Those looking for a reason to celebrate the Kenai River as the rising sun illuminated its turquoise waters Friday morning did not need to look far. Scores of pink and silver salmon swam in the lower river, rainbow trout navigated the middle, and spawning sockeye and king salmon rolled in its upper sections. Fishermen and recreational users enjoyed its bounty along its banks and in its flowing waters.

Back in 1996 when Borough Mayor Don Gilman had the idea of one stop shopping for state and borough permitting John Mahorschich was the one who got the ball rolling. He kept the ball rolling as the vision became a reality and Mahorschich became the director of the first Kenai River Center when a cooperative agreement was reached between the State of Alaska and Kenai Peninsula Borough. "It was Don's vision and I just happened to have the lucky opportunity to take the vision forward," said Mahorschich at small retirement luncheon in his honor at the Donald E.

The federal budget, energy production and a recent overturning of federal land management orders topped the list of items Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, discussed Thursday.

The gubernatorial debates kicked off on Tuesday in Soldotna with Republican incumbent Sean Parnell and Democratic challenger Ethan Berkowitz squaring off.

There are no more rats on Rat Island, but the massive effort to rid island, located in the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, appears to be a bittersweet success, as a large number of gull and bald eagles were found dead recently.

ANCHORAGE (AP) -- Nearly a thousand firefighters from around Alaska have headed South to help exhausted crews battle wildfires raging in the Lower 48.

...tribes in Alaska, and all those systems are down too, said Cam Toohey, special assistant in Alaska to the Secretary of the Interior. No one knows when the Web sites will come back up. ''It's been frustrating,'' said John Quinley, a...

Two days and a year after the first explosion in 2009 at the summit of Mount Redoubt, Rep. Don Young introduced legislation on Wednesday to establish a National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System.

Mr. Johnston's Dec. 31 Refuge Notebook was interesting but ignored crucial facts regarding snowmobile use in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge (KNWR). Sections 1110 and 811 of ANILCA permit use of snowmachines in all federal Conservation System Units (CSUs), including Wilderness Areas.

Just before leaving office, the Bush administration issued rules eviscerating the central consultation process of the Endangered Species Act; exempting greenhouse gas-emitting projects from regulation under the Act; and specifically banning federal agencies from protecting the polar bear from greenhouse gas emissions, the primary threat to its existence.