due to the hot and dry conditions.
Any storms across Southcentral today will primarily impact western parts of the Matanuska Valley, the foothills of the Talkeetna Mountains and into the Copper River Basin. Storm motion will be to the north, so Anchorage and surrounding locations will largely stay dry. A rogue thunderstorm can’t be ruled out for the Kenai, but any precipitation will come in the form of spotty to isolated morning showers.
This hot and dry weather pattern continues through the end of June. Here in Southcentral, the weekend is once again shaping up to warm into the 70s.
Have a wonderful and safe Tuesday!
Copyright 2024 KTUU. All rights reserved.
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