What's happening on the Alaska Maritime Refuge? Announcements, stories, and news links will be featured here.

Rat Island Habitat Restoration Project Approved

A project to restore the natural biodiversity of Rat Island by eradicating invasive Norway rats will not have any significant impacts on the human environment according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.  In a “Finding of No Significant Impact”, released April 15, and signed by Regional Director Tom Melius, the Service determined that the project proposed for Rat Island in the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge does not constitute a major federal action requiring further environmental analysis.  Rat Island is uninhabited and located in the Aleutian Island Chain about 1300 miles west of Anchorage.  The Nature Conservancy and Island Conservation are partners in the plan to restore wildlife habitat by removing the rats. 

Melius’ decision was based on an Environmental Assessment of the project released for public comment in mid-December.  Of the 37 comments received, almost all were supportive of the project. Pending final approval of permits and pesticide regulation compliance, eradication operations will begin on the 6,861 acre island in the fall of 2008. 

Norway rats, which are not native to North America, arrived on Rat Island in the 1700’s via shipwreck.  Since then, the rats have eliminated most bird life from Rat Island and altered the native habitat in many other ways.

Click on the links below to learn more about the project or request paper copies of any of these documents by e-mail to rat_island@fws.gov, by phone to (907)235-6546, or by mail to Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, 95 Sterling Hwy., Suite 1, Homer, AK 99603.

Finding of No Significant Impact (pdf)
Environmental Assessment for Restoring Wildlife Habitat on Rat Island (pdf - 1800 kb)
Press Release (pdf)
Q & A (pdf)
Map of Rat Island (pdf)
Rat Island Photo Gallery

More on the Refuge Invasive Species Program
Stop Rats
Wildlife and People at Risk: A Plan to Keep Rats Out of Alaska, ADF&G

Rat Island 2001. Photo Credit: Art Sowls/USFWS

Refuge, Town Mourn Passing of Captain Kevin Bell7

Kevin Bell with the Tiglax in the background

Captain Kevin Bell passed away January 7 in Homer surrounded by his family.  He was 53 and had been struggling with brain cancer for about a year.  Bell was a larger than life character who had sailed on the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge’s M/V Tiglax since its commissioning in 1987.  Through his intelligence, dedication and zest, Bell worked his way up from cook/deckhand to become captain of the 120 foot ship, largest in the Fish & Wildlife Service fleet. 

Over 500 mourners packed the high school auditorium for his Memorial Service on January 16 with a reception following at the Refuge’s Islands & Ocean Visitor Center.  Bell was well known in the biological community, in the seafaring community and in the Homer community.  He was a Cub Scout leader, a coach and a tireless advocate for youth hockey, being one of the founders of the Homer Hockey Association.

Captain Bell liked to refer to himself as “just the boat driver”, but he was never just the boat driver.  Bell was a passionate advocate for wildlife, for the work of the Refuge, and for the Aleutians.  Driven by his great curiosity about the natural world, he enthusiastically supported the scientific work conducted from his ship.  He was a great champion of people, praising and encouraging all who set foot on the M/V Tiglax.  He particularly loved to introduce children to the Aleutians and the work of the refuge, leading spirited school programs and M/V Tiglax tours.

Captain Bell received the Department of the Interior’s Honor Award for Meritorious Service signed by Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne and presented by Regional Director Tom Melius in 2007.  The award, one of the highest given in the department, was granted in “recognition of his many years of outstanding seamanship and exemplary support of international maritime conservation programs for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

The family requests that tributes and stories of Kevin Bell be posted on his Caring Bridge web site or sent to the Refuge so they may be collected for a memory book.  Donations may be made to the Nature Conservancy to support one of Bell’s favorite projects, island restoration through removal of invasive species.  Send memorial donations payable to The Nature Conservancy, 715 L. Street, Suite 100, Anchorage, AK, 99501 indicating that the donation is for the Aleutian Seabird Restoration Project in honor of Kevin Bell.

