Alaska wildlife agents can resume shooting and killing black and brown bears — including from helicopters — as part of a plan to help recover a caribou herd that was once an important source of food for Alaska Native hunters, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Two conservation groups, the Alaska Wildlife Alliance and Center for Biological Diversity, sought to halt the program while their lawsuit challenging its legality plays out. But Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman said the groups had failed to show that the state acted without a reasonable basis for approving the plan.
The timing of the ruling is important: The Mulchatna caribou herd in southwest Alaska is expected to begin calving soon. The babies are particularly susceptible to being eaten by bears or wolves.
State officials see the bear-killing program as important to helping the caribou herd recover. The herd, which once provided up to about 4,770 caribou a year for subsistence hunters from dozens of communities, peaked at around 190,000 animals.
Advertisement
But the caribou population began declining in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and by 2019 numbered around 13,000 animals. Last year, the population was estimated around 16,280, according to the state Department of Fish and Game. Hunting has not been allowed since 2021.
The state killed 180 bears from 2023 to 2024, most of them brown bears, plus 11 more last year, according to the conservation groups’ lawsuit. According to the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, 99 bears, including 20 cubs, were killed by the state from the air in less than a month in 2023.
The groups argue that the Alaska Board of Game last year authorized reinstating the program without key data on the bears’ population numbers and sustainability.
Cooper Freeman, Alaska director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement the groups want to see the caribou herd thrive, “but the state simply hasn’t shown that the unrestrained killing of bears is going to help us get there.”
“We need to stop this disgraceful waste of the state’s limited resources and work based on science to protect all our wildlife,” Freeman said.
Advertisement
State attorneys have said that officials took a “hard look” at factors related to bear numbers in adopting the plan. Alaska is home to an estimated 100,000 black bears and 30,000 brown bears.
“The herd has persisted at low numbers but started showing a positive response since 2023, when bear removal during calving seasons began,” they wrote in a court filing.
The Alaska Department of Law welcomed Zeman’s decision “to allow this management program to continue during the upcoming caribou calving season, a crucial time for herd recovery,” spokesperson Sam Curtis said by email. The department represents the board and Department of Fish and Game.
“Continuing this program makes sense in light of the scientific record,” Curtis said.
Caribou traverse a ridgeline on Aug. 11, 2025, in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska.
Advertisement
Becky Bohrer/AP
Attorneys with Trustees for Alaska, representing the conservation groups, are reviewing the ruling and “will consider all available options,” spokesperson Madison Grosvenor said by email.
The program has been the subject of ongoing litigation. A judge last year, in a case previously brought by the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, found fault with the process in which it was adopted and concluded the state lacked data on bear sustainability.
Emergency regulations implemented by the state were later struck down. A subsequent public process was announced surrounding plans to reauthorize the program, which the board did last July.
Advertisement
According to the Alaska Wildlife Association, a group of state biologists in 2020 determined that the main reasons for the herd’s decline were disease and a lack of food and “bear predation isn’t even in the top three identified causes of mortality among the Mulchatna herd.”
“We are concerned that big game management in Alaska has become a process whereby population objectives for wild ungulates are established based on public demand rather than on habitat capacity, promoting unsustainable management,” the alliance says in a position paper.
Alaska study sees mixed results on links between kelp farms and CO2 levels
Published 5:30 am Thursday, June 18, 2026
A study into the amount of CO2 absorbed at a pair of Alaska kelp farms is throwing some cold water on hopes that seaweed could be an answer to climate change.
Alaska kelp farms, which have been viewed as a potential boon for reducing local carbon-dioxide levels, have surprisingly murky effects on atmospheric CO2 removal, according to a new study.
A University of Alaska Fairbanks-led project measured the amount of CO2 that was emitted and absorbed at two kelp farms in the Gulf of Alaska during the 2023-2024 growing season. The outcome was mixed — one farm slightly reduced carbon dioxide in the local environment while the other added more to it.
Advertisement
Marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) has been touted as a potential strategy to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, with the ocean serving as a sink for human-produced CO2.
The study, which was recently published in the journal Ocean Science, is the first to measure mCDR in Alaska waters. It focused on kelp farms, which can draw down CO2 through the process of photosynthesis.
“It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon that seaweed is going to change the world, but ultimately we want to be honest to the public,” said Amanda Kelley, an associate professor at UAF’s College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and a contributor to the study.
“Really, it’s very nuanced, and there are a lot of factors that affect kelp’s ability to do that.”
Josianne Haag, who led the project as a UAF doctoral student, installed sensors both inside and outside kelp farms in Windy Bay near Cordova and Kalsin Bay on Kodiak Island. From seeding to harvest, hourly data was collected on ocean chemistry, temperature, salinity and oxygen levels.
Advertisement
The two sites had numerous differences, including the type of seaweed being planted, the timing of their growing seasons and the size of the farms. Also, Windy Bay’s tides are more extreme than Kalsin Bay’s.
