Izembek National Wildlife Refuge

Izembek National Wildlife Refuge
Coastal region in the Izembek NWR
Coordinates: 55 ° 18 ′ 0 ″  N , 162 ° 41 ′ 0 ″  W.
Location:	Alaska , United States
Next city:	Cold Bay
Surface:	1259 km²

The Izembek National Wildlife Refuge is a 1259 km² protected area of ​​the National Wildlife Refuge System at the southwestern end of the Alaska Peninsula between the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska in the US state of Alaska . With an area of ​​1215 km², the majority of the refuge is designated as Wilderness Area , the strictest class of nature reserves in the United States. In 2001, the American Bird Conservancy granted the refuge the status of a bird habitat of major global importance. The protected area is managed by the World Conservation Union in category IV ( biotope and species protection area ).

The Wildlife Refuge is located in a chain of nature reserves on the peninsula that includes Katmai National Park , Becharof National Wildlife Refuge , Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge , Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve, and Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.

To the northeast is the Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge , the Pavlof unit of which is managed by the administration of the Izembek NWR. In the center of the refuge is the 390 km² Izembek lagoon open to the Bering Sea , which has been protected as the Izembek State Game Refuge since 1960 and was designated by the Ramsar Convention in 1986 as the first wetland in the USA of international importance.

Wildlife

The Lefthand Valley

Salmon migrating to their spawning areas are an important food source for many animals in the sanctuary. Mammals such as brown bears , wolves , wolverines , moose and reindeer, as well as more than 5000 animals from the Southern Alaska Peninsula herd, live in the refuge, as do waders and sea ​​birds .

Marine mammals such as sea ​​otters , seals , walruses and Steller sea lions have their habitat in the waters on the coast of the protected area. Orcas , gray , minke and humpback whales migrate through the lagoons and along the coasts.

Tens of thousands of Canada geese and emperor geese gather in the shallow brackish water of the Izembek lagoon during bird migration . In autumn, almost the entire population of black-bellied brent geese of around 150,000 animals arrive at the lagoon on the way to the winter quarters .

Large flocks of blue ducks overwinter on the southern Alaska Peninsula and in the Izembek Refuge. The ducks listed as threatened species depend on an intact ecosystem with abundant occurrences of common seaweed that the Izembek lagoon offers.

history

The reserve is part of Beringia . Archaeological finds of cooking waste in the region of the present-day protected area suggest a population of around 14,000 years ago. The region was named in 1827 by Count Feodor Lutke, a crew member of one of the first Russian ships in the area, after the ship's doctor Karl Izembek.

During the Second World War , the Japanese army occupied some islands in the outer Aleutian Islands , which brought the region into the focus of military strategy. 20,000 US Army soldiers were stationed at Fort Randell near Cold Bay . After the end of the war the base was abandoned and today only a few derelict barracks testify to the presence of the armed forces. The Cold Bay military airfield developed in the post-war period as a stopover for civil flights to the Aleutian islands and Asia.

In March 2009, the Public Land Management Act of 2009 passed a law that, in addition to other regulations relating to various protected areas, includes a land swap in the Izembek NWR. A year-long controversial for the building, about 30 km long gravel road through previously protected wilderness that the approximately 800 residents of King Cove easier access to the airfield from Cold Bay to enable the Reserve wins as compensation from the state of Alaska additional 174 square kilometers land .

Web links

Commons : Izembek National Wildlife Refuge  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

• US Fish & Wildlife Service: Izembek National Wildlife Refuge (official site; English)
• Izembek Wilderness (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ World Database on Protected Areas - Izembek National Wildlife Refuge (English)
2. ↑ Swapping Land for a Road to Somewhere Divides Alaskans , New York Times, September 26, 2008
3. ↑ Wilderness Bill with Izembek NWR Land Swap Passes ( Memento of the original from July 31, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Refuge Watch, March 25, 2009