Stuart Island (Qikertarpak in Yup'ik, ‘the big island’;Jacobson, Steven A. (2012)
Yup'ik Eskimo Dictionary, 2nd edition
Alaska Native Language Center. Inupiaq: ''Qikiqtaqpak'') is an island on the southeast side of the Norton Sound 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 island is about long and wide with a land area of and had no resident population at the 2000 census. The name "Stuart's Island" was given during the third voyage of James Cook in September 1778. Stuart Island has no permanent settlements, but is only a short distance by water from Stebbins, which is on neighboring St. Michael Island. Stuart Island is home to an unmanaged herd of

reindeer 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 ...

put there as part of the Stebbins/St. Michael Reindeer Corral Project. Stuart Island collects a significant amount of driftwood, due to its location North and East of the Upper Yukon River Delta. Spring runoff brings trees and logs down 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' ...

that, after reaching the

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 ...

, are pushed by wind and tides into Norton Sound. Stuart Island is directly in the path of the driftwood pushed into the Sound, and its west-facing beaches provide a traditional firewood supply for residents of Stebbins.

References

Islands of the Bering Sea Islands of Alaska Islands of Nome Census Area, Alaska Islands of Unorganized Borough, Alaska {{NomeAK-geo-stub