Small unmanned drone planes are being used for the first time in Alaska in an attempt to stop the area’s wildfires from spreading.  The drones are flying over the fires, mapping out where the fire lines are holding and where the fire is spreading. Since August 5th the Insitu ScanEagle drones, which are being operated by University if Alaska staff members located at the Poker Flat Research Range, have been using infrared cameras to map out the states Crazy Mountain Complex fired. more »

In a move that is sure to be applauded by environmentalists and animal lovers everywhere, the Ontario government has decided to change the classification of its polar bear population from special concerned to threatened species. The decision comes as a result of the declining population of the bears in northern Ontario. The new classification will ensure more protection for the species. more »

When the school year starts in September, one of Carmel Middle School’s science teachers will be conversing with students of the Indiana school in an unconventional way. Christine Hedge will be writing logs of the Arctic adventure she will be on, posting them on line. more »

When the annual supply sea-lift arrives in a few weeks in the isolated community of Clyde River above the Arctic Circle, the 830 residents will be receiving more than their normal supplies. Building supplies for the new state-of-the-art Inuit cultural school will also be arriving.

The new school, Piqqusilirivvik, is going to be so different from conventional schools that government officials are saying that it shouldn’t even be referred to as a “school”.

The cultural learning center has received $10 million from Nunavut and $24 million from the Canadian federal government. Once built, it won’t have any affiliation with the territory’s education department and students won’t need to have stellar grades to be accepted to take classes in its “learning studios”. And, perhaps most importantly, tuition and living expenses won’t have to come out of the students’ pockets, but will be paid by the territory.

While there are currently cultural programs across Nunavut, Hugh Lloyd, the center’s project coordinator, said that many elders consider the programs inadequate, especially those that are associated with conventional schools, mainly because they don’t take into consideration weather or hunting conditions.

“Elders found it very frustrating that when they would just get going on something, people would say ‘We’ve got to go back now,’” Mr. Lloyd said.

Piqqusilirivvik, which means “a place that has those things important to us,” was in part inspired by Greenland’s Knud Rasmussen Folk High School and will concentrate on the present and preserving Inuit culture, not trying to correct past injustices.

The 2008 territorial report about the new learning center states that the center “should not be viewed as a means of correcting past errors. However, it should help students to adjust to modern life stresses by renewing their self-confidence and sense of identity.”

Piqqusilirivvik is scheduled to open its doors in April of 2011 and the plan is to admit 26 students from across the territory who are over 18 and have the support of their community for their studies.

As predicted, it looks like the Arctic is once again going to see a record low of ice this summer.  This past week end in particular was devastating, with tens of thousands of square miles of ice melting.

Eddie Gruben, who lives in the Arctic and has been observing the waxing and waning of the Arctic ice for years, sees that each decade there is more and more of a retreat of summer ice. more »

The idea of a university in the Canadian North is gaining more support as an increasing number of academics and those living in the region say that there is a strong need for a permanent university to be established in the region so students and researcher can have a dedicated place to study. Canada is the sole Arctic nation that doesn’t have a permanent university in the region. Canadian residents living in the north have to head to southern Canada if they want to continue their studies past high school.

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Canadian officials are still deciding what role Canada should play in a Danish led expedition that set out to map part of the Arctic several days ago. The expedition left port and headed into the waters near the North Pole.

The head of Canada’s Arctic mapping program, Jacob Verhoef, said, “We are still negotiating the details of how far we are part of that.” Verhoef also admitted that “It’s a little bit late.”

The Swedish icebreaker the Oden sailed towards the waters north of Greenland last weekend in order to map out the Lomonosov Ridge. Lomonosov Ridge is an undersea ridge that geographers are expecting to be crucial in determining the boundaries in the Arctic seabed. Denmark, which has a claim in the area to be mapped out because of the country’s ownership of Greenland, is leading the expedition.

While Canada partnered up in a similar mapping expedition in 2007 that was headed by the Danish, Verhoef says that there is only one Canadian on board the Swedish icebreaker this time. And as for whether or not Canada will be given access to any of the data produced on the trip, he says, “That’s something we are still discussing with them.”

Arctic expert and international law professor Michael Byers believes that Canada’s hesitation in getting involved in the expedition may have something to do with the current Conservative government wanting to save money on the Arctic file, even though it would be a missed opportunity.

“The Lomonosov Ridge is an area where we have potential overlapping claims (with Denmark). We may be missing an opportunity to acquire some quite valuable information.”

“Likely, the Conservative government is trying to do some cost saving.”

Other parts of Canada’s Arctic strategy have seen some cutbacks already, including the postponement of the testing of a High Arctic surveillance system at the gates of the Northwest Passage.

As part of his upcoming trip to the Arctic, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will get to see first hand how Canada is improving its military presence in the north.  Harper is planning on stopping in on the patrol frigate HMCS Toronto, while it takes part in the month –long military exercise off of Baffin Island. Harper will be dropping onto the patrol frigate by helicopter, a move that will no doubt be seen as a statement on Russia’s recent announcement that it will be performing paratrooper exercises in the region this upcoming spring. more »