Kodiak Island and its Protected Nature Reserve

The Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, covering the southern two-thirds of Kodiak Island, is Alaska's principal brown bear sanctuary. This national refuge was established in 1941 to “protect the natural feeding and breeding habitat of brown bears and other wildlife” of the archipelago. It encompasses a range of habitats, including hundreds of streams and lakes, grasslands, spruce forests, tundra and alpine meadows. No point in the refuge lies more than 25 km from the Pacific Ocean, where imposing mountains rise 1,200 metres above a shoreline marked by misty fjords and deep glacial valleys.

The Kodiak bear, a subspecies of brown bear, is the largest land carnivore in the world. An estimated 2,300 bears live in the refuge, one of the highest densities found anywhere. From mid-July to mid-September, bears gather along the streams to feast on salmon. Salmon are so abundant that the bears often become selective, many feeding only on females and favouring the egg-filled portion of their bellies. Birdlife is equally prolific in the refuge. More than 250 bird species live in or visit the refuge, while over 1.5 million seabirds winter in the coastal waters surrounding Kodiak, and 600 pairs of eagles nest within its boundaries.