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49-803: The refuge was established on December 2, 1980, by the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act (ANILCA) following designation as a national wildlife monument in 1978 by the then President Jimmy Carter . U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In 1983, the Fish and Wildlife Service undertook the responsibility to manage the Becharof Refuge, along with the Ugashik and Chignik units of the Becharof National Wildlife Refuge . In 1989

98-579: A bill. On May 19, 1978, H.R. 39 was passed by the House of Representatives . H.R. 39 was referred to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources for mark up and combined with a number of other bills pertaining to Alaska lands. Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) was instrumental in making significant changes to the original House resolution. The final bill submitted by the Senate energy committee

147-474: A black cap, the face is mainly white, and the feet are orange-red. The bill appears large and colorful during the breeding season. The colorful outer part of the bill is shed after the breeding season, revealing a smaller and duller true bill beneath. Because of their striking appearance they are also referred to as "clowns of the sea" and "sea parrots". Although the puffins are vocal at their breeding colonies, they are silent at sea. They fly relatively high above

196-416: A chamber, while the tunnel leading to a tufted puffin burrow may be up to 2.75 meters (9.0 feet) long. The nesting substrate of the tufted and Atlantic puffins is soft soil, into which tunnels are dug; in contrast, the nesting sites of horned puffins are rock crevices on cliffs. The Atlantic puffin burrow is usually lined with material such as grass, leaves, and feathers but is occasionally unlined. The eggs of

245-403: A dozen) small fish at a time, crosswise in their bill, rather than regurgitating swallowed fish. This allows them to take longer foraging trips since they can come back with more food energy for their chick than a bird that can only carry one fish at a time. This behavior is made possible by the unique hinging mechanism of their beak, which allows the upper and lower biting edges to meet at any of

294-493: A number of angles. In 2019, animal experts observed puffins, in two separate geographic locations, using sticks to scratch themselves indicating that the seabirds have a basic ability to use tools. Puffins are hunted for eggs, feathers, and meat. Atlantic puffin populations drastically declined due to habitat destruction and exploitation during the 19th century and early 20th century. They continue to be hunted in Iceland and

343-478: A number of geologic and scenic features, with a mixture of volcanic activity juxtaposed alongside glacial valleys and coasts under erosion. The refuge contains the Chiginagak and Veniaminof volcanoes, the latter of which is one of Alaska’s active volcanoes, and last erupted in 1995. The crater which is approximately 5.2 miles (8.4 km) in diameter contains a 25-square-mile (65 km) ice field, making it

392-440: A smaller and duller beak. Their short wings are adapted for swimming with a flying technique underwater. In the air, they beat their wings rapidly (up to 400 times per minute) in swift flight, often flying low over the ocean's surface. The English name "puffin" – puffed in the sense of swollen – was originally applied to the fatty, salted meat of young birds of the unrelated Manx shearwater ( Puffinus puffinus ), formerly known as

441-461: A technique called "sky fishing", which involves catching the puffins in a large net as they dive into the sea. Their meat is commonly featured on hotel menus. The fresh heart of a puffin is eaten raw as a traditional Icelandic delicacy. On the small Icelandic island of Grimsey as many as 200 puffins can be caught in a single morning. The name of the English island Lundy is believed to come from

490-664: A tool to scratch themselves. The Fraterculini fossil record in the Pacific extends at least as far back as the middle Miocene , with three fossil species of Cerorhinca , and material tentatively referred to that genus, in the middle Miocene to late Pliocene of southern California and northern Mexico. Although there are no records from the Miocene in the Atlantic, a re-examination of the North Carolina material indicated that

539-642: Is Hydrotherikornis from Oregon dating to the Late Eocene while fossils of Aethia and Uria go back to the Late Miocene. Molecular clocks have been used to suggest an origin in the Pacific in the Paleocene. Fossils from North Carolina were originally thought to have been of two Fratercula species, but were later reassigned to one Fratercula , the tufted puffin, and a Cerorhinca species . Another extinct species, Dow's puffin ( Fratercula dowi )

