Lightning storms, drought and thawing tundra are making fires more destructive. In the vast wilderness, firefighting is a major challenge. A firefighter feels the scorched earth after an Alaska ...

Alaska is burning this year in ways ... rain-free June that dried out the duff layer — the band of decaying moss and grasses that blankets the floors of boreal forests and the tundra.

Tundra swans fly over Western Alaska. (Photo by Craig Ely) Tundra swans — at 15 pounds and with a wingspan of almost 6 feet — are now touching down on the ponds and snowfields of Alaska.

Southwest Alaska’s season was also big in non-tundra areas. In the Bristol Bay region, more area burned this summer (mostly in boreal forest) than had burned there in the entire time from 1950 ...