Alaskans who make an annual habit of digging for razor clams on the Kenai Peninsula may have noticed something odd over the last few tears – there just doesn’t seem to be as many clams on the beaches as there used to be. Scientists have also noticed the trend.

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The federal government is predicting a normal wildfire season in Alaska this year, but it could be later than normal.

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The nation as a whole is below normal for fire activity thus far this year. That’s because most early fires rage through the Eastern U.S.

Frequent precipitation here in the East has downgraded the threat.

In parts of Alaska, the late snowfall is having the same effect.

“As we move through May, there’s below normal conditions in Southern Alaska because of the late snowpack,” Jeremy Sullens, an analyst with the government’s National Interagency Fire Center, said.

Sullens says the snow pack will melt away fairly soon, but it could delay the typical start of the fire season.

Last August, a fire south of Fairbanks torched more than 40,000 acres.

A Canadian mining company is pulling out of an exploration project near Tok. The move comes as the price of gold has fallen about 15 percent from unprecedented highs in recent years, and may signal a slowdown in the mining industry.

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Break up will slow down this week as cold air returns to the Interior. National Weather Service meteorologist Scot Berg says a cold front is rapidly moving across the region.

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The start of the tourist season in Interior Alaska is coming up, and Denali National Park will be ready, despite lingering snow cover.

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Some people crave ice cream or fresh vegetables or pasta. Others prefer dried fish or caribou. As part of our series exploring culture in rural and urban Alaska, APRN’s Anne Hillman found out how strong links between food and culture are common throughout the state.

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Paul Wilkins stands in his tiny kitchen in his East Anchorage home, chopping herbs to spread on his homemade breadsticks.

“It’s buffalo wing sauce with jalapeños and cilantro and mozzarella cheese,” Wilkins said.

He’s testing a new recipe to share with his friend for her birthday.

“Cooking is one way to make people happy, to make people enjoy things,” Wilkins said.

Food brings people together. He says cooking, and food, are also part of his identity.

“I guess I define myself by what I like to do and food is part of that because I like to cook different things and taste different things and eat different things,” Wilkins said.

It’s also part of his cultural identity. He cooks lasagna and manicotti because his Italian mother prepared it throughout his childhood. He’s learning more about southern foods from his father’s side of the family. But not everyone has that family connection.

“There’s tons of kids that grow up just eating at strip malls and McDonald’s and Red Robin,” Wilkins said. “They’re great restaurants but I’m sure a lot of that in some families, some of that home-cooked meal history is lost in a lot of ways. I would guess.”

That can happen even in areas of Alaska without restaurants.

“When I was a teenager, in high school, I was going away from my food. Like any other teenager going for the candy and the chips. All that,” Dorcas Nesoluk said.

Dorcas, from Nuiqsut, says she stopped eating whale and caribou, traditional Inupiaq foods, and eventually she started feeling less healthy. It was a mantra repeated by Inupiat of all ages – “if we eat too much food from the Outside instead of local native foods, we get sick.”

When Nesoluk had her baby, four years ago, she decided to go back to eating traditional foods.

“I give it to my daughter, my little three-year-old. I grew up with it so I’m letting her grow up with it. She loves it. She can’t get over it. That’s how we all are raised – eating off the land,” Dorcas said.

Nesoluk and others stressed that for the Inupiat, food is directly tied to culture. And like all cultures, it’s constantly evolving and being influenced by outside sources. Hazel Kunakanna says that people certainly don’t just eat raw maktak, they incorporate food traditions from outside of Alaska.

“You know, like my grandma, she used to like it fried with onions and stuff. And then some people like fry it and fry their maktak like a stir-fry with rice.” “And you put soy sauce on it?” “Yeah, you could put soy sauce on it,” Kunakanna said.

And just because she’s committed to eating and teaching about native foods, it doesn’t mean she’ll eat everything, like caribou head.

“My grandma used to always like eating tuk-tuk head. They cooked the brains with the tongue and you know you boil it. I never tried it before but most of my kids like it because my husband grew up with it.” “But you don’t do it?” “uh-uh! I don’t even.” laughter “How come?” “I grew up with my grandma, with all my Inupiaq food, but me, I just don’t eat it,” Kunakanna said.

April Philip, a student at Ilisagvik College in Barrow, says she would love to eat more of her native foods from Bethel. Her Yupik family sends her dried fish and akutaq, but she often only has time to microwave a Hot Pocket and get to class. And though eating her native foods ties her to her family, it’s not the same.

“My Yupik family for instance, they’re not around. And you don’t hear the normal words you would hear at the dinner table. But I do feel, I do feel like closer to home,” Philip said.

Back at Wilkins’ home, he pulls the breadsticks out of the oven and turns on his friend’s favorite music. Just like Philips and others around Alaska, he feels the same relationship between culture and food.

“The food that people eat partially defines the way their culture has evolved over millennia, really,” Wilkins said.

