· ... ·· rr\'3 .. 9.. "l'";:CJ.:"'?"'••:'·.::. [I t •.. Library u i' U.S. Fish & Wildlife Se.rvfce lOll E. Tudor Road Anchorage, Alaska 99501 RECONNAISSANCE QE THE P.AVLOF AND SANAK ISLANDS·, ALASKA • i/ .. by Edgar Bailey I Key Words: Seabirds, ·M.ax ine mammals, I. Foxes, Voles, Shorebirds, '' Waterfowl, Passerine birds. I I I I I i I I; u. s. Fish and Wildlife Service ! i Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge 202 West Pioneer Avenue Horner, Alaska 99603 I I ARLIS Alaska Resources. Library & Information Services·· · Anchoraa~. Alaska··~ · · ..•' .. 1 I In 1980 the Alaska Lands Act in~luded the Pavlof I Islands, located south of the Alaska 1 Peninsula between I Sand Point and Cold Bay, in the Al~ska Maritime NWR. I Nearly all of Dolgoi, the largest of the Pavlof Islands,· I as well as roughly haleof Inner Ilia~ik and Wosnesenski were selected by Natives. No lands on Ukolnoi, I Poperechnoi, Goloi, and outer Iliasik islands have been I selected. Sanak Island and surrounding islanas and reefs were designated part of the original Aleutian islands NWR in I 1913. In 1928 Sanak Island was removed from the Aleutian Islands Reservation, as it was called prior to 1940, but the surrounding islands and rocks remained part of the refuge. Sanak itself now-is Native-owned, I I while most sur rounding islands remain: in the refuge. The only previous survey of seabirds; in the Pavlofs was cursory observations from aboard the M/V Aleutian Tern I in June 1973 (Sowl 19 82); the only known recent survey I I in the Sanak area was an incidental ;visit to three of the islets on the south side of Sanak: in 1976 (Sowls :e_:t I 1978). The largest of the Tr~ini ty Islands was I landed on in 1978 enroute to the San~man Reefs 12 miles north of Sanak (Bailey and Faust 198~). The Shumagin I Islands, 20 miles east of the Pavlofs~, were investigated I I in 1976 (Bailey 1977). Earlier biolog~cal information on . ' 2 the islands in this area, particular J::zr t:u: Cierrti :::;10: of seabirds on Sanak due to introduced foxes, is presented ·in Murie (1959). Other general information on observations of birds in the Sanak and Pavlof area is found in Gabrielson and Lincoln (1959). The Pavlof Islands (F~gure 1) are uninhabited and are generally mountainous, reaching elevations of 1900 feet on Poperechnoi, the most rugged of the group. Ukolnoi and Wosnesenski have considerable gently sloping terrain. Beach rye (Elymus arenarius mollis) dominates the shoreline, while bluejoint (Calamagrostis canadensis ) and other grasses and sedges (Carex .lill.llL) prevail in interior lowlands. Alders (Alnus Qrispa) and willows (Salix .ruu;ta_) line many streams and ring the lower mountain slopes; crowberry (Empetrum nigrum) predominates in upland tundra zones. Except for Caton, all of the islands surrounding Sanak (Figure 2) are small; most are relatively low and flat. Beach rye, umbelliforms, and other grasses cover the larger area, while many isl~ts on the rough south side of Sanak are mainly bare rock. Vegetation is similar to that described for the Sandman Reefs. (Bailey and Faust 1980). HETHODS We arrived in the Pavlof Islands on 7 May 1983 aboard the M/V Western Pacific, an 85-foot chartered crab .. + Jc;Ot: ISianO 15' Lt 0~ 3 + *** . .. N- QJ<D c:: oc \ * UKal\("lo 0"' ·928 .. ~-* .. .. Lt Arch Point * * \ + * ·,..,. * ... + .,. + The Pinnacle ISLANDS Kennoys .. ~~ ::; \ + p A c I F I C .. ...72(k_ + .. ; ! ..,. Outer lliasik *East Rock ~"-(,)•' Island ! South Rochs \ _) 'o2'00' R. 83 W. 800 000 FEET 30' ··:.BY THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY AND U.S. COAST uEODETIC SURVEY COMPILATION DIAGRAM FIGURE 1. PAVLOF ISLANDS. I:.D AND PUBLISHED BY THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 5 0 5 I TOPOGRAPHY fROM AlASKA MAP. 1==: -1 --:-:!O:c·.c :. .. •'<TROL BY USC&GS PAVlOF DISTRICT. I: 250000 E=l :, cECTED HYDROGRAPHIC DATA COMPILED FROM USC&GS CHARTS 2 TOPOGRAPHr FROM USCti:GS TOPOGRAPHIC MAfiiUSCRIPTS. T-8837 AND T-8836 I 20000 , -~,,) 11. 100.000 SCALE), 8703,8704( 1 :80,000 SCALE), 8833 79.798 SCALE), 8851 (I :40,000 SCALE). AND 8859 (I :300.000 SCALE) 3. TOPOGRAPHY BY PHOTOAUDAOE COMPILAfiON ··;,,..iNFORMATION IS NOT INTENDED FOR NAVAGATIONAL PURPOSES ADJUSTED TO TRIMETROGON BASE CONTOUR INTEk'l 4 TOPOGRAPHY FROM AAf AERONAUTICAL ARlAS ldJ] . •Ji<'l: I: ''1PILED IN 1953 FROM ORIGINAL SURVEYS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CHART BELKOFSI\1 119001 ., .D u S. COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1929-1952, SUPPLEMENTED BY cu;<vt~ ~~ • 5 TOPOGRAPHY FROM USC&GS CHART 8700 DEPTt1 : ~f.OPHOTOGRAMMqRIC (PHOTOAUDADE) COMPILATION. 1943 AND 1946 511i)k[Lifil. ~11,,',:, hfo · 6 TOPOGRAPHY fROM USC&GS CHART b704 1953 MAGNETIC [J[CLI/,;..[;.J:, AI .. 1 ,.liSAL TRANSVERSE MERCATOR PROJECTION ;,,,R[H AMERICAN DATUM , .. '-'FOOT GRID BASED ON ALASKA COORDINATE SYSTEM. ZONE 7 FOR SALE B Ek UNIVERSAL TRANSVERSE MERCATOR GRID TICKS PROVISIONAL COMPILATION PENDING AVAILABILITY OF .. _,,.r.