Published Jul 21, 2023 by Courtesy Bob Rinedour

Professor R. Terry Bowyer of the Institute of Arctic Biology, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, presented research on July 20 that maintains predator control efforts like those employed by the Alaska Board of Game do not increase hunters’ harvests of moose and caribou.

The Board of Game is mired in several controversies over its efforts to increase moose and caribou populations for sport hunters by reducing predator populations like bears and wolves.

Bowyer co-authored the paper with Sterling Miller, a retired biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. In it, they present data that suggests the state’s predator control policies do not work.

Bowyer discussed their paper, “Efficacy of Killing Large Carnivores to Enhance Moose Harvests: New Insights from a Long-Term View” at the International Mammalogical Congress in Anchorage.

The researchers say their findings have significant implications for the Alaska Board of Game with regard for predator kills purportedly authorized to increase large game for hunter harvesting.

Published Jul 21, 2023 by Bostin Christopher, KTOO

On today’s program:

• New UAS Chancellor Dr. Aparna Palmer who began July 1

Published Jul 20, 2023 by Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media - Anchorage

Alaska’s predator control programs — aimed at boosting moose, caribou and deer populations for hunters — do not work, according to research by two retired state Fish and Game biologists and a University of Alaska Fairbanks professor.

The study they’re presenting at the International Mammalogical Congress in Anchorage on Thursday, published in the scientific journal Diversity, says an analysis of one Southcentral Alaska game unit, Game Management Unit 13, found no increase in moose harvests in the years following predator control work there.

The state Division of Wildlife Conservation disputes that, saying not enough time had passed between the predator control work and the analysis of moose harvests to expect higher numbers of moose.

But the study’s lead author, Sterling Miller, spent two decades at the Division of Wildlife Conservation and says the state’s predator control programs are driven by politics, not science.

Published Jul 20, 2023 by Matthew Stolle, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn

Terry Nelson is a foremost authority on Oopsisms.

An oopsism is a foot-in-mouth remark. It's saying something before you know what you're going to say. It is blurting out a remark, sometimes with painful and hurtful consequences, before you can check at the door.

We've all been guilty of it.

Nelson, an associate dean of the University of Alaska, says such remarks are a widespread but unfortunate feature of daily conversations. She will be discussing the art of effective communication in a series of workshops called "#Oopsisms: Effectively Communicating Across Cultures in the 21st Century" in Rochester.

Nelson said she had been teaching racism and implicit bias for almost 10 years in a largely white institution when she discovered the term microaggression tended to stall and inhibit classroom discussion.

"Students were less likely to participate fully and share their knowledge during class discussions when the term was used," she said.

So she coined the word oopsism to describe the "unintentional blunder" by anyone that could be interpreted as a negative "ism." Whatever the ism, be it ageism, sexism, racism, homophobia, or elitism, the effect is to create a "mental and physical discomfort for the receiver."

"Oopsisms can occur with individuals within the same group or outside one's group. In other words, oopsisms do not discriminate," Nelson writes.

Published Jul 20, 2023 by Jesse Levine

At least 30 institutions have been notified that personal information of students and employees may have been exposed through vendors — including the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America, or TIAA — that use MOVEit or have a service provider that does, according to statements from the schools.

The impacted colleges and universities include Stony Brook University, Middlebury College, Rutgers University, Loyola University Chicago, Trinity College in Connecticut, Colorado State University, the University of Dayton and the University of Alaska.

Given the nature of the attack, many more institutions may have had data exposed, cybersecurity experts said.

Published Jul 20, 2023 by Caleb Jones, News-Miner Sports Reporter

UAF Nanooks women’s basketball coach, Amy Donovan, will represent Alaska at the 2023 NCAA College Basketball Academy.

The coaching staffs will be composed of Division II and III, NAIA, junior college and high school men’s and women’s basketball coaches.

The event will be held in Memphis, Tennessee from July 24-31.