News

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

The Fish and Wildlife Journal is a web page news site for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Service staff contribute brief articles about current events on their wildlife refuges or other program area.

New Manager and Deputy for Refuge

Steve Delehanty is settling into his new position as refuge manager of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, based out of the Islands and Ocean Visitor Center in Homer.  In one of his first acts as manager, Delehanty selected Marc Webber, currently manager of Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge in Indiana, as deputy manager.  Webber will report about the first of the year.

Delehanty has spent 23 years working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service throughout the country, but this is his first posting in Alaska.  “I am thrilled and honored by the opportunity” said Delehanty.  “Alaska Maritime is one of the most spectacular, interesting, and challenging refuges in the country, and Homer is certainly an appealing community.  With refuge islands and headlands stretching from near Barrow to Sitka, and from Homer to the tip of the Aleutians, the resources and scale of the refuge are unparalleled.” Read More

The new deputy manager, Marc Webber, is a marine biologist with prior Alaskan experience working with marine mammals.  He has spent many years in the Pacific and accumulated significant sea time.  Webber worked for the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge dealing with nesting seabirds and complex logistics similar to what he will find on the Maritime Refuge.  In addition, he served as deputy manager of San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, a refuge noted for its large visitor services program.  Webber is excited to get back to Alaska and marine issues.

Aleutian/Pribilof Kids are Big Winners in Statewide Calendar Contest

Poster created by William Lekanof St. George

"The Journey" Makani Zaima of Adak I fly through the mountains, Soar with the wind, Scavenging for crustaceans, Then a family I begin.

So began the poem, “The Journey”, by Makani Zaima, age 11, of Adak who was one of the five students from the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge region whose work won a place on the statewide 2010 Migratory Bird Calendar. Geselle Vieyra, age 7, Liorah Dushkin, age 7, and Dacia Mitchell, age 12, all of Adak, also were winners in the literature division while William Leakanof, age 11, of St. George won in the poster division.

There have never been this many winners from the Aleutian/Pribilof region and William is the first Pribilof winner. When Adak head teacher, Julie Plummer, was told that her students had won 1/3 of the statewide literature prizes she said, “Oh Wow – That gives me little goose bumps.” Adak School has only 13 students and 4 of them were statewide winners. Read More (pdf)

Refuge Recycling Guru Wins National Environmental Award

Dan Thorington, recycling manager and building custodian for the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, was honored in Washington D.C. last month as one of only ten nation-wide winners of the Department of the Interior Environmental Achievement Awards.  Deputy Secretary of the Interior, Lynn Scarlett, presented Thorington with his award for his extraordinary recycling program which diverts more than 80% of the solid waste produced at Islands and Ocean Visitor Center in Homer. The awards are intended to identify and honor those individuals who develop best practices that could and should be implemented across the nation. Read More (pdf)

Camp Article Published in Professional Journal:  Village Kids on Cover

Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge educator Lisa Matlock’s enthusiasm for her new digital photography camp program led her to submit an article to “The Interpreter”, a national publication for educators and communicators.   “A Lesson in Digital Photography for Luddites” was chosen as the lead article and a photo of Brandi Merculief and another camper  from St. George graced the cover of the Nov/Dec  issue.  What’s more, the digital photographs taken by three student photographers from Unalaska, Nikolski, and Anchorage were featured in the magazine. Read More (pdf)

President Proclaims New World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument;
Aleutian Refuge Lands Included

World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument was created by Presidential Proclamation signed by President Bush December 5th.  Sites on the Aleutian Islands of Attu, Kiska and Atka within the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge were included in the monument along with locations in Hawaii and California. Bush said the monument would remind generations of Americans of the sacrifices that Americans made to protect our country and of the transformative effect of freedom. Read More (pdf)

Adak’s Giddings Receives Hero Award for Volcano Rescue

For his heroic act of bravery in the evacuation of two Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge biologists from Kasatochi Island, Albert Giddings was presented the Department of Interior’s, Exemplary Act Award aboard his boat, M/V Homeward Bound, at Adak Island in early October.   Presenting the award and offering their personal thanks were Deputy Refuge Manager Will Meeks, Aleutian Unit Manager Kent Sundseth and Supervisory Biologist Vernon Byrd.  Giddings, along with his deckhand Eric Mochizuki, received the award in recognition of their courageous action involving great risk to themselves and their vessel. Read More (pdf)

Rat Island Habitat Restoration Takes a Giant Step
October 7, 2008

The first step in restoring seabirds and native habitat to Rat Island on the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge was completed in early October with the application of rodenticide to the island.  Biological monitoring next summer and the following summer will determine if the effort was successful in removing all the rats that have plagued that Aleutian island since a shipwreck in the 1780s.  This is a partnered conservation project between the refuge, The Nature Conservancy and Island Conservation.

With unusually favorable weather and no mechanical problems, the complex operation involving two ships, two helicopters and a field crew of 23 was completed in minimal time.  Rugged, 6,861 acre, Rat Island is uninhabited and located 1300 miles west of Anchorage in the Aleutian Islands, a chain of islands stretching from mainland Alaska nearly to Russia.  The project, the first of its kind in Alaska, was approved last April in a Finding of No Significant Impact based on an Environmental Assessment completed six months earlier.  You can follow the progress of this project and learn more about it through the links below and by visiting www.seabirdrestoration.org.

Finding of No Significant Impact (pdf)
Environmental Assessment for Restoring Wildlife Habitat on Rat Island (pdf - 1800 kb)
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

Murrelet Mysteries Revealed:  Kittlitz’s Nests Discovered in Aleutians

Dense fog rolled over rugged, uninhabited and storm-swept Agattu Island setting the perfect tone for a mystery story.   Whirling wings startled Robb Kaler, a graduate student at Kansas State University, as a small brown bird vanished into the fog offering only a tantalizing glimpse of the secretive Kittlitz’s murrelet.   It was 2005 and the nest Kaler found hidden on the scree slope was one of only 23 known in the world at that time and only the second nest found in the 1000-mile long Aleutian archipelago. When Kaler left his tent that morning to track rock ptarmigan for a restoration program on Alaska Maritime Refuge, he didn’t expect to stumble upon the nest of one of the least known seabirds in North America.  The center of abundance for this rare species was thought to be far to the east and the prevailing wisdom was that Kittlitz’s murrelets nested close to glaciers.  Glaciers have been gone from Agattu for centuries, but nevertheless, there was a nest.  Determined to learn more about this elusive bird, Kaler returned to Agattu two more summers with partner Leah Kenney,  finding 11 nests in  2006 and 17 in 2008. Read more...

Hot Times on the Ring of Fire:  Biologists Flee Volcano

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.

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

Last updated: October 27, 2009