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Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, on the western coast of the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, is part of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System and is managed jointly by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Covering more than , it is the largest reserve in the system, encompassing one of the most diverse and intensively used estuaries in Alaska. The local community pursued the designation of Kachemak Bay as a National Estuarine Research Reserve to preserve the lifestyle and economy of the region. The boundary for Kachemak Bay NERR encompasses two State CHAs (Kachemak Bay Critical Habitat Area and Fox River Flats Critical Habitat Area), and two State Parks, (Kachemak Bay State Park and Kachemak Bay State Wilderness Park Kachemak Bay State Park and Kachemak Bay State Wilderness Park is a park in and around Kachemak Bay, Alaska, United States. Kachemak Bay State Park was the first legislatively desi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenai Peninsula
The Kenai Peninsula ( Dena'ina: ''Yaghenen'') is a large peninsula jutting from the coast of Southcentral Alaska. The name Kenai (, ) is derived from the word "Kenaitze" or "Kenaitze Indian Tribe", the name of the Native Athabascan Alaskan tribe, the Kahtnuht’ana Dena’ina ("People along the Kahtnu (Kenai River)"), who historically inhabited the area. They called the Kenai Peninsula ''Yaghanen'' ("the good land"). Geography The peninsula extends about southwest from the Chugach Mountains, south of Anchorage. It is separated from the mainland on the west by Cook Inlet and on the east by Prince William Sound. Most of the peninsula is part of the Kenai Peninsula Borough. Athabaskan and Alutiiq Native groups lived on the peninsula for thousands of years prior to Gerasim Izmailov becoming the first European to explore and map the area in 1789. The glacier-covered Kenai Mountains, rising , run along the southeast spine of the peninsula along the coast of the Gulf of Alaska. Much ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., it borders the Canadian province of British Columbia and the Yukon territory to the east; it also shares a maritime border with the Russian Federation's Chukotka Autonomous Okrug to the west, just across the Bering Strait. To the north are the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of the Arctic Ocean, while the Pacific Ocean lies to the south and southwest. Alaska is by far the largest U.S. state by area, comprising more total area than the next three largest states (Texas, California, and Montana) combined. It represents the seventh-largest subnational division in the world. It is the third-least populous and the most sparsely populated state, but by far the continent's most populous territory located mostly north of the 60th parallel, with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Estuarine Research Reserve
The National Estuarine Research Reserve System is a network of 29 protected areas established by partnerships between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and coastal states. The reserves represent different biogeographic regions of the United States. The National Estuarine Research Reserve System protects more than 1.3 million acres of coastal and estuarine habitats for long-term research, water-quality monitoring, education, and coastal stewardship. Background For thousands of years, coastal and estuarine environments have provided people with food, safe harbors, transportation access, flood control, and a place to play and relax. The pressures on the nation's coast are enormous and the impacts on economies and ecosystems are becoming increasingly evident. Severe storms, climate change, pollution, habitat alteration and rapid population growth threaten the ecological functions that have supported coastal communities throughout history. Estuaries are the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charts the seas, conducts deep sea exploration, and manages fishing and protection of marine mammals and endangered species in the U.S. exclusive economic zone. Purpose and function NOAA's specific roles include: * ''Supplying Environmental Information Products''. NOAA supplies to its customers and partners information pertaining to the state of the oceans and the atmosphere, such as weather warnings and forecasts via the National Weather Service. NOAA's information services extend as well to climate, ecosystems, and commerce. * ''Providing Environmental Stewardship Services''. NOAA is a steward of U.S. coastal and marine environments. In coordination with federal, state, local, tribal and international authorities, NOAA manages the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alaska Department Of Fish And Game
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) is a department within the government of Alaska. ADF&G's mission is to protect, maintain, and improve the fish, game, and aquatic plant resources of the state, and manage their use and development in the best interest of the economy and the well-being of the people of the state, consistent with the sustained yield principle. ADF&G manages approximately 750 active fisheries, 26 game management units, and 32 special areas. From resource policy to public education, the department considers public involvement essential to its mission and goals. The department is committed to working with tribes in Alaska and with a diverse group of State and Federal agencies. The department works cooperatively with various universities and nongovernmental organizations in formal and informal partnership arrangements, and assists local research or baseline environmental monitoring through citizen science programs. History In 1949, the Territorial Legislatu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Estuary
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environments and are an example of an ecotone. Estuaries are subject both to marine influences such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water, and to fluvial influences such as flows of freshwater and sediment. The mixing of seawater and freshwater provides high levels of nutrients both in the water column and in sediment, making estuaries among the most productive natural habitats in the world. Most existing estuaries formed during the Holocene epoch with the flooding of river-eroded or glacially scoured valleys when the sea level began to rise about 10,000–12,000 years ago. Estuaries are typically classified according to their geomorphological features or to water-circulation patterns. They can have many different names, such as bays, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kachemak Bay
