Check here for important events
and natural occurrences on the refuge. Visit the refuge's Alaska
Islands & Ocean Visitor Center website for a complete listing of center
events in Homer.
October - National Wildlife Refuge Week
October 2 - Anchorage - Douglas Brinkley, noted author, historian and media pundit, headlines the Refuge's Centennial Celebration at the Wendy Williamson Auditorium, University of Alaska Anchorage campus. Brinkley will speak on his newest book: Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America. The event also features an opening reception for Wings Over Wild Lands: A Photographic Celebration of the Alaska Maritime and Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuges. The reception begins at 6 p.m; the presentation at 7:30 p.m. Book signing to follow. Free and open to the public. Both the Yukon Delta and Alaska Maritime Refuges were 1909 refuges established by President Roosevelt.
October 3 - Homer - Douglas Brinkley, noted author, historian and media pundit, headlines the Refuge's Centennial Celebration at the Alaska Islands & Ocean Visitor Center in Homer at 7 p.m. Brinkley will speak on his newest book: Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and seating is limited. Free. Reception and book signing to follow. Parts of the Alaska Maritime Refuge were designated in 1909 by President Roosevelt.
November 6-8 - Sitka WhaleFest; Sitka, Alaska.
December - Audubon
Christmas Bird Count in Homer, Kodiak and Unalaska. Part of a national
program. Unalaska's Bird Count is the farthest west count in North America.
December 22-31 - Winterfest. Visit Alaska
Islands & Ocean's website for special holiday programs.
Winter - Seaducks, eiders, Emperor geese, seabirds and other waterfowl winter in
the ice-free waters off refuge islands from the Pribilofs south through the Aleutians
and the Gulf of Alaska. Winter bird watching for water birds can be fantastic in these parts of the refuge.
January - Seasonal Bio-Tech positions advertised.
February - Migratory Bird Calendar contest submissions due from rural schools.
March 16-20 - "Spring Break in the Islands" - visit Alaska Islands & Ocean's website for special programs.
April - Whale
Fest Kodiak; Kodiak, Alaska.
April - Earth Day celebration at Alaska Islands & Ocean Visitor Center
May - Best time to observe Asiatic and other migrating birds throughout the refuge.
Shorebirds migrate through Homer May 1 - 15.
May - Refuge ship Tiglax
and field crews leave Homer for a summer's work
May 6-9 - Kachemak
Bay Shorebird Festival; Homer, Alaska.
May 20 - 24 - Seafest, Homer
Late May to September - Refuge naturalist aboard M/V Tustumena on sailings to Dutch Harbor/Unalaska
Summer -
June - July -
Best time to observe cliff nesting birds throughout the refuge. Auklets begin
to leave nesting colonies in early August.
June - Rat Island. Crews return for two seasons of study of the effectiveness of the October 2008 rat eradication.
June 5 - Alaska
Oceans Festival - Anchorage.
August - Heart of the Aleutians Festival, Unalaska
September - M/V Tiglax and field
crews return to Homer after a summer's work.
September to May - Refuge environmental education programs available at Islands & Ocean and at village and southcentral Alaska schools. Contact refuge educator lisa_matlock@fws.gov
September 12 - Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges, 4th annual meeting at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Join this new, independent, nonprofit, group which is already doing so much to help Alaska's Wildlife Refuges.
September - Sea Otter Awareness Week
