Southwest Alaska is a
region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
of the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of
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., ...
. The area is not exactly defined by any governmental administrative region(s); nor does it always have a clear geographic boundary.
Geography
Southwest Alaska includes a huge, complex, and relatively unknown swath of terrain. It is over from the western
Bering Sea
The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Ameri ...
coast to
Cook Inlet
Cook Inlet ( tfn, Tikahtnu; Sugpiaq: ''Cungaaciq'') stretches from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage in south-central Alaska. Cook Inlet branches into the Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm at its northern end, almost surrounding Anchorage. On its sou ...
. Although much of the region is coastal, it also includes tens of thousands of square miles of interior boreal forests, swamps, and highlands, and the immense mountain barrier of the southern Alaska/Aleutian Range. The Aleutian Range, part of the
Ring of Fire
The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. The Ring o ...
, includes many of Alaska's volcanoes including
Mount Katmai
Mount Katmai (russian: Катмай) is a large stratovolcano (composite volcano) on the Alaska Peninsula in southern Alaska, located within Katmai National Park and Preserve. It is about in diameter with a central lake-filled caldera about i ...
,
Novarupta
Novarupta (meaning "newly erupted" in Latin) is a volcano that was formed in 1912, located on the Alaska Peninsula on a slope of Trident Volcano in Katmai National Park and Preserve, about southwest of Anchorage. Formed during the largest volca ...
and the
Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes
The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes is a valley within Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska which is filled with ash flow from the eruption of Novarupta on June 6–8, 1912.
Following the eruption, thousands of fumaroles vented steam fro ...
,
Mount Redoubt
Redoubt Volcano, or Mount Redoubt (Denaʼina language, Dena'ina: ''Bentuggezh K’enulgheli''), is an active volcano, active stratovolcano in the largely volcanic Aleutian Range of the U.S. state of Alaska. Located at the head of the Chigmit ...
,
Mount Iliamna
Iliamna Volcano, or Mount Iliamna ( Dena'ina: ''Ch’naqał’in''; Sugpiaq: ''Puyulek''), is a glacier-covered stratovolcano in the largely volcanic Aleutian Range in southwest Alaska. Located in the Chigmit Mountain subrange in Lake Cl ...
, and
Augustine Volcano
Augustine Volcano (Sugpiaq: ''Utakineq'';https://uafanlc.alaska.edu/Online/G977K1985a/G977K1985a_02.PDF Dena'ina: ''Chu Nula'') is a lava dome volcano in Alaska consisting of a central complex of summit lava domes and flows surrounded by an a ...
.
Southwest Alaska encompasses, roughly from west to east: the
Pribilof Islands
The Pribilof Islands (formerly the Northern Fur Seal Islands; ale, Amiq, russian: Острова Прибылова, Ostrova Pribylova) are a group of four volcanic islands off the coast of mainland Alaska, in the Bering Sea, about north of ...
,
Nunivak Island
Nunivak Island ( Central Alaskan Yup'ik: ; Nunivak Cup'ig: ''Nuniwar''; russian: Нунивак, Nunivak) is a permafrost-covered volcanic island lying about offshore from the delta of the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers in the US state of Alaska, at ...
and other
Bering Sea
The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Ameri ...
islands lying west of the Alaska coast and east of the Russian coast; the immense combined delta of the
Yukon River
The Yukon River (Gwichʼin language, Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Central Alaskan Yup'ik language, Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq language, Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag language, Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän language, Hän: ''Tth'echù' ...
and
Kuskokwim River
The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River (Yup'ik: ''Kusquqvak''; Deg Xinag: ''Digenegh''; Upper Kuskokwim: ''Dichinanek' ''; russian: Кускоквим (''Kuskokvim'')) is a river, long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth la ...
; hundreds of miles of interior highlands, including the lower and middle Kuskokwim drainages; the entire watersheds of
Goodnews Bay
Goodnews Bay ( esu, Mamterat) is a city in Bethel Census Area, Alaska, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 243, up from 230 in 2000.
