Tash Kimmell, KCAW - Sitka

According to the Forest Service, this is the first large scale outbreak Southeast has seen since the mid 90s.

Cats with polydactylism are born with extra digits. In Alice’s case, that means six toes on each front paw, for a total of 20 toes. Most cats have 18.

There are few places in the world where world-class waves meet unobstructed views of a temperate rainforest. But that’s just a small part of what makes surfing in Yakutat so special.

Borough Manager Jon Erickson said Yakutat has gotten about 6 feet of snow over the past few weeks, causing intermittent power outages, damage to buildings and school closures.

For millennia, people in Southeast Alaska have relied on the sea for sustenance. But what happens when traditional foods could be deadly? That question was behind the founding of Sitka Tribe of Alaska’s Environmental Research Lab in 2016. The lab tests shellfish from 17 Southeast communities as well as tribes on Kodiak Island.

It was 1971 when Mary Jo Lord-Wild stopped off in the small Southeast Alaska community of Elfin Cove to visit a friend.

For Southeast Dough Company’s Jylkka, baking bread is not just an occupation but a way of connecting, especially in an age when human connection has never been more tenuous.

After nearly 30 years in relative dormancy, the western black-headed budworm population is exploding in Southeast Alaska, leaving swaths of browning hemlock in its path.