Hazy Islands Wilderness, at 32 acres (16 ha), is Alaska's smallest

wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

. It was officially designated as Wilderness in 1970 by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

. The islands are located west of

Coronation Island Coronation Island is the largest of the South Orkney Islands, long and from wide. The island extends in a general east–west direction, is mainly ice-covered and comprises numerous bays, glaciers and peaks, the highest rising to . History T ...

in the Alaska Panhandle area. Hazy Islands Wilderness comprises five small islands and is home to 10 species of birds, including Brandt's cormorant ''(Phalacrocorax auritus)''. It has no anchorages or campsites, and human visitation is discouraged to protect the birds.

Name

The name for the islands in the Tlingit language is Deikee Noow, which can be translated as Outer (Deikee) Fort (Noow), although the word "noow" is also the name for a treeless rock formation. It figures into the "Raven Cycle' story of when Yéil (Raven) stole freshwater from Gánóok (Petrel).

Description

Hazy Islands National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1912, which became designated as Wilderness in 1970, and incorporated into the

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 whi ...

Gulf of Alaska The Gulf of Alaska (Tlingit: ''Yéil T'ooch’'') is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east, ...

Unit, in 1980. Big Hazy Island and the four smaller islands provide predator-free nesting areas for large populations of: *common murres *pigeon guillemots *glaucous-winged gulls *horned puffins *tufted puffins *Brandt's cormorants

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