ALASKA'S FISH AND WILDLIFE By CLARENCE J. RHODE Regional Director, Alaska and WILL BARKER Illustrated by BOB HINES A.1 CIRCULAR 17 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Douglas McKay, Secretary FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, Albert M. Day, Director Circular 17 supersedes Circular 3, Birds and Mammals of Alaska (1942) UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1953 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 26, D. C. - Price 25 cents Contents Page THE COUNTRY - - - - - - - - - - -1 Southeastern Alaska 4 The Gulf Region 5 The Interior 6 The Arctic Shelf 7 Aleutian Islands 8 Pribilof Islands 9 Nunivak Island 10 FISHES - - - - 11 MAMMALS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 19 BIRDS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 39 WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT - - - - 44 License requirements_ 45 LISTS OF ALASKA'S FISH AND WILDLIFE - - - - 46 TREES AND SHRUBS IMPORTANT TO WILDLIFE - - - - 55 RANGE MAPS - - - - 56 BIBLIOGRAPHY - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -58 INDEX - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 60 (iii) ALASKA'S FISH - AND WILDLIFE Alaska, rugged and primitive, is the Arctic Circle and 99° F. at a land of surprises for the new- Klukwan in Southeastern Alaska comer—soldier, sportsman, tourist, top the highest recorded temper- or homesteader. ature of 95° F. at Miami, Fla. Of Giant strawberries, 50-pound cab- course, in some places the bottom bages, delphiniums 9 feet tall, drops out of the thermometer. At grow in parts of the country we Tanana on the Yukon, 70 degrees bought from the Russians, whose below zero have been recorded, and chief interest was the exploitation Fairbanks, chief town of central of the country's rich fur re- Alaska, has felt the bite of 66 de- sources. Along with numerous grees below zero. fishes, big-game animals, and game The temperature fluctuations birds, these fur resources are im- give the mosquitoes no trouble. portant in Alaska's economy today. These pests thrive in many places, Alaska is not the frigid land of particularly in swampy river bot- popular concept, though it does toms like those along the Yukon, have extremely cold weather. one of the longest waterways in Average annual snowfall in West North America. But even though Virginia is more than that of the it has mosquitoes so fierce you need Arctic lowlands, and greatest sum- a double headnet, Alaska does not mer heat in central Alaska is about have snakes of any kind. on a par with that of New York Surprisingly, the glaciers are in City. the south, southwest, and southeast. The weatherwise have learned to They can form in these regions be- expect almost anything in the way cause of heavy precipitation and of temperatures in Alaska, nearly high mountains—a combination three-fourths of which is in the that even causes glaciers in equa- North Temperate Zone. Record- torial Africa. Alaska's greatest ice ings of 100° F. at Fort Yukon on mass is the Malaspina glacier on the 1 southern flank of Mount St. Elias. This vast and sprawling land has At least 250 other glaciers have been an intricate coast line totaling located and named. 33,000 miles. There are more than When we bought Alaska, it was 3,000 islands, 1,100 of them in the commonly thought that we had Alexander Archipelago through made a poor buy. But the return which the Inland Passage winds its on the investment of $7,200,000 has way. Boats that thread the Passage been about 2,430 percent. What is put in at three of Alaska's largest more, the purchase of Alaska gave cities, Ketchikan, Juneau (the the United States a stronghold to present capital), and Sitka (the old dominate the North Pacific—a Russian capital). necessity foreseen by 'William The population of Alaska is Henry Seward, Lincoln's Secretary sparse—about 129,000 in 1950. of State. who negotiated the pur- Average distribution is 1 person to chase in 1867. every 5 square miles, as compared A major seaport of Alaska is with 50 to the square mile for the named for Seward. Gateway to 48 States, 29 for Texas, and 748 the interior, Seward is the southern for Rhode Island. This popula- terminus of the Alaska railroad, tion is made up of outlanders of and the outfitting center for big- many nationalities, and Aleuts game hunters headed for Kenai (pronounced alley-oots), Eskimos, Peninsula. and Indians. There are trophies to be taken on Alaska's residents are governed the peninsula, but big game here by the Territorial Legislature, as well as elsewhere in Alaska is by created in 1912. Its fish and wild- no means as plentiful as people have been led to believe. Though gold mining is often thought to be Alaska's ranking in- dustry, it is overshadowed by the commercial fisheries—to which canning of salmon contributes 80 to 90 percent of the output. Trapping and agriculture make significant contributions to the economy, and transportation and the growing tourist trade add to the income of this land whose 586,400 square miles are a fifth as large as the 48 States. , Its expanse can be appreciated by o 457 comparing a map of Alaska with a map of the 48 States, drawn to the same scale. North and south, parts • e. of Alaska would stretch from Can- ada to Mexico, and east and west from Georgia to California. 