He says that it’s already helped define the culture for many Alaska Natives and only time will tell how it will define Alaska’s urban areas.

Individual news stories are posted on the APRN news page. You can subscribe to APRN’s newsfeeds via email, podcast and RSS. Follow us on Facebook at alaskapublic.org and on Twitter @aprn.

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Couple Escapes As Landslide Destroys Cabin

Robert Woolsey, KCAW – Sitka

Two Sitkans are safe after a massive landslide destroyed the cabin they were camping in Sunday morning. An air taxi pilot rescued the pair from a debris field estimated to be 20 feet deep. All their belongings were buried in the slide. Their dog remains missing.

Scientists Detect Eruption At Peninsula Volcano

Stephanie Joyce, KUCB – Unalaska

Alaska’s most active volcano appears to be erupting. Mount Pavlof, on the Alaska Peninsula, started rumbling this morning, according to Alaska Volcano Observatory scientist-in-charge John Power.

Man Dies After Bulldozer Falls Through Ice Near Stephan Lake Lodge

Ellen Lockyer, KSKA – Anchorage

A fatal accident that took the life of a bulldozer driver near Stephan Lake Lodge north of Talkeetna on Friday occurred only hours after a state Department of Natural Resources team had flown over the site on an inspection tour.  The work is being done to build an airstrip to support studies on the Susitna Dam project.

Wildfire Season Expected To Start Later Than Normal

Peter Granitz, APRN – Washington DC

The federal government is predicting a normal wildfire season in Alaska this year, but it could be later than normal.

Kenai Peninsula Razor Clams Appear To Be Declining

Aaron Selbig, KBBI – Homer

Alaskans who make an annual habit of digging for razor clams on the Kenai Peninsula may have noticed something odd over the last few tears – there just doesn’t seem to be as many clams on the beaches as there used to be. Scientists have also noticed the trend.

Mining Company Pulls Out Of Exploratory Project Near Tok

Tim Ellis, KUAC – Fairbanks

A Canadian mining company is pulling out of an exploration project near Tok.  The move comes as the price of gold has fallen about 15 percent from unprecedented highs in recent years, and may signal a slowdown in the mining industry.

Cold Returns To Interior Alaska

Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks

Break up will slow down this week as cold air returns to the Interior.  National Weather Service meteorologist Scot Berg says a cold front is rapidly moving across the region.

Denali National Park Expected To Open On Time Despite Lingering Snow Cover

Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks

The start of the tourist season in Interior Alaska is coming up, and Denali National Park will be ready, despite lingering snow cover.

Alaska Cultural Connections: Food And Culture

Annie Hillman, APRN Contributor

Some people crave ice cream or fresh vegetables or pasta. Others prefer dried fish or caribou. As part of our series exploring culture in rural and urban Alaska, APRN’s Anne Hillman found out how strong links between food and culture are common throughout the state.

It’s a chilly spring in the Anchorage area. National Weather Service Meteorologist Chris Burling says temperatures in recent days have been just a few degrees below normal, but that comes after a winter and early spring with lower temperatures than usual.

“We’ve really been colder than normal here throughout most of the winter,” Burling said. “The only months we were actually above normal a little bit temperature-wise was January and February, I believe.”

“We’ve been below normal since March and dating back into the fall and last summer even.”

The National Weather Service shows Anchorage area temperatures in October were 1.6 degrees below normal. During November and December, average temperatures were 4.5 degrees below normal, and March and April temperatures were 7 degrees below the statistical norm.

Burling says a low pressure system over mainland Alaska will hold for several more days.

“It does look at least through the short term here, at least through next week, we are going to be remaining in this colder pattern,” Burling said.

Burling says the forecast for Southcentral Alaska shows temperatures in the 40s and 50s,with a chance of late-season snow and temperatures in the high 20s or low 30s Friday or Saturday.

Annie Oakley, the star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, thrilled audiences around the world with her daring shooting feats. While her act helped fuel turn-of-the-century nostalgia for the vanished, mythical world of the American West, the legend of Annie Oakley had little to do with the real Annie. Although famous as a western sharpshooter, Oakley lived her entire life east of the Mississippi. A champion in a man’s sport, Oakley forever changed ideas about the abilities of women, yet opposed female suffrage. Her fame and fortune came from her skill with guns, a concept that was counter to her Quaker upbringing.

• TV: Tuesday, 5/14 at 7:00 p.m.

A man’s body was discovered in a van that was burning in the parking lot of a mid-town Anchorage restaurant Thursday night.

Karl Leroy Cox. Junior, 28, was reportedly living in the van. The van was not street legal. The investigation continues.

A child visiting a sled dog lot in Big Lake is hospitalized after a dog got loose and attacked her. The lot was Jake Berkowitz’s but there were other dogs boarding there as well.

Two-year-old Elin Shuck was with her mother tending to their dogs when another dog reportedly came after the child. Elin is reported in stable condition with serious injuries.