The results were striking and varied. The farms flipped between absorbing and releasing carbon dioxide depending on the amount of sunlight and the time of day. Extreme low tides affected CO2 levels by flushing groundwater into the area, briefly raising carbon dioxide levels.
A film of marine fauna grew on some of the farm equipment in Kalsin Bay, leading to a burst of carbon dioxide production through their respiration.
Overall, the Windy Bay farm slightly reduced nearby atmospheric marine carbon dioxide levels while the Kalsin Bay farm boosted them. Measurements will continue at the farms for at least two more years, but the first season revealed that a kelp farm’s recipe for carbon intake and output is surprising and complex.
“It’s really not doing much in either direction,” Haag said. “The farms aren’t necessarily harming anything, but we shouldn’t be blowing out of proportion that they’re going to save us from climate change.”
Advertisement
The study was part of the Mariculture Research and Restoration Consortium project, which is an ongoing effort to look at the impacts and benefits of mariculture in Alaska. Mar ReCon research is funded by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council.
By Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protectionon
At approximately 7:30 p.m. Wednesday evening, a fire was reported off Healy Spur Road. The Division of Forestry & Fire Protection, along with the Tri-Valley Volunteer Fire Department and Anderson Fire Department, responded to the Gagnon Coal Seam Fire (#206).
Estimated at 3 acres, the fire was burning in grass with approximately 50% of the perimeter actively burning. A five person Initial Attack squad, helicopter, and engine responded. Light rain was reported at the incident upon arrival.
There are no structures threatened, and there are no evacuations in place. This will be the last update on this incident, unless conditions change.
Advertisement
This map shows the location of the Gagnon Coal Seam Fire (#206) located on the Healy Spur Road east of Usibelli on Wednesday, June 17, 2026. Click on the image to download a PDF type file to enlarge or print.
‹ DFFP is responding to the Bulchitna Fire in the Fish Lakes area of the Yentna River
Categories: Active Wildland Fire, Alaska DNR – Division of Forestry & Fire Protection (DFFP)
Tags: 2026 Alaska Fire Season, coal seam, DFFP Northern Region, Gagnon Coal Seam Fire
Anchorage police shot and killed a shoplifting suspect, who also allegedly shot two officers, during an attempted arrest at a Walmart on the city’s southside late Tuesday.
That’s according to Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case, who shared preliminary details of the incident in a press conference with news media Wednesday morning.
One officer remained hospitalized in stable condition Wednesday after the shoplifting suspect shot him in the lower body, Case said. Another officer was shot in the chest, but protective armor stopped the shots, the police chief said.
“We almost lost an officer last night, probably two, at what took place,” Case said. “This went from a simple misdemeanor arrest to a very violent act at the snap of a finger in close quarters.”
Advertisement
Case described a chaotic struggle between the man – whose name police have not yet released – and three officers responding to a reported shoplifting at the Walmart store on the Old Seward Highway near Dimond Boulevard at about 10:25 p.m. Tuesday.
Walmart staff had stopped the man and brought him to a loss prevention office at the store, because they believed he had some stolen merchandise that was hidden on his person, Case said. The man was sitting in the office with Walmart employees when officers arrived, Case said.
In the small room, the officers were getting some basic information when the man tried to flee, Case said.
“The three officers and the suspect went down to the ground,” Case said. “During the struggle, the suspect fired rounds at one of the officers that hit him twice in the lower body. The suspect then fired some additional rounds that struck another officer in the chest. That round was stopped by a ballistic plate in his vest.”
Wesley Early
Advertisement
/
Alaska Public Media
Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case discusses a police shooting with news media on June 17, 2026. The shooting occurred at a Walmart near Dimond Boulevard the night before.
Case said officers were unaware the man had a gun on him until he began firing.
The officer struck in the chest returned fire, killing the man, Case said.
“The officer that was struck in the lower body was immediately transported to a local hospital,” he said. “The other two officers that were in the room also sustained injuries, and they went to the hospital later and were cleared.”
Advertisement
Case said the shooting was contained to the loss prevention office and did not spill out into the rest of the store.
Calls to Walmart went unanswered Wednesday morning. An Anchorage Reddit user who said they were at the store described employees rushing shoppers out after the shooting.
The store remained closed Wednesday as yellow tape blocked the entrance and investigators appeared to be inside analyzing the scene.
Under Anchorage Police Department policy, the names of the officers involved in the incident will be released after 72 hours. Case said the officers were part of the department’s Patrol Division.
This is the third fatal police shooting in Anchorage so far in 2026 and the fifth police shooting overall. Case said the city has seen “too much gun violence” in recent months and that the community needs to come together to address solutions.
Advertisement
“The Anchorage Police Department is going to keep these conversations going even if these conversations lead to criticism on how we do and conduct our business,” Case said. “We are open for all the conversations, so that we can move forward as a community to see some of these numbers go down.”
