On bright, breezy days across Alaska, families head out into the land with buckets, chasing the promise of fresh berries. Boots crunch over damp moss, berry-stained fingers reach for sun-warmed fruit, and laughter echoes over the vast tundra. These moments marked by full baskets, shared snacks, and family fun are an essential part of summer and early fall throughout the state.
For many Alaskans, gathering wild foods isn’t just seasonal fun— it’s culture, sustenance, and represents a deep connection to the land. From elders who know when the blueberries ripen to kids learning where to find the sweetest salmonberries, these practices shape family life and community ties. In late summer, people return to favored spots passed down through generations, gathering berries that will become jam, pie, or akutaq, the traditional Alaska Native dessert made with fats, berries, and fish.
But many don’t realize how much harder it has become to keep these traditions alive. As wildfire seasons grow longer and smoke thicker, even the simple act of berry picking now demands caution and planning. The overlap between Alaska’s peak foraging and wildfire seasons has made subsistence activities harder, more stressful, and at times dangerous. Still, nature finds a way.
“Blueberries actually like fire,” says Tina Buxbaum, a long-time berry picker in interior Alaska. “Oftentimes, some of your best spots are places it’s burned before.”
But while wildfires play a natural role in rejuvenating Alaska’s ecosystems, rising temperatures and shifting lightning patterns have led to wildfires moving into areas with little fire history. The danger isn’t just the flames—it’s the smoke. Filled with a mixture of harmful toxins, it stings eyes, irritates lungs, and poses serious health risks. Coughing, shortness of breath, and long-term respiratory issues can result, especially for young children, pregnant women, and those with chronic health conditions.
Stepping outside becomes a calculated risk. “Every time you want to go outside, you need to figure out where to go to avoid the smoke, which can be very stressful,” says Micah Hahn, a scientist at the University of Alaska Anchorage and principal investigator of a recent U.S. EPA STAR grant on smoke and health. Alaskans may ask themselves: Should we go today? Where is the smoke? Can we bring the kids? This is the harsh reality for communities whose lives are shaped by seasonal harvesting disrupted by wildfire smoke.
To address these challenges, Hahn and her team set out to develop a website to help Alaskans cope with wildfire smoke. They teamed up with the creators of the Alaska Wildfire Explorer. Originally a website for tracking wildfires and lightning strikes across the state, it evolved through this partnership and community input into a daily lifeline, offering public health and planning resources. Thanks to support from many agencies and collaboration with Indigenous groups—including the Copper River Native Association, Native Village of Gakona, Igiugig Village Council, and Louden Tribe—the tool blends cuttingedge science with community needs. Live air quality data, real-time smoke plume layers, and 48-hour smoke forecasts embolden people to adapt to climate shifts while honoring the rhythms of their land and life. With a few clicks, families can check current conditions and plan their activities to avoid heavy smoke exposure and stay safe.
To make these realities more accessible and relatable, the project team—including university researchers, graduate students, state agencies, community partners, and artists—collaborated through workshops to develop a series of comic stories that demonstrate how to use the tool. One follows a group of friends navigating salmon fishing amid fire season while another highlights the tension of berry picking under smoky skies. They reflect real experiences and challenges bringing data to life. More than educational tools, the comics are reminders that every map point represents a family trying to safely connect with the land they depend on.
The Alaska Wildfire Explorer is a powerful step toward building resilience in the face of changing wildfire and smoke conditions— designed with communities in mind. Knowing where fires burn and understanding current and future smoke conditions helps determine when it’s safe to fish, forage, and harvest. In a changing climate, protecting food means protecting the knowledge, access, and lands that have sustained communities for generations. Mariana Espinosa, a graduate student who helped create the comics, puts it best: “It feels really rewarding knowing that we created such an accessible resource… Making it easier for people to engage with complex scientific information is an important part of making sure that new research discoveries can be applied by everyone—not just scientists.”
For more information: bit.ly/alaska-wfe
