Manitoban [Marty Bergmann] Killed in Resolute Bay Air Crash. A plane crash in Resolute Bay, Nunavut, has taken the life of a Manitoba-based public servant. Marty Bergmann, director of Natural Resources Canada's Polar Continental Shelf Program was among the victims in Saturday's crash of a First Air Boeing 737 that was attempting to land at Resolute Bay in the high Arctic. Twelve people were killed and three survived with serious injuries when the chartered aircraft went down as it was reportedly landing at Resolute Bay in fog. [USARC sends condolences. It's a tragic loss to the intl' scientific community as well as his family and colleagues, as Marty was a true champion and enabler of research.] CBC News

Arrests Continue at White House Oil Pipeline Protest. U.S. Park Police arrested another 45 environmentalists near the White House Sunday, the second day of a two-week demonstration urging President Obama to block a proposed pipeline that would greatly expand imports from Canada's oil sands projects. Police say 110 people over two days have been peacefully arrested after engaging in civil disobedience in front of the fence north of the White House. The Hill

Huntsman: GOP Can't Become 'Anti-Science' Party. Texas Gov. Rick Perry's denial of global warming poses a "serious problem" for Republicans trying to take back the White House in 2012, presidential rival Jon Huntsman says. "The minute that the Republican Party becomes the party - the anti-science party, we have a huge problem. We lose a whole lot of people who would otherwise allow us to win the election in 2012," the former Utah governor said in an interview that aired Sunday on ABC's "This Week." Politico

Harper Urged to Alter Arctic Strategy: Government 'doing right things for wrong reasons.' The fatal plane crash in Resolute Bay Saturday could cause some changes to a scheduled trip to the North by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Harper's office was unable to confirm details of the trip in the wake of the crash. While the trek up north has become an annual event for Harper, senior Canadian scientists have been urging him to balance his strategy for the region. The Gazette 

Caribou Populations Back from the Brink. Two years ago scientists feared northern caribou were the new cod - once-teeming stocks of wildlife that had sustained entire cultures but were at the edge of collapse. Now, as scientists from around the world gather in Yellowknife to compare notes, biologists are beginning to see signs that the worst is past for an animal so central to the Canadian imagination it's on the back of the quarter. "Our situation overall is looking a lot brighter than it did two years ago," said Jan Adamczewski, a biologist with the government of the Northwest Territories. "Those of us concerned with management of these caribou herds are breathing just a little bit easier." CBC News

 In Race for the Arctic, U.S. is Largely Sidelined. [Blog] The really cold war? Beneath the towering icebergs, herds of walruses and packs of polar bears, the potential trade routes and vast natural resources trapped beneath the Arctic have long inspired traders, governments and explorers. There was Vitus Bering in the 18th century, who gave his name to the great frozen gateway to the Arctic when he sailed through it and proved that America and Siberia were not connected, and Adolf Nordenskiold, still a hero to Finns for making the first crossing in 1878 of the Northeastern Passage, the Atlantic to Pacific route through the Arctic Ocean that is thousands of miles shorter than the treacherous way round Africa and India. The Washington Post  

ANWR Draft in Public Comment Phase: Open house in Fairbanks Wednesday. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge released its latest draft of its Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Impact Statement, that outlines long-term management of the refuge. Refuge staff and planners will host an open house Wednesday in Fairbanks for public comment. The current plan is more than 20 years old. The new drafts include new scientific information and changes in laws, policies and refuge conditions that have changed since the 1988 original plan, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service press release. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Fatal Crash Highlights Flight Perils in Arctic. As investigators probed the wreckage of a First Air 737 jetliner that crashed just outside Resolute Bay, Nunavut, killing 12 people and seriously injuring three on Saturday, a former air traffic controller who helped guide planes in and out of the North for 30 years said narrowing down the cause of the crash may be difficult. "It's a very tough world," Yvan-Miville Des Chênes said, with limited infrastructure, unpredictable weather, a unique solar cycle and even animal migrations combining in the vast region to make it one of the most challenging environments in which to maintain and operate an aircraft. Monique Muise reports. Montreal Gazette

Climate Warming Accelerates Arctic Migration for Some Species. Climate warming has been driving animals and plants toward the poles at a rate three times faster than previously thought - and pushing them higher in elevation about twice as fast, according to a new study that examined the response of some 2,000 species to global warming over the past half century. The research, conducted by a team based at the University of York, also demonstrated for the first time that these plants and animals have shifted their habitat in direct response to rising temperatures and not some other factor. Alaska Dispatch 

PM Brings Soft Power and Firepower to Bear in the North. Stephen Harper has been pounding the drum of Arctic sovereignty even before he became Prime Minister. And in 2007, he rattled his sabre and said the Conservative government would buy as many as eight ships to allow the military to conduct regular patrols of northern waters. His plan, however, to open his sixth annual visit to the Far North with a display of Canada's military capabilities has been turned on its heels by the horrific plane crash on Saturday that killed 12 people. The Globe and Mail

Walruses Haul-Out Three Weeks Early, Global Warming Blamed. An extremely early sea ice melt-off has sent thousands of Pacific walruses onto the beaches of northwest Alaska, placing pups in danger of being crushed on the crowded shoreline for the fourth year out of the past five due to the abnormal weather conditions. This year's walrus haul-out, when the lumbering pinnipeds pull themselves ashore, comes a full three weeks earlier than last year's -- a potent symbol, environmental groups say -- that global warming is at work. USAToday

Yellowknife Conference to Study Wildlife Patterns. Researchers and hunters from the territories are heading to Yellowknife as part of an arctic wildlife conference. The Arctic Ungulate Conference, set to begin next week, is held every four years and focuses on the management of northern species such as caribou, moose and bison. More than 200 delegates from the territories and circumpolar countries are expected to attend. CBC News

Geologists Ship Out, Hoping to Claim Piece of Arctic for Canada. With two

Dr. Larry Mayer, US Chief Scientist

research icebreakers, over 100 geologists and geographers from Canada and the United States, three Inuit mammal spotters on the watch for vulnerable wildlife, and two underwater autonomous vehicles that can operate beneath sheet ice, a geological survey team set out last night to crush their way through the last untrammelled regions of the Arctic, mapping the sea floor as they go. But there's far more at stake than just a geological survey: it may be the last chance for Canada to collect the high-resolution data the country needs to stake a claim to a ridge along the Arctic sea floor-and the potential natural resources it holds. Canada is facing a 2013 deadline to make their case as the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which governs this process and which Canada ratified in 2003, gives nations a decade to submit such claims. Science Mag