| Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1941 to preserve and protect the pristine habitat of the brown bear and other wildlife. The refuge comprises more than two-thirds of Kodiak Island and a small portion of Afognak Island.Kodiak is the largest island in the Gulf of Alaska. The Shelikof Strait, a thirty mile span of ocean, separates the island from the Alaska mainland. A Spruce forest coat lowlands in the eastern third of the archipelago, while to the west, tundra exist. Mountains rising to over 4,000 feet run the length of Kodiak Island. Eight hundred miles of coastline with associated shallows and marshes exist on the Kodiak Refuge alone.In winter, the area is important to sea ducks and other water birds whose combined populations number well over a million birds. A wide variety of upland and marine habitats, and temperatures moderated by the Gulf of Alaska, give Kodiak the greatest diversity of wintering birds in the State.Summer brings nesting birds from land and sea. Bank swallows arrive from South America and puffins fly in from North Pacific waters. While Kodiak is not in a major migratory bird pathway, a variety of migrants can be seen in small numbers.The Kodiak refuge is home to more than 2,200 Kodiak bears. The refuge is also home to Sitka black-tailed deer, mountain goats, red foxes, otters, short-tailed weasels, beavers and tundra voles, while whales, porpoises, stellar sea lions, seals and waterfowl inhabit the ocean. |
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