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588-406: Is a United States federal law signed by President Jimmy Carter on December 2, 1980. ANILCA provided varying degrees of special protection to over 157 million acres (640,000 km ) of land, including national parks , national wildlife refuges , national monuments , wild and scenic rivers , recreational areas , national forests , and conservation areas . It was, and remains to date,

637-629: The Bureau of Land Management ; the addition of 9.1 million acres (37,000 km ) to the Wilderness Preservation System , and the addition of 3.35 million acres (13,600 km ) to Tongass and Chugach National Forests . The act provided for the creation or expansion of several Conservation System Units (CSUs) including: In 1971 the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA)

686-776: The National Park Service became concerned as 1978 dragged on that no action would be taken on the "national interest lands" included in the Morton Proposal, and as early as July 1978 the Park Service had taken the first steps to secure additional protection when it began to draft national monument proclamations for proposed NPS areas. President Carter used the Antiquities Act to designate 56 million acres (230,000 km ) as 17 National Monuments by executive order on December 1, 1978. Much of

735-693: The Republican Party won a majority of seats in the Senate . Conservationists and other proponents of the legislation recognized that if they did not accept the compromise then on the table, they would be forced to begin again in the next Congress with decidedly less support. The bill was passed in late November, and signed into law by President Carter in December. Senator Gravel, meanwhile, took considerable blame in Alaska for forcing Carter's hand with

784-462: The bald eagle . All five species of Pacific salmon spawn including the commercially productive sockeye salmon run into the Chignik system. Sea lions , gray whales , harbor seals and sea otters can all be found along the coast. Alaskan brown bears are a common sight in the coastal meadows in spring and summer when they come to feed on the spawning salmon. Often as many as 500 bears may inhabit

833-597: The "Manks puffin". Puffin is an Anglo-Norman word ( Middle English pophyn or poffin ) for the cured carcasses of nestling Manx shearwaters. The genus Fratercula was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the Atlantic puffin ( Fratercula arctica ) as the type species . The name Fratercula is Latin for " friar " from the word fraterculus "little brother", because

882-456: The "Morton Proposal." These lands were withdrawn from all forms of public appropriation under the public land laws pending action from Congress, setting the stage for the eventual passage of ANILCA. As stated, the "d-2" provision of ANCSA set a deadline for the Secretary to withdraw lands within nine months of the passage of ANCSA. In addition, ANCSA also set a deadline for Congress to act on

931-552: The Antiquities Act. Though Carter was hardly held blameless for the creation of the new national monuments, Gravel was taken to task for the unpopular decision as well and was denied his party's nomination for his Senate seat in the 1980 election . With the passage of time, however, and now, several decades later, support for the vision of ANILCA has increased, even among former detractors in Alaska ;– as

980-443: The Atlantic puffin are typically creamy white but the occasional egg is tinged lilac. Where rabbits breed, sometimes Atlantic puffins breed in rabbit burrows. Puffins form long-term pair bonds or relationships. The female lays a single egg, and both parents incubate the egg and feed the chick (or "puffling"). The incubating parent holds the egg against its brood patch with its wings. The chicks fledge at night. After fledging,

1029-846: The Black Lake-Chignik Lake Area during August, making it one of the most dense seasonal concentrations of grizzly bears in North America. Caribou and moose are also under protection in the park. The moose in particular inhabit the Mother Goose Lake and the lines of the King Salmon River , also supporting populations of wolf packs, beaver , wolverine , river otter , two species of fox , snowshoe hare and Canadian lynx . Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act ( ANILCA )

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1078-644: The Castle Cape Fjords in the Chignik area is an extremely pronounced feature, with a strong erosion by the sea, with rocks shaded in contrasting dark and light tones. Notable streams drain into Agripina Bay and Port Wrangell from the glaciers and through the valleys of the refuge. The refuge supports a diversity of fish and wildlife and is an important nesting site for seabirds such as puffins , cormorants , kittiwakes , and guillemots , emperor geese , harlequin ducks , Steller's eider , and notably

1127-536: The Faroe Islands. The Blasket Islands off the Irish coast of County Kerry saw a serious decline due to harvesting. Until the islands were abandoned in 1953, the islanders often lived just above starvation level. As a result, the puffins were hunted in large numbers for food. The Atlantic puffin forms part of the national diet in Iceland, where the species does not