2 life resources are managed by the With its striking contrasts in Alaska Game Commission and the physical features, climate, , vegeta- United States Fish and Wildlife tion, and animal life, Alaska is most Service. The Territorial Depart- easily described one part at a time. ment of Fisheries conducts scientific Brief descriptions of its five rather investigations of the fisheries re- natural divisions, and of Nunivak sources and works closely with the Island and the Pribilof Islands Fish and Wildlife Service. follow. 1, ALASKA BY REGIONS ARCTIC SHELF ............ ............ f. INTER/OR ........ • NUN/VANC) GULF •-.. I REGION I • PRIBILOF o ISLANDS r•1/4,. D f \ ISLAN SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA s \s 3 SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA Southeastern Alaska is the strip, inches at Haines. Temperatures sometimes called the Panhandle, are not extreme : the January aver- from Portland Canal up the coast age is 30° F., the July, 57° F. The to Yakutat. Its mainland is a nar- forest is largely western hemlock row belt of high, ice-capped moun- and Sitka spruce. tains, and along its coast are many Big-game animals of Southeast- forested islands and countless bays ern Alaska include the Sitka deer, and inlets. The climate is mild and the mountain goat, brown and black wet. Most of the precipitation is bears, and a few moose in the val- during the winter. Annual rain- leys of the large mainland rivers. fall averages 99 inches, but varies Among fur animals are the beaver, from 150 inches at Ketchikan to 60 the muskrat, the wolf, the land otter, the mink, the marten, the weasel, and the wolverine. In the waters of the Inland Passage are sea _lions, whales, Dall's porpoise and the Pacific Harbor porpoise, and one of the hair seals—the Paci- fic harbor seal. Halibut, cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, and pink, king, and silver salmon are some of the fishes in this region, while in the varied bird population are grouse, ptarmigan, Steller's jay, the Alaska chickadee, the pine gros- beak, the osprey, both the golden and the bald eagle, and in winter the rare trumpeter swan, which nests in British Columbia and Al- RAINBOW berta to the east. 4 THE GULF REGION The Alaska Range cuts across the game animals of the region. There Territory in a huge arc, and the are some transplanted elk on land below this arc is known as the Afognak Island and deer along the Gulf Region. Drained by the Cop- coast. Among the smaller animals per and Susitna Rivers, it includes are ground squirrels, marmots, por- the base of the Alaska Peninsula, cupines, the Arctic shrew, lem- the Kenai Peninsula, and Kodiak mings, and the varying hare. Up- Island. It is the most important land game birds include grouse and game region in the Territory. willow ptarmigan, and there are Average January temperatures migratory waterfowl such as green- range from about 26° F. at Kodiak, winged teal, Canada geese and Kodiak Island, to about —22° F. at white-fronted geese, and harlequin, Copper Center on the Copper River, pintail, and mallard ducks. Song on the mainland. It has been much birds include the slate-colored colder in both places—absolute junco, the blackpolled warbler, and minimum for January is 74 degrees the robin. In coastal waters are the below zero at Copper Center and 9 Pacific harbor seal, the northern sea degrees below zero at Kodiak. lion, and many whales, including Most of the precipitation is in the the small Beluga or white whale late fall and early summer, and the which frequents Bristol Bay and average is about 35 inches. Here Cook Inlet. Streams contain trout, the northern limits of Sitka spruce salmon, and grayling. and hemlock are reached, and the black and white spruces and the birches of the Interior make an ap- pearance. The western end of the Alaska Peninsula is treeless. Moose, caribou, Dall sheep, moun- tain goats, and black, brown, and grizzly bears are the principal big- DOLLY VARDEN 211050 0-53--2 5 Between the Alaska and Brooks are but a few of the webfeet which Ranges and extending from Can- use this area for summer quarters. ada to Bering Sea are the huge cen- Here also is found the emperor tral valleys of the Yukon and Kus- goose, a beautifully colored goose of kokwim Rivers. Known as the In- medium size. Upland game birds terior, this is a region of cold dark are ruffed and spruce grouse, and winters, and of summers with con- the willow, white-tailed, and rock tinuous daylight.