Fair Winds and Following Seas Captain Bell.  We will all miss you. 

WWW.StopRats.org Goes Live

You can order free rat prevention kits for your Alaskan boat, see a map of where the rats are in Alaska, learn all about the threats rats pose to wildlife, get ideas on protecting your town or boat, read about the latest rat invasion of Anchorage, blog your rat stories and much, much more on the new website of the Stop Rats Outreach Team. The Outreach Team is a loose coalition of about 15 wildlife and fishing organizations and government agencies interested in halting the spread of rats in Alaska. The Team hopes to use education and outreach to convince others to "rat proof" their boats, towns and behavior. Visit www.stoprats.org and see what you can do to help.

Learn More:
Invasive Species on the Refuge
How to Keep Your Ship Rat Free
WWW.StopRats.org

Refuge Photos On-Line

Over 650 images of the Alaska Maritime Refuge can be found on-line at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Alaska Image Library. Type in the full name of the refuge in the search window – Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge - if you want to see them all or search by a more specific topic such as Pribilof Islands or horned puffin. All images are in the public domain and can be easily downloaded to your computer

Refuge News On-Line

Recent refuge stories from the Alaska Maritime Refuge and Fish & Wildlife offices from throughout the country can be found at the above link to the Fish & Wildlife Journal.

Aleutians Kids are Statewide Calendar Contest Winners

With words, not drawings, Emerald Sherman, Grade 1, of Adak and Darin Krukoff, Grade 9, of Nikolski won statewide honors in the Migratory Bird Calendar contest. Their winning literature pieces (pdf) beat out the competition from throughout rural Alaska and will be published in the 2008 Migratory Bird Calendar. More than 1700 entries competed for the 12 poster and 12 literature spots on the calendar. Each month will be illustrated by students’ work based on this year’s theme: Healthy Birds, Healthy Families. Over 18,000 copies of the calendar are distributed throughout Alaska.

To learn more about the calendar contest and the other statewide winners follow the link in the headline.

Ship Wrecks on Refuge, M/V Selendang Ayu Aground on Unalaska

A 738 foot cargo vessel carrying 60,000 tons of soybeans, unknown pounds of weed seeds and approximately 483,000 gallons of fuel oil ran aground and broke in half on the remote west side of Unalaska Island on December 8, 2004. Six vessel crew members died during the rescue effort. An estimated 321,000 gallons of intermediate fuel oil, 15,000 gallons of marine diesel and other oils and all the soybeans and weed seeds were released into the water right off shore of the refuge. Seabirds, waterfowl and otters were known to have died in the spill. It was not determined if rats were also onboard the ship although Unalaska Island has had rats since the 1800s.

Refuge staff aboard the M/V Tiglax and other Fish and Wildlife Service personnel spent much of the winter of the spill doing preassessment work at the scene. Shoreline assessment and clean-up continued through the summer of 2005. The Unified Command and the refuge will return to Unalaska this summer (2006) to inspect shorelines that had not met the end point standards for clean-up by the fall of 2005.

Follow the link above for background information, maps, updates and photos.

Sea Otters in the Aleutians on Endangered Species List

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the southwest Alaska Distinct Population Segment of the northern sea otter (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in August of 2005. The otter population there has declined at least 56 to 68 percent since the mid-1980s.

New Undersea Volcano Discovered in Aleutians

An active undersea volcano, the first to be discovered in Alaska, is rising between Amchitka and Semisopochnoi islands in the central Aleutian Islands of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. Researchers mapped this phenomenon in June of 2003.

Alaska Science Forum Articles

In the summer of 2004, Ned Rozell, a science writer at the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, accompanied the refuge ship and biologists and produced a series of articles for the Alaska Science Forum on the work of the refuge.

Ptarmigan pioneers island-hop in Aleutians

Aleutian Canada goose comeback continues

Aleutian voyage for science on the Tiglax

Rats and birds clash on volcanic island