Geography
Goodnews Bay is located on the north shore of Goodnews Bay at the mou ...
and
Bristol Bay
Bristol Bay ( esu, Iilgayaq, russian: Залив Бристольский) is the easternmost arm of the Bering Sea, at 57° to 59° North 157° to 162° West in Southwest Alaska. Bristol Bay is 400 km (250 mi) long and 290 km, ( ...
and other parts of the southern coast, including mountain ranges and great interior lakes including the
Wood-Tikchik Lakes,
Lake Iliamna
Iliamna Lake or Lake Iliamna (Yup'ik: ''Nanvarpak''; Dena'ina Athabascan: ''Nila Vena'') is a lake in southwest Alaska, at the north end of the Alaska Peninsula, between Kvichak Bay and Cook Inlet, about west of Seldovia, Alaska. It shares a n ...
, and
Lake Clark
Lake Clark ( Dena'ina: ''Qizhjeh Vena'') is a lake in southwest Alaska. It drains through Six Mile Lake and the Newhalen River into Iliamna Lake. The lake is about long and about wide.
Lake Clark was named for John W. Clark, chief of the Nu ...
; the western heights of the
Alaska Range
The Alaska Range is a relatively narrow, 600-mile-long (950 km) mountain range in the southcentral region of the U.S. state of Alaska, from Lake Clark at its southwest endSources differ as to the exact delineation of the Alaska Range. ThBoar ...
, and its continuation southward as the
Aleutian Range
The Aleutian Range is a major mountain range located in southwest Alaska. It extends from Chakachamna Lake (80 miles/130 km southwest of Anchorage) to Unimak Island, which is at the tip of the Alaska Peninsula. It includes all of the mountain ...
along 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 ...
and
Aleutian Islands
The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a cha ...
. The
Kodiak Archipelago
The Kodiak Archipelago (russian: Кадьякский архипелаг , translit = Kad'yakskiy arkhipelag) is an archipelago (group of islands) south of the main land-mass of the state of Alaska (United States), about by air south-west of A ...
, in the Pacific east of the Alaska Peninsula, is the most eastern part of Southwest Alaska.
Southwest Alaska consists roughly of the
Aleutians East,
Bristol Bay
Bristol Bay ( esu, Iilgayaq, russian: Залив Бристольский) is the easternmost arm of the Bering Sea, at 57° to 59° North 157° to 162° West in Southwest Alaska. Bristol Bay is 400 km (250 mi) long and 290 km, ( ...
,
Kodiak Island
Kodiak Island (Alutiiq: ''Qikertaq''), is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago, Kodiak Island is the second larges ...
,
Lake and Peninsula boroughs, plus the portion of the
Kenai Peninsula Borough
Kenai Peninsula Borough is a borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,799, up from 55,400 in 2010.
The borough seat is Soldotna, the largest city is Kenai, and the most populated community is the ce ...
that lies west of
Cook Inlet
Cook Inlet ( tfn, Tikahtnu; Sugpiaq: ''Cungaaciq'') stretches from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage in south-central Alaska. Cook Inlet branches into the Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm at its northern end, almost surrounding Anchorage. On its sou ...
; along with the
Aleutians West,
Bethel
Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite sanct ...
,
Dillingham, and
Kusilvak census areas. These areas have a combined area of , slightly larger than California.
Geology
Volcanic
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...
eruptions and mountain-building are active along the
Ring of Fire
The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. The Ring o ...
, while in far western Alaska
lava
Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...
fields only a few thousand years old are common. In between lie an incomplete record of rocks from as old as 2.07 Ga years to the
Holocene
The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...
. A sequence of continental fragments, seafloor, and
island arc
Island arcs are long chains of active volcanoes with intense seismic activity found along convergent tectonic plate boundaries. Most island arcs originate on oceanic crust and have resulted from the descent of the lithosphere into the mantle alon ...
s, torn, rafted, and assembled by
plate tectonics
Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large ...
