Alaska Peninsula

That means burn permits are still required in those areas.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory lowered the alert level this week for Cooper and Odd Volcano on the Alaska Peninsula.

That's after weeks of declining activity at the remote peak.

The Alaska Beacon reports that Kupernov hasn't erupted in over half a million years, but the observatory raised its alert level for the peak in May after detecting more seismic activity nearby and significant amounts of sulfur dioxide, which is associated with magma beneath volcanoes.

Mm-hmm.

You know, like it, like, uh, you know, in my bucket list of animals, I still want to hunt a brown bear on the Alaskan Peninsula, Kodiak, and I want to take a big brown bear with archery equipment.

But, but I realize in that goal, is there a purpose? And the purpose probably is a little shallow, but it's, it's, it's my internal to say, how could I perform in that situation?

Mm-hmm.

The eastern population of the fox sparrow breeds from northeastern Manitoba to Labrador, but during the winter it is found concentrated in the southeastern part of the United States.

On the west coast of the continent, however, a study of museum specimens indicated six subspecies of this bird breeding in rather sharply delimited ranges extending from Puget Sound and Vancouver Island to Unimak Island at the end of the Alaskan Peninsula.

One of these subspecies breeds from the Puget Sound-Vancouver Island area northward along the coast of British Columbia.

It hardly migrates at all, while the other races nesting on the coast of Alaska are found in winter far to the south in Oregon and California.

Some of the scoters and other sea ducks of the North Pacific region, as well as the diminutive crackling Canada goose of the Yukon River Delta, use the coastal sea route for all or most of their southward flight.

Large numbers of Arctic breeding shorebirds also use this route.

The journey of the Canada goose, as shown by return records from birds banded at Hooper Bay, Alaska, has been traced southward across the Alaskan Peninsula and apparently across the Gulf of Alaska to the Queen Charlotte Islands.

The birds then follow the coastline south to near the mouth of the Columbia River, where the route swings toward the interior for a short distance before continuing south by way of the Willamette River Valley.

At first, he stayed in one of the most remote and wild parts of Alaska.

This was the Pacific coast of Katmai National Park and Preserve on the Alaska Peninsula.

He would often spend time in very isolated coastal zones, like a place called Hallow Bay, and he later moved to an area he referred to as the Grizzly Maze on Katmai Bay.

We'll talk about Grizzly Maze in a second, but let's talk about Hallow Bay itself first.

several species containing more than one distinguishable population exhibit leapfrog migration patterns the eastern population of the fox sparrow breeds from northeastern manitoba to labrador but during the winter it is found concentrated in the southeastern part of the United States.

On the west coast of the continent, however, a study of museum specimens indicated six subspecies of this bird breeding in rather sharply delimited ranges, extending from Puget Sound and Vancouver Island to Unimak Island at the end of the Alaskan Peninsula.

one of these sub-species breeds from the puget sound vancouver island area northward along the coast of british columbia it hardly migrates at all while the other races nesting on the coast of alaska are found in winter far to the south in oregon and california although much overlap exists the races breeding furthest north generally tend to winter furthest south this illustrates a tendency for migratory populations to pass over those subspecies so favorably located as to be almost sedentary if the northern birds settled for the winter along with the sedentary population winter requirements may not be as sufficient as in the unoccupied areas further south among the differentially sized sub-species of canada geese the populations of lowest body mass breed the furthest north but winter the furthest south, while the heaviest subspecies is a relatively permanent resident in the northern United States.

This pattern is clearly related to the increased survival under cold stress afforded by large body size.

thousands of birds pass along the coast to the northern part of vera cruz mexico since coastal areas in tamalipas to the north are arid and unsuitable for the denizens of moist woodlands it is probable that much if not all of this part of the route for these species is a short distance off shore it is used by such woodland species as the golden winged worm eating and kentucky warblers pacific coast route although it does present features of unusual interest the pacific coast route is not as long or heavily traveled as some of the others described because of the equitable conditions that prevail Many species of birds breeding along the coast from the northwestern states to southeastern Alaska either do not migrate or else make relatively short journeys.

This route has its origin chiefly in western Alaska around the Yukon River Delta.

some of the scoters and other sea ducks of the north pacific region as well as the diminutive crackling canada goose of the yukon river delta use the coastal sea route for all or most of their southward flight large numbers of arctic breeding shore birds also use this route the journey of the canada goose as shown by return records from birds banded at hooper bay alaska has been traced southward across the alaskan peninsula and apparently across the gulf of alaska to the queen charlotte islands The birds then follow the coastline south to near the mouth of the Columbia River, where the route swings toward the interior for a short distance before continuing south by way of the Willamette River Valley.

The winter quarters of this subspecies of Canada goose are chiefly in the vicinity of Toole Lake on the Oregon-California line and in the Sacramento Valley of California.

On April 6, 1924, all four aircraft lifted off from Seattle and headed north.

The first leg of the route ran up through Alaska and out along the Aleutian Chain, that long necklace of volcanic islands stretching west from the tip of the Alaska Peninsula toward Asia.

