history [edit ]
Jimmy Carter created Becharof National Monument by presidential announcement on December 1, 1978. The refuge was established on December 2, 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act ( ANILCA ). [ 2 ] In 1983, the Fish and Wildlife Service undertook the duty to manage the Becharof Refuge, along with the Ugashik and Chignik units of the Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge. [ 2 ]
scene of Becharof Lake with Ugashik-Peulik in the setting. In 1989 the park areas was heavily affected by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill which devastated the Alaska Peninsula. Puale Bay was the most heavily oiled true laurel outside of Prince William Sound. [ 3 ] In an campaign to determine species presence, distribution, habitat use, and migratory patterns, extensive kingdom bird studies were conducted from 1995 through 1998 at assorted locations around Becharof Lake. [ 3 ] Biologists continued the monitor make in the park 2001 through 2003 using the like methods, paying luminary attention to seabird action, along with caribou and Alaskan elk populations. [ 3 ] The safety is affiliated with the Alaska Fish and Wildlife Cooperative Research Unit at the University of Alaska Fairbanks to conduct research into the drain basin east of the Ugashik Lakes on the Alaska Peninsula to monitor elk natural process. [ 3 ]
landscape and wildlife [edit ]
Dry Bay The Becharof National Wildlife Refuge covers an area of 1,200,000 acres ( 4,900 km2 ). [ 2 ] It lies on a mountainous coastline containing the Ugashik-Peulik vent and steep cliffs and the park contains a range of geographic features from mountains, broad valleys and fjords, to tundra and glacially formed lakes. [ 2 ] Within the parking lot lies the extensive Becharof Lake which at 300,000 acres ( 1,200 km2 ), 35 miles ( 56 km ) long, 15 miles ( 24 kilometer ) wide and 600 feet ( 180 megabyte ) deep at deepest, it is second largest lake in Alaska and the largest in the integral National Wildlife Refuge System. [ 2 ] The lake is fed by a number of rivers and streams, and contains some of the largest salmon populations in the populace. The lake has the earth ‘s irregular largest function of red salmon salmon and estimates reveal that Becharof Lake and its tributaries provide the Bristol Bay fishery alone with six million adult salmon per class. [ 2 ] Wildlife is abundant in the park and the senior high school levels of salmon are enough to feed the largest concentrations of brown bears in Alaska. Wolf packs, two species of flim-flam, wolverine, river otter, beaver, caribou, seals, sea lions, sea otters and whales a well as assorted seabirds such as eagles found along the shore. [ 2 ] [ 4 ]
Refuge landscape
Spawning salmon The Naknek River basin is one of the important wildlife habitats of the park. [ 3 ] The river provides habitat for thousands of ducks, goose and swans that will late populate breed lakes and ponds on the Alaska Peninsula and the area is close monitored by biologists and ornithologists. [ 3 ] The area contains noteworthy populations of common merganser, common goldeneye, American green-winged bluish green, Canada goose, greater scaup, tundra roll, greater white-fronted goose, mallard, northerly pintail, American and Eurasian widgeon, northerly shoveler, red-breasted merganser, black scoter, and long-tailed duck. [ 3 ] From mid-march through to mid-may, safety biologists monitor waterfowl from established points that extend from the sass of Naknek Lake to Kvichak Bay in Naknek and register the waterfowl by species approximately four times a workweek. [ 3 ] During winter populations of red-breasted merganser, common goldeneye, bald eagle, willow ptarmigan, glaucous-winged chump, Canada jay, black-billed magpie, coarse raven, chickadee, northerly shrike, and the common redpoll amongst other birds can be spotted in the park. [ 3 ]
References [edit ]
Coordinates :
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