Afognak Island State Park is a

Alaska state park Alaska’s state park system is managed by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation. The system contains over 120 units spanning 3,427,895 acres, making it far larger than any other state park system in ...

Afognak Island Afognak (Alutiiq: ''Agw’aneq''; russian: Афогнак) is an island in the Kodiak Archipelago north of Kodiak Island in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is long from east to west and wide from north to south and has a land area of , making ...

in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska in the United States. Afognak Island is northeast of Kodiak Island on the

Alaska Peninsula The Alaska Peninsula (also called Aleut Peninsula or Aleutian Peninsula, ale, Alasxix̂; Sugpiaq: ''Aluuwiq'', ''Al'uwiq'') is a peninsula extending about to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. The ...

. Most of Afognak Island State Park is undeveloped. The park is known for its rugged topography and wide variety of wildlife. Afognak Island State Park is open to year-round recreation, including fishing, hunting, and hiking. Transportation is provided by float plane from

Kodiak Kodiak may refer to: Places *Kodiak, Alaska, a city located on Kodiak island * Kodiak, Missouri, an unincorporated community *Kodiak Archipelago, in southern Alaska *Kodiak Island, the largest island of the Kodiak archipelago ** Kodiak Launch Com ...

to various areas around the park. It is on the northern and eastern ends of the island and surrounds Perenosa, Seal and Tonki Bays. It borders part of Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge to the west.

History

What is now known as Afognak Island State Park was established as the first

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

s in the United States in 1892, sixty-seven years before Alaska became the 49th state. It then called the Afognak Island Forest and Fish Culture Reserve. This classification allowed for the conservation of wildlife and salmon habitat. It was reclassified in 1908 as part of

Chugach National Forest The Chugach National Forest is a United States National Forest in south central Alaska. Covering portions of Prince William Sound, the Kenai Peninsula and the Copper River Delta, it was formed in 1907 from part of a larger forest reserve. The Ch ...

. The property was transferred in 1980 to native corporations as part of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The establishment of Afognak Island State Park occurred in 1994 when were sold to the state as parklands to restore and protect habitat in the wake of the

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill The ''Exxon Valdez'' oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989. ''Exxon Valdez'', an oil supertanker owned by Exxon Shipping Company bound for Long Beach, California struck Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef, west o ...

. An additional were added to the park in 2001 with funding from the Valdez case to protect more habitat.

Ecology

Afognak Island State Park is in near pristine condition. Just a small section of the park near Seal Bay was logged in the 1990s. The park is home to an

old-growth forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

Sitka spruce ''Picea sitchensis'', the Sitka spruce, is a large, coniferous, evergreen tree growing to almost tall, with a trunk diameter at breast height that can exceed 5 m (16 ft). It is by far the largest species of spruce and the fifth-larg ...

and provides spawning grounds for a variety of salmon. Sitka deer, Kodiak bear, Roosevelt elk and marbled murrelet are just a few of the animals that can be seen at the park.

Recreation

There are two cabins available for rent at Afognak Island State Park. Pillar Lake Cabin and Laura Lake Cabin are near their namesake lakes. The lakes are remote. Pillar Lake Cabin is a 20-minute

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

flight from

. Once Pillar Lake freezes the cabin is not accessible until the lake thaws. There are no developed trails in the Pillar Lake area. A beach on the ocean is a short distance away. Dolly Varden trout are found in the lake. There are no salmon streams in the area. Laura Lake Cabin is a 35-minute flight from Kodiak. It is on the northern edge of the island near Pauls Bay. Once Laura Lake freezes the cabin is not accessible until the lake thaws. Laura Lake is a three-mile-long (5 km) lake that is at the center of a productive salmon-spawning system. The spawning salmon attract bears that must be avoided for safety reasons.

References

{{authority control State parks of Alaska Protected areas of Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska Protected areas established in 1892