The Walrus Islands (russian: Моржовые острова) are a group of craggy coastal islands in 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 ...

, close to the northern shores of

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, ( ...

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., ...

at the entrance to

Togiak Bay Togiak Bay is an 18-mile-long (30 km) bay in the U.S. state of Alaska. It extends southwest from the Togiak River to Hagemeister Island and east 25 miles (40 km) from Tongue Point to the mouth of the Negukthlik River. History During the ...

. They are located 18 km to the east of

Hagemeister Island Hagemeister Island (russian: Остров Гагемейстера) is an uninhabited island in the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the north shore of Bristol Bay at the entrance to Togiak Bay. The island is long, has a land area of , and its ...

, and are protected as the Walrus Islands State Game Sanctuary by the state. A part of the island group is also of archaeological importance, with numerous deeply stratified sites covering 6,000 years of human use. For this reason, Crooked Island, Summit Island and Round Island were designated the Walrus Islands Archeological District, a

National Historic Landmark District National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

comprising 14 historical sites, in December 2016. In 1968, the Walrus Islands were designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service.

Description and history

The Walrus Islands consist of a small group of islands and rocky islets extending to the southeast. The main islands are: Summit Island (close to the coast), High Island, Crooked Island, Black Rock Island and Round Island, not to be confused with

Round Island (Aleutian Islands) Round Island (Imlichin in Aleut) is a 0.1-mile-wide (160 m) island in the Krenitzin Islands, a subgroup of the Fox Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in the U.S. state of Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax ...

. The longest island is Crooked Island with a length of 10 km from north to south. The highest point is 69 m. Administratively these islands belong to the

Dillingham Census Area, Alaska Dillingham Census Area is a census area located in the U.S. state, state of Alaska, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 4,857, slightly up from 4,847 in 2010. It is part of the unorganized borough and ...

. This island group was first explored by Captain

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

in 1785. The

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

name "Morzh", meaning "walrus", was first used by Lt. Sarichev (1826, map 3), IRN (

Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from a ...

). Captain Tebenkov applied the name "Ostrova Morzhovyye" ("Walrus Islands") to the whole group of islands east of Hagemeister Island (1852, map 4), IRN. Captain Tebenkov also identified Walrus Island with the "Ound Island" of Capt. Cook (1785, v. 28 p. 431), RN. The Walrus Islands earned their name because of the immense concentration of

walrus The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large pinniped, flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in ...

es in the adjacent waters of these islands every summer, the largest concentration being in Round Island, where 14,000 male walruses which have hauled out, have been observed on a single day. The island group forms the Walrus Islands State Game Sanctuary, managed by the

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 ...

and a permit is required to visit Round Island. On January 11, 2017, President Barack Obama announced the designation of the island group as a

. The island contains a copious record of archaeological evidence of human occupation dating back to the

Norton Tradition The Norton tradition is an archaeological culture that developed in the Western Arctic along the Alaskan shore of the Bering Strait around 1000 BC and lasted through about 800 AD. The Norton people used flake-stone tools like their predecessors, ...

6,000 years ago, about the time Bering Sea level rose to separate the Islands from the mainland, and the more recent

Thule Tradition The Thule (, , ) or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by the year 1000 and expanded eastward across northern Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people o ...

.Archeology, National Natural Landmarks, and State Game Sanctuaries: Combining Efforts for Science and Management
''The George Wright Forum'', Volume 24, No. 3, Jeanne Schaaf, Judy Alderson, Joe Meehan & Joel Cusick, 2007. Retrieved 12 January 2017. The Walrus Islands should not be confused with Walrus Island located in the southeastern shores of the

or with tiny Walrus Island located in the Pribilof group.

References

USGS-GNIS

Walrus Islands State Game Sanctuary

Walrus Islands boundary map

Live walrus cam (during summers)
{{authority control Islands of Dillingham Census Area, Alaska Islands of the Bering Sea Islands of Alaska Islands of Unorganized Borough, Alaska National Historic Landmarks in Alaska Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Alaska Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Alaska National Register of Historic Places in Dillingham Census Area, Alaska National Natural Landmarks in Alaska

Description and history

See also

References