\El NEW PHOTOGRAPHY AND SURVEYS OF A HIGHER ORDER FAIRBANKS, ALASKA 99701, DENVEI ,I ·I SHOWN IN BLUE A FOLDER DESCRIBIIiC. I Cl-uC.kA .j.:. WWestdahl Rock .t .+· + 'sl... ~tv . OS Trinity Isla 't. Hennig Rock ; +Oneida Rock + Figure 2. Sanak Islands (scale 1:250.00). 5 boat, and departed Sanak on 12 May. Since the available dates of the reconnaissance were governed by a rigid schedule associate~ with other work in the Aleutians, we were forced to examine the area too early to properly document the breeding of seabirds. Most species do not begin incubation until at least late May, and some ~ species do not come to land until later in the .month. Prior to nesting, seabirds tend to arrive at colonies for a few days and then abruptly leave again; thus, population fluctuations before laying tend to be very pronounced. We circumnavigated all or most of the seven larger, named islands in the Pavlofs except Dolgoi, the largest of these islands, and Outer Iliasik. Also, all of the named isl~nds surrounding Sanak, except for the Trinity Islands, were visited. Besides Dolgoi, Outer Iliasik, and the three Trinity Islands, five small islands (Olga, Entrance, Omega, Kennoys, and Clay) were not visited. Besides circumnavigating each island with an inflatable, we went ashore to search for seabird burrows and evidence of foxes as well as obtain other biological information. Since it was too early for nesting of most species, the only seabirds counted were cliff-and surface-nesters. Sea otters (Enhydra lutra) and other marine mammals sighted off islands were recorded. All Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) nests were recorded on USCGS nautical charts with other 6 observations. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Terrestrial mammals Voles. Observations of terrestrial mammals are summarized in Table 1; Voles, probablly tundra voles (Microtus oeconomus), were found on all of the Pavlof Islands, except Inner Iliasik, and on 12 of the 19 islands visited around Sanak. Vole populations on some small islands, such as Jude, Gunboat, and Inikla were amazingly high, amounting to several burrows per square meter. On many islands voles had literally consumed nearly all of the standing dead plant material, causing erosion in some locales. Voles probably were introduced to these islands as an additional food source for ·.· introduced foxes. Voles are absent from the Sandman Reefs, situated between the Pavlof Islands and Sanak (Bailey and Faust 1980). Of all the known islands south of the Alaska Peninsula only Chankliut, south of Chignik, has comparable densities of voles, and worse erosion because of steep slopes (Bailey and Faust 19 81) • Foxes. Six of the seven larger Pavlof Islands have introduced foxes; red foxes (Yulpes vulpes) occur on Inner Iliasik, Ukolnoi, and Poperechnoi. Although we did not land on Dolgoi and Outer Iliasik, both 7 Totals (25 islands} 18 8 5 10 X = present F = formerly present P = probably present *Not surveyed (8): Olga, Entrance, Omega, Kennoys, Clay, Trinity, Outer Iliasik, and Dolgoi. 8 reportedly have red foxes (Murie 1959). Red foxes actually were seen on Ukolnoi and Poperechnoi but were indicated by tracks on Inner Iliasik. No foxes are believed present on Goloi, th0ugh arctic foxes once were there (Uttecht, pers. comm.) •. Wosnesenski is the only island in the Pavlofs currently inhabited by arctic foxes. Arctic foxes were found Still surviving on seven of the Sanak Islands (Table 1): they disappeared from Peterson, Mary, Ulma, Gunboat, Sisters, Caton, and Telemitz islands. Sanak Island originally had introduced red foxes which subsequently were trapped off by the 1950's, but a cattleman released arctic fox pups from nearby Elma Island in the early 1970's (Bendixson and Uttecht, pers. comm.). Only four named islands in the Sanak group escaped fox introductions. No foxes are on the Trinities. Since the small islands surounding Sanak were included in the Aleutian Islands NWR established in 1913, records are available concerning fox farming leases on these islands. The earliest record for arctic or blue fox introductions on surrounding islands was in 1916 on Gunboat, Umla, and Elrna isl~nds, where they have since disappeared, except for on Elrna. Introductions on other islands followed between 1922 and 1933. Refuge records reveal that the greatest number of pelts (293) removed by 1936 carne from Caton, 4,400 acres in size and the 9 island which had arctic fox. Curiously, no remain on Caton, and they may have been inadvertently eliminated by dogs owned by a cowboy who I ! lived! there for several years in the 1970's to watch over ~he island's cattle (Fretwell, pers. cornrn.). The I most I productive fox island ·for its size, assuming I equivalent trapping efforts on surrounding islands, was I Peter~on Island, only about. 320 acres in .size, but one from which · 147 pelts valued at $8500 were removed by 1936.