Kachemak Bay ( Dena'ina: ''Tika Kaq’'') is a 40-mi-long (64 km) arm of Cook Inlet in the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the southwest side of the Kenai Peninsula. The communities of Homer, Halibut Cove, Seldovia, Nanwalek, Port Graham, and Kachemak City are on the bay as well as three Old Believer settlements in the Fox River area, Voznesenka, Kachemak Selo, and Razdolna. One interpretation of the word "Kachemak" is "Smokey Bay" which supposedly is from an Alutiiq word describing the smoldering coal seams that used to fill the bay with smoke. Features Kachemak Bay is home to Alaska's only state wilderness park, Kachemak Bay State Park. Kachemak Bay State park was the first state park in Alaska. There is no road access to most of the park; visitors must arrive by airplane or boat. left, visitors on board a tour boat observing seabirds on Gull Island, one of many small islands in the bay Kachemak Bay is also home to the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Rese ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kachemak Bay Critical Habitat Area
Kachemak, locally known as Kachemak City, is a small second-class city in the southern portion of the Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States. The city consists of several subdivisions and other miscellaneous properties along an approximately stretch of East End Road, adjoining the northeast corner of the much larger (both in terms of area and population) city of Homer. The population grew from 431 as of the 2010 census to 576 at the 2020 census. Geography Kachemak is located at (59.673395, -151.433170). The city lies just east of Homer on the north side of Kachemak Bay in south central Alaska. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land. Demographics Kachemak first appeared on the 1970 U.S. Census as an incorporated city. It formally incorporated in 1961. As of the census of 2000, there were 431 people, 169 households, and 107 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 219 housing un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fox River Flats Critical Habitat Area
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve species belong to the monophyletic "true foxes" group of genus ''Vulpes''. Approximately another 25 current or extinct species are always or sometimes called foxes; these foxes are either part of the paraphyletic group of the South American foxes, or of the outlying group, which consists of the bat-eared fox, gray fox, and island fox. Foxes live on every continent except Antarctica. The most common and widespread species of fox is the red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') with about 47 recognized subspecies. The global distribution of foxes, together with their widespread reputation for cunning, has contributed to their prominence in popular culture and folklore in many societies around the world. The hunting of foxes with packs of hounds, l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kachemak Bay State Park
Kachemak Bay State Park and Kachemak Bay State Wilderness Park is a park in and around Kachemak Bay, Alaska, United States. Kachemak Bay State Park was the first legislatively designated state park in the Alaska State Parks system. Kachemak Bay State Wilderness Park is the state's only legislatively designated wilderness park. No road accesses most areas of the park; visitors normally fly in or travel by boat from Homer. Kachemak Bay is considered a critical habitat area due to the biodiversity in the area. Wildlife within the park includes marine mammals such as sea otters, sea lions, and whales, large land mammals such as moose and black bears, and numerous sea and land birds. The terrain consists of both rocky and sandy beaches, dense mountain forests, and higher up, glaciers and icefields. Because of the rugged conditions and unpredictable coastal weather, visitors are advised to be prepared for sudden wind, rain, or snowstorms at any time of year, especially at higher elev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kachemak Bay State Wilderness Park
Kachemak Bay State Park and Kachemak Bay State Wilderness Park is a park in and around Kachemak Bay, Alaska, United States. Kachemak Bay State Park was the first legislatively designated state park in the Alaska State Parks system. Kachemak Bay State Wilderness Park is the state's only legislatively designated wilderness park. No road accesses most areas of the park; visitors normally fly in or travel by boat from Homer. Kachemak Bay is considered a critical habitat area due to the biodiversity in the area. Wildlife within the park includes marine mammals such as sea otters, sea lions, and whales, large land mammals such as moose and black bears, and numerous sea and land birds. The terrain consists of both rocky and sandy beaches, dense mountain forests, and higher up, glaciers and icefields. Because of the rugged conditions and unpredictable coastal weather, visitors are advised to be prepared for sudden wind, rain, or snowstorms at any time of year, especially at higher elev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protected Areas Of Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska
Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although the mechanisms for providing protection vary widely, the basic meaning of the term remains the same. This is illustrated by an explanation found in a manual on electrical wiring: Some kind of protection is a characteristic of all life, as living things have evolved at least some protective mechanisms to counter damaging environmental phenomena, such as ultraviolet light. Biological membranes such as bark on trees and skin on animals offer protection from various threats, with skin playing a key role in protecting organisms against pathogens and excessive water loss. Additional structures like scales and hair offer further protection from the elements and from predators, with some animals having features such as spines or camouflage se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
