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Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge

{{Short description|Protected areas off the Alaskan coast}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox protected area

| name = Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge

| iucn_category = IV

| map = USA Alaska |relief=1

| map_caption = Map of Alaska, United States

| map_width = 300

| photo = Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, Aleutian Island Unit.jpg

| photo_caption = Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, Aleutian Island Unit

| photo_width =

| location = Alaska, United States

| nearest_city =

| coordinates = {{coord|52|-174|region:US-AK|format=dms|display=inline, title}}

| area_acre = 4,900,000

| established = 1980

| visitation_num =

| visitation_year =

| governing_body = U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

| website = [http://alaskamaritime.fws.gov/ Alaska Maritime NWR]

}}

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 {{convert|4.9|e6acre|km2}}, of which {{convert|2.64|e6acre|km2}} is wilderness. The refuge stretches from Cape Lisburne on the Chukchi Sea to the tip of the Aleutian Islands in the west and Forrester Island in the southern Alaska Panhandle region in the east. The refuge has diverse landforms and terrains, including tundra, rainforest, cliffs, volcanoes, beaches, lakes, and streams.

Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge is well known for its abundance of seabirds. About 75 percent of Alaskan native marine birds, 15 to 30 million among 55 species, use the refuge. AMNWR also provides a nesting habitat for an estimated 40 million seabirds, representing 80 percent of all seabirds in North America. The birds congregate in "bird cities" (colonies) along the coast. Each species has a specialized nesting site (rock ledge, crevice, boulder rubble, pinnacle, or burrow). Other animals present in this refuge include caribou, sea lions, bears, coyotes, seals, Canada lynx, beavers, foxes, muskrats, wolf packs, moose, walrus, river otters, marten, whales, Dall sheep and sea otters.{{Cite news|last=McCluskey|first=Ian|date=November 2, 2020|title=Will Oregon see sea otters again?|url=https://www.opb.org/article/2020/11/02/will-oregon-see-sea-otters-again/|access-date=2020-11-04|work=OPB}}

The administrative headquarters and visitor center are located in Homer, Alaska. In 1968, Simeonof National Wildlife Refuge, part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, was designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service.{{Cite web

|url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nnlandmarks/site.htm?Site=SIME-AK

|title=National Natural Landmarks - National Natural Landmarks (U.S. National Park Service)

|website=www.nps.gov|language=en

|access-date=2019-03-20}}

Administration

The refuge is divided into five units. Clockwise around Alaska, starting in the southeast, their component territories include:

=Gulf of Alaska unit=

=Alaska Peninsula unit=

=Aleutian Islands unit=

File:Kagamil Island North Cove by USFWS.jpg]]

Includes most of the land area of the Aleutian Islands, from Unimak in the east to Attu in the west: Near Islands, Rat Islands, Delarof Islands, Andreanof Islands, Islands of Four Mountains, Fox Islands, and Krenitzin Islands

  • Unimak Wilderness (Unimak Island)
  • Aleutian Islands Wilderness – {{convert|1300000|acre|km2}}, designated 1980{{Cite web |title=Aleutian Islands Wilderness |url=https://wilderness.net/visit-wilderness/?ID=5 |access-date=2024-09-13 |website=wilderness.net |language=en}}
  • Bogoslof Wilderness (Bogoslof Island) – {{convert|175|acre|ha}}, designated 1970{{Cite web |title=Bogoslof Wilderness |url=https://wilderness.net/visit-wilderness/?ID=65 |access-date=2024-09-13 |website=wilderness.net |language=en}}

=Bering Sea unit=

File:Bio Tech Sarah holds a least auklet by Laney White USFWS.jpg on St. George Island]]

=Chukchi Sea unit=

Gallery

File:Hazy Islet.jpg|Big Hazy Islet - Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge

File:Gullisland.jpg|Gull Island, a small rocky outcropping on Kachemak Bay is the summer home to an estimated 10,000 seabirds

File:Thick-billed Murres in Alaska refuge.jpg|Thick-billed murres in the refuge

File:East Amatuli Island, Barren Islands, July 1985.jpg|East Amatuli Island, Barren Islands, Gulf of Alaska Unit

File:Castle Cape, Alaska Peninsula Unit.jpg|Castle Cape, Alaska Peninsula Unit

File:APRCape Thompson, Biologist at Murre plot, August 1995.jpg|Cape Thompson

File:Three walrus near Cape Lisburne, Alaska by USFWS.jpg|Three walrus near Cape Lisburne

See also

References

External links

{{Commons category|Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge}}

  • {{Official website|https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Alaska_Maritime}}
  • [http://www.islandsandocean.org/ Islands and Oceans Visitor Center, the official visitor center for the Refuge]
  • [http://www.amnwr.com AMNWR field camp photos Unofficial site]
  • {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.fws.aws.4.5|name=The Tiglax - Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge (2009)}}

{{Protected Areas of Alaska}}

{{National Wildlife Refuges of the United States}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Chukchi Sea

Category:Homer, Alaska

Category:Protected areas of Aleutians East Borough, Alaska

Category:Protected areas of Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska

Category:Protected areas of Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska

Category:Protected areas of Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska

Category:Protected areas of Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska

Category:Protected areas of Sitka, Alaska

Category:National Natural Landmarks in Alaska