If you've never studied the Aleutians on a globe, do it sometime.

They extend farther west than you think.

Fog, wind, low ceilings, the landscape volcanic and jagged and largely indifferent to aircraft and to the people inside them.

The first blow came on April 30th, just three and a half weeks into the flight.

Major Martin and Sergeant Harvey were picking their way through heavy fog near Port Muller on the Alaska Peninsula.

Dead reckoning navigation, compass, and stopwatch.

The first catastrophe came before they ever reached Japan, 24 days in, April 30th.

Major Martin and the Seattle were threading through mountain terrain near the Alaska Peninsula, trying to find a route south toward the Aleutian Chain.

Fog.

Not the thin, optimistic kind that sometimes burns off by mid-morning.

The ocean bed of a great part of this enormous district is paved with fish.

The bulk of the catch is salmon, but there is also an annual export of cod, amounting to millions of pounds, from the extensive cod banks south of the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands.

These banks compare with those of Newfoundland.

Some of them are one hundred and twenty miles long and of great width.

When an Indian finds a fox nest he watches it until the closed season is over and then tries to catch the foxes with traps so protected by wrappings that they will hold the animals without injuring them.

End of chapter twenty-nine Chapter thirty of Carpenter's World Travels Alaska Our Northern Wonderland by Frank Carpenter Recording by Betty B Chapter thirty The Aleutian Islands Among the least known parts of Uncle Sam's dominions are the Aleutian Islands the shores of which I am now coasting.

I have crossed Bering Sea and traveled along the Alaska Peninsula a great tongue of land extending from the southwestern end of the territory as far as from New York to Cleveland.

I have skirted the coast under the shadow of the Katmai Volcano which a few years ago spread a coat of ashes broadcast over the land nearby and have seen something of the island of Kodiak the largest in Alaska where the government is now experimenting in dairy and stock farming.

Deposits of gold, silver, platinum, iron, and coal promise future prosperity to the land.

according to the census of eighteen ninety this vast region then contained barely thirty two thousand fifty two inhabitants composed of four thousand two hundred ninety eight whites twenty three thousand five hundred and thirty one indians and four thousand two hundred and twenty three mongols and half-breeds the indians are divided into four leading tribes with different languages and customs and although no indication of their origin is found in their myths and traditions experts now maintain that their ethnographical characteristics prove them to be descended from the aborigines of the central parts of the continent the four principal groups subdivided into many lesser tribes are the eskimo or inuit inhabiting the coasts of the bering sea and the polar ocean the aleuti of the alaska peninsula and aleutian isles the athabascan or tene of the interior and the tlinkit or tlinkit whose villages lie on the southern coast of alaska and in the islands of the alexander archipelago these last are forty five hundred in number and owing to the prolonged intercourse with white men have changed their customs more than the others for a stretch of six hundred geographical miles from cape flattery to cape spencer along british columbia and the southern arm of alaska the western shores of north america are fringed with innumerable islands of all sizes from vancouver island two hundred and fifty miles in length to small rocks barely emerging from the surface of quiet channels mount olympus to the south and mount la perouse to the north respectively dominate the straits of wanda fuca and cross sound the two outer gates of the archipelago both to the north and south channels running inland beyond the limits marked by the two mountains form puget sound in washington state and lynn canal and glacier bay in alaska the part of the archipelago little more than one-third belonging to alaska is known as the alexander archipelago the political frontier of alaska starting from the southern end of prince of wales island passes through the center of portland channel to the fifty sixth parallel and then follows the crest of the mountain chain on a line with the coast wherever the chain is within thirty four and a half miles from the sea as far as the one hundred and forty first meridian at the point however where the coast range intersects the one hundred and forty first meridian greenwich this meridian marks the frontier as far north as the polar sea the right angle thus formed where the frontier ceasing to run along the coast line turns abruptly and follows the hundred and forty first meridian is occupied by no less colossal landmark than mount st elias the greater part of the interior of alaska is entirely unexplored the rainfall is scanty and the climate arctic the ground at a foot beneath the surface remains frozen throughout the year during the seven months of winter daylight only lasts four hours and the temperature drops to fifty nine degrees fahrenheit below zero there are no transition seasons and the fine supermonts are comparatively warm sixty to seventy degrees fahrenheit with the sun above the horizon for twenty hours daily towards the polar ocean and bering straits there are vast tundras as in northern siberia the rest of the soil being boggy with scattered brushwood or patches of dwarf trees near the rivers tundras are the vast treeless plains of the arctic region carpeted with moss and lichen The mountains only reach an altitude of 4,000 to 5,000 feet and have no glaciers.

The whole country is intersected by a close network of rivers and lakes, connected by so many branches that it is declared possible to traverse Alaska almost entirely by boat from one to the other sea.

One giant river, the Yukon, bigger than the Mississippi itself, rises in Canada, runs 2,000 miles through Alaska and falls into the Bering Sea.