, form the
Proterozoic
The Proterozoic () is a geological eon spanning the time interval from 2500 to 538.8million years ago. It is the most recent part of the Precambrian "supereon". It is also the longest eon of the Earth's geologic time scale, and it is subdivided ...
,
Paleozoic
The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon.
The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838
by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...
and
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceo ...
basement for more recent Mesozoic and
Cenozoic
The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configura ...
rocks deposited on top of, and
intruded
Intrusive rock is formed when magma penetrates existing rock, crystallizes, and solidifies underground to form '' intrusions'', such as batholiths, dikes, sills, laccoliths, and volcanic necks.Intrusive RocksIntrusive rocks accessdate: March ...
into, them.
Demographics
Southwest Alaska had a population of 53,349 as of the
2000 census, less than one-tenth of Alaska's inhabitants. The population is in large part
Alaska Native
Alaska Natives (also known as Alaskan Natives, Native Alaskans, Indigenous Alaskans, Aboriginal Alaskans or First Alaskans) are the indigenous peoples of Alaska and include Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a numbe ...
, with 58.1% identifying as entirely or partly "Native American" in the 2000 census. About 121 towns and villages, generally far apart and with populations in the hundreds, exist in the region.
Southwest Alaska can be considered to be the areas assigned to 4 of the 12 land-holding
Alaska Native Corporations
The Alaska Native Regional Corporations were established in 1971 when the United States Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) which settled land and financial claims made by the Alaska Natives and provided for the establ ...
in 1971 for selection of land and for corporate organization of villages under
ANCSA
The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 18, 1971, constituting at the time the largest land claims settlement in United States history. ANCSA was intended to resolve long-standing i ...
.
The
Calista Corporation
Calista Corporation (pronounced ) is one of thirteen Alaska Native Regional Corporations created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) in settlement of aboriginal land claims. Calista was incorporated in Alaska on June 12, ...
region is in the Yukon/Kuskokwim delta, the lower and middle reaches of the Kuskokwim River drainage, and the Bering Sea coast from the Yukon to Cape Newenham. It contains 56 villages with a total population of about 23,000 people;
Bethel
Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite sanct ...
(5,471), is the largest and is the commercial hub for the Kuskokwim region. The Calista region is outlined by the combined Kusilvak and Bethel Census Areas. Calista owns 4,997,263 acres (20,223 km
2) of the 41,713,612 acres (168,809 km
2) in the region, almost all the rest is owned by the state or federal government.
In the
Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC) region
Dillingham (2,466), is the largest town. The BBNC region has 29 villages and a total population of about 8000. The Corporation region includes part of the Alaska Peninsula, the Bering Sea coast west to Cape Newenham and the lands draining onto that coast, as well as parts of the Alaska and Aleutian Ranges. The combined areas of the
Dillingham Census Area
Dillingham Census Area is a census area located in the state of Alaska, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 4,857, slightly up from 4,847 in 2010. It is part of the unorganized borough and therefore has no borough seat. Its l ...
, the Bristol Bay Borough, and the Lake and Peninsula Borough are almost coincident with the BBNC area.
Koniag, Incorporated has a region which covers the Kodiak Archipelago and part of the Alaska Peninsula.
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 ...
(6,334) on
Kodiak Island
Kodiak Island (Alutiiq: ''Qikertaq''), is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago, Kodiak Island is the second larges ...
is the largest town and the commercial hub of the area. The Corporation region is very similar to, but not exactly the same area as the
Kodiak Island Borough
Kodiak Island Borough (russian: Остров Кадьяк) is a borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. At the 2020 census, the population was 13,101,
down from 13,592 in 2010. The borough seat is Kodiak.
Geography
The borough has a total are ...
, which has a population of about 14,000 people in 11 communities.
Aleut Corporation's lands are on the Aleutian Islands and the western end of the Alaska Peninsula. The Corporation area is exactly the same as the Aleutians East Borough and the Aleutians West Census Area combined.
Unalaska
Unalaska ( ale, Iluulux̂; russian: Уналашка) is the chief center of population in the Aleutian Islands. The city is in the Aleutians West Census Area, a regional component of the Unorganized Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Unalaska ...
/Dutch Harbor (4,283), is the largest town. About 8000 people live in the region, in about a dozen towns, and several military towns.
Natives in Southwest Alaska are mainly Central
Yup'ik
The Yup'ik or Yupiaq (sg & pl) and Yupiit or Yupiat (pl), also Central Alaskan Yup'ik, Central Yup'ik, Alaskan Yup'ik ( own name ''Yup'ik'' sg ''Yupiik'' dual ''Yupiit'' pl; russian: Юпики центральной Аляски), are an I ...
in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and Bristol Bay areas,
Alutiiq
The Alutiiq people (pronounced in English; from Promyshlenniki Russian Алеутъ, "Aleut"; plural often "Alutiit"), also called by their ancestral name ( or ; plural often "Sugpiat"), as well as Pacific Eskimo or Pacific Yupik, are a sout ...
on the eastern Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island,
Aleut
The Aleuts ( ; russian: Алеуты, Aleuty) are the indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleut people and the islands are politically divided between the U ...
in the Aleutians, Pribilofs, and the western Alaska Peninsula, and a few
Dena'ina Athabaskans
Athabaskan (also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large family of indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific C ...
near the western shore of Cook Inlet.
Economy
Land in Southwest Alaska is owned and managed mainly by the federal government, the state of Alaska, and
Alaska Native Regional Corporations
The Alaska Native Regional Corporations were established in 1971 when the United States Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) which settled land and financial claims made by the Alaska Natives and provided for the establi ...
including Calista, Cook Inlet, Bristol Bay, Aleut, and Koniag. There is little private land, other than that owned by the Native Corporations.
The economy rests on resource extraction, subsistence, and government spending.
[http://www.iser.uaa.alaska.edu/Publications/u_ak/uak_remoteruraleconomyak.pdf ]
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...
, both
commercial
Commercial may refer to:
* a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television)
** Radio advertisement
** Television advertisement
* (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
and
recreational
Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure ...
, is the mainstay of the economy. Much of the commercial fishing is conducted by non-residents.
Kodiak and Unalaska are among the most productive fishing ports in the United States. The
salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...
,
trout
Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmoni ...
,
king crab
King crabs are a taxon of decapod crustaceans chiefly found in cold seas. Because of their large size and the taste of their meat, many species are widely caught and sold as food, the most common being the red king crab (''Paralithodes camtscha ...
, and
halibut
Halibut is the common name for three flatfish in the genera '' Hippoglossus'' and ''Reinhardtius'' from the family of right-eye flounders and, in some regions, and less commonly, other species of large flatfish.
The word is derived from ''h ...
fisheries are extremely lucrative.
Bristol Bay
Bristol Bay ( esu, Iilgayaq, russian: Залив Бристольский) is the easternmost arm of the Bering Sea, at 57° to 59° North 157° to 162° West in Southwest Alaska. Bristol Bay is 400 km (250 mi) long and 290 km, ( ...
's commercial
sockeye salmon
The sockeye salmon (''Oncorhynchus nerka''), also called red salmon, kokanee salmon, blueback salmon, or simply sockeye, is an anadromous species of salmon found in the Northern Pacific Ocean and rivers discharging into it. This species is a P ...
industry is the largest in the world. Approximately 80% of that catch is taken by non-locals.
A part of the fishery is processed locally. Only a small share of the value of the harvest is captured in the region, mainly as wages, and taxes and royalties levied by local governments and Native Regional Corporations.
Hunting
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
and other
tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
industries are dependable, although small and seasonal, parts of the economy.
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
, mainly for gold, platinum, and mercury, has been a consistent part of the Southwest Alaska economy since purchase from Russia. Although mining is currently occurring only on a small scale, a controversy rages over a number of proposed resource extraction projects. These include the proposed
Pebble Mine
Pebble Mine is the common name of a proposed copper-gold- molybdenum mining project in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska, near Lake Iliamna and Lake Clark. As of November 2020 the mine developer, Northern Dynasty Minerals, was seeking ...
