Refuge Notebook

Sea Otters, Atomic Bombs, and Amchitka Island

Amchitka Island was the stronghold of sea otter recovery after a 1911 international treaty protected the animals from near extinction by fur hunters. Because of poaching, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service maintained continued surveillance of Amchitka by the Aleutian Islands refuge manager.

In the course of such a mission in early 1950, refuge manager Bob Jones encountered military activity of an undisclosed nature. Further inquiry revealed that a classified nuclear experiment was planned [and carried out later between 1965 and 1972].

When the Fish and Wildlife Service objected as stewards of the island and the sea otters, they were advised to move some of the animals elsewhere and were given $50,000 to do so. The Fish and Wildlife Service vessel MS Brown Bear was recalled to duty and a crew assembled: Bob Jones as leader, Paul Adams, Jim Peterson, Russell Hoffman, and Kim Clark.

In early winter they proceeded to Amchitka Island and set up a tent camp near Crown Reefer Point. They remained through the winter (described as unusually foul even by Aleutian standards) until May 1951.

They sought to capture sea otters for transplanting elsewhere in Alaska. Although the mission did not succeed at the time, the expedition found problems and sought solutions that eventually resulted in the successful transplants of sea otters to much of their former range and speeded the recovery of these smallest of marine mammals.

— adapted from David L. Spencer’s 1972 history: Aleutian Islands National Wildlife Refuge

Last updated:September 8, 2008