, which would put a large open pit gold and copper mine at the headwaters of the
Nushagak and
Kvichak rivers in the
Bristol Bay
Bristol Bay ( esu, Iilgayaq, russian: Залив Бристольский) is the easternmost arm of the Bering Sea, at 57° to 59° North 157° to 162° West in Southwest Alaska. Bristol Bay is 400 km (250 mi) long and 290 km, ( ...
watershed. Also, the federal government is seeking to lift the moratorium on
oil drilling
An oil well is a drillhole boring in Earth that is designed to bring petroleum oil hydrocarbons to the surface. Usually some natural gas is released as associated petroleum gas along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce only gas may ...
leases in
Bristol Bay
Bristol Bay ( esu, Iilgayaq, russian: Залив Бристольский) is the easternmost arm of the Bering Sea, at 57° to 59° North 157° to 162° West in Southwest Alaska. Bristol Bay is 400 km (250 mi) long and 290 km, ( ...
.
Most of the smaller settlements rely on
subsistence
A subsistence economy is an economy directed to basic subsistence (the provision of food, clothing, shelter) rather than to the market. Henceforth, "subsistence" is understood as supporting oneself at a minimum level. Often, the subsistence econo ...
activities. Most of the area's residents are shareholders in a Native Corporation.
Wildlife
Southwest Alaska is one of the richest
salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...
areas in the world, with the world's largest commercial salmon fishery in
Bristol Bay
Bristol Bay ( esu, Iilgayaq, russian: Залив Бристольский) is the easternmost arm of the Bering Sea, at 57° to 59° North 157° to 162° West in Southwest Alaska. Bristol Bay is 400 km (250 mi) long and 290 km, ( ...
. It also has one of the highest concentrations of brown
bear
Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...
s, feeding on the salmon, as well as berries and other vegetation. Bear watching is a popular tourist attraction at
Katmai National Park and Preserve
Katmai National Park and Preserve is an American national park and preserve in southwest Alaska, notable for the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and for its brown bears. The park and preserve encompass , which is between the sizes of Connecticut ...
. This area is also home to a number of
caribou
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...
herds - the Mulchatna herd is the third largest in the state. The western limit for both
caribou
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...
and
bear
Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...
s is on
Unimak Island
Unimak Island ( ale, Unimax, russian: Унимак) is the largest island in the Aleutian Islands chain of the U.S. state of Alaska.
Geography
It is the easternmost island in the Aleutians and, with an area of , the ninth largest island in the U ...
, first in the Aleutian chain. More western
Aleutian Islands
The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a cha ...
have no mammals larger than a
fox
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 sp ...
. In the summer, many species of migratory birds nest on the tundra here, and there are many large seabird rookeries in the
Aleutian Islands
The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a cha ...
.
Transportation
Only small local road systems exist in Southwest Alaska. Only a few closely adjacent villages are linked by roads. The area is easily accessible only by air, sea, or river.
Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines is a major American airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, within the Seattle metropolitan area. It is the sixth largest airline in North America when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and the numb ...
737 passenger jets serve
Bethel
Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite sanct ...
, King Salmon, Dillingham, Adak, Dutch Harbor, and Kodiak. Bethel is also a link between arriving ocean barges carrying freight or fuel and the smaller barges which continue up the Kuskokwim. Aniak, Iliamna and some other communities are accessible via scheduled flights from
Anchorage
Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...
on
PenAir
Peninsula Airways, operated as PenAir, was a U.S.-based regional airline headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska. It was Alaska's second-largest commuter airline operating scheduled passenger service, as well as charter and medevac services through ...
and smaller air carriers. The small carriers provide essential links onward to smaller communities.
Alaska Marine Highway
The Alaska Marine Highway (AMH) or the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) is a ferry service operated by the U.S. state of Alaska. It has its headquarters in Ketchikan, Alaska.
The Alaska Marine Highway System operates along the south-central ...
ferries connect Kodiak Archipelago, Alaska Peninsula, and a few Aleutian Island communities to the ports of
Southcentral Alaska
Southcentral Alaska (russian: Юго-Центральная Аляска) is the portion of the U.S. state of Alaska consisting of the shorelines and uplands of the central Gulf of Alaska. Most of the population of the state lives in this regio ...
.
A combination of ocean and river
barge
Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...
s are important to the communities along the Kuskokwim and Yukon rivers. Snowmachine travel is a critical component of winter transport; an ice road for highway vehicles is used along portions of the
Kuskokwim River
The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River (Yup'ik: ''Kusquqvak''; Deg Xinag: ''Digenegh''; Upper Kuskokwim: ''Dichinanek' ''; russian: Кускоквим (''Kuskokvim'')) is a river, long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth la ...
.
Rivers
*
Yukon River
The Yukon River (Gwichʼin language, Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Central Alaskan Yup'ik language, Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq language, Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag language, Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän language, Hän: ''Tth'echù' ...
*
Anvik River
*
Innoko River
The Innoko River (; (Deg Xinag: ''Yooniq'') is a tributary of the Yukon River in the U.S. state of Alaska. It flows north from its origin south of Cloudy Mountain in the Kuskokwim Mountains and then southwest to meet the larger river across from ...
*
Iditarod River
*
Kuskokwim River
The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River (Yup'ik: ''Kusquqvak''; Deg Xinag: ''Digenegh''; Upper Kuskokwim: ''Dichinanek' ''; russian: Кускоквим (''Kuskokvim'')) is a river, long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth la ...
*
Aniak River
*
Holitna River
The Holitna River (Deg Xinag: ''Xaletno'', Yup'ik: ''Rruulitnaq'') is a tributary of the Kuskokwim River in the U.S. state of Alaska. Formed by the confluence of Shotgun Creek and the Kogrukluk River east of the Kuskokwim Mountains, the river flow ...
*
Stony River
*
Big River
*
Swift River
*
Kvichak River
The Kvichak River (Yup'ik: ''Kuicaraq'') is a large river, about long, in southwestern Alaska in the United States. It flows southwest from Lake Iliamna to Kvichak Bay, an arm of Bristol Bay, on the Alaska Peninsula. The communities of Igiugi ...
*
Naknek River
*
Newhalen River
The Newhalen River ( Dena'ina: ''Nughiltnu'') is a stream in the Lake and Peninsula Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. Beginning at Six Mile Lake, the Newhalen flows south to enter Iliamna Lake about south of Iliamna.
''Alaska Fishing'' de ...
*
Nushagak River
The Nushagak River ( esu, Iilgayaq) is a river in southwest Alaska, United States. It begins in the Alaska Range and flows southwest to Nushagak Bay, an inlet of Bristol Bay, east of Dillingham, Alaska.
The Mulchatna River is a major tributa ...
*
Mulchatna River
*
King Salmon River
Lakes
*
Becharof Lake
Becharof Lake is a long lake on the Alaska Peninsula. It is located south-east of Egegik, in the Aleutian Range. It is the second largest lake in Alaska after Iliamna Lake. It ranks eighth on list of largest lakes of the United States by vol ...
*
Lake Clark
Lake Clark ( Dena'ina: ''Qizhjeh Vena'') is a lake in southwest Alaska. It drains through Six Mile Lake and the Newhalen River into Iliamna Lake. The lake is about long and about wide.
Lake Clark was named for John W. Clark, chief of the Nu ...
*
Iliamna Lake
Iliamna Lake or Lake Iliamna (Yup'ik: ''Nanvarpak''; Dena'ina Athabascan: ''Nila Vena'') is a lake in southwest Alaska, at the north end of the Alaska Peninsula, between Kvichak Bay and Cook Inlet, about west of Seldovia, Alaska. It shares a na ...
*
Naknek Lake
Naknek Lake is a lake in southern Alaska, near the base of the Alaska Peninsula. Located in Katmai National Park and Preserve, the lake is long and wide, the largest lake in the park. The lake drains west into Bristol Bay through the Naknek Riv ...
*
Lake Brooks
*
Wood-Tikchik Lakes
Mountain ranges
roughly from west to east
*
Nulato Hills
*
Kaiyuh Mountains
*
Kilbuck Mountains
*
Portage Mountains
*
Russian Mountains
Russian Mountains were a predecessor to the roller coaster in which the term is adopted by several Romance languages in other parts of Europe.
The earliest roller coasters were descended from Russian winter sled rides held on specially constructe ...
*
Horn Mountains
*
Kuskokwim Mountains
The Kuskokwim Mountains is a range of mountains in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, United States, west of the Alaska Range and southeast of the Yukon River. The Kuskokwim Mountains begin in the interior west of Fairbanks. The mountain range ...
::including:
**
Sischu Mountains
**
Mystery Mountains
**
Sunshine Mountains
**
Cripple Creek Mountains
**
Beaver Mountains
**
Wood River Mountains
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin tha ...
**
Buckstock Mountains
**
Kiokluk Mountains
**
Chuilnik Mountains
*
Nushagak Hills
*
Alaska Range
The Alaska Range is a relatively narrow, 600-mile-long (950 km) mountain range in the southcentral region of the U.S. state of Alaska, from Lake Clark at its southwest endSources differ as to the exact delineation of the Alaska Range. ThBoar ...
::including:
**
Revelation Mountains
**
Teocali Mountains
**
Trimokish Hills
**
Terra Cotta Mountains
**
Tordrillo Mountains
The Tordrillo Mountains are a small mountain range in the Matanuska-Susitna and Kenai Peninsula Boroughs in the southcentral region of the U.S. state of Alaska. They lie approximately 75 miles (120 km) west-northwest of Anchorage. The range ...
**
Neocola Mountasins
*
Aleutian Range
The Aleutian Range is a major mountain range located in southwest Alaska. It extends from Chakachamna Lake (80 miles/130 km southwest of Anchorage) to Unimak Island, which is at the tip of the Alaska Peninsula. It includes all of the mountain ...
::including:
**
Chigmit Mountains
The Chigmit Mountains are a subrange of the Aleutian Range in the Kenai Peninsula and Lake and Peninsula Boroughs of the U.S. state of Alaska.
Location
They are located at the northeastern end of the Aleutian range, on the west side of Cook Inl ...
**
Walatka Mountains
Protected areas
Southwest Alaska contains numerous state and federal
protected 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. These include:
*
Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge
The Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge (often shortened to Alaska Maritime or AMNWR) is a United States National Wildlife Refuge comprising 2,400 islands, headlands, rocks, islets, spires and reefs in Alaska, with a total area of , of whic ...
*
Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge
The Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Alaska whose use is regulated as an ecological-protection measure. It stretches along the southern coast of the Alaska Peninsula, between th ...
*
Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve
*
Becharof National Wildlife Refuge
*
Izembek National Wildlife Refuge
The Izembek National Wildlife Refuge is the smallest of the National Wildlife Refuges located in the U.S. state of Alaska. It lies on the northwest (Bering Sea) coastal side of central Aleutians East Borough, Alaska, Aleutians East Borough. Almos ...
*
Katmai National Park and Preserve
Katmai National Park and Preserve is an American national park and preserve in southwest Alaska, notable for the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and for its brown bears. The park and preserve encompass , which is between the sizes of Connecticut ...
*Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge
*Lake Clark National Park and Preserve
*Togiak National Wildlife Refuge
*Wood-Tikchik State Park
*Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge
References
*
External links
Lake & Peninsula BoroughPebble Mine environmental information and photosUgashik Area websiteSouthwest Alaska Municipal ConferenceUniversity of Alaska Fairbank Bristol Bay Campus
{{coord, 56.8000, N, 162.2333, W, source:wikidata-and-enwiki-cat-tree_region:US, display=title
Regions of Alaska
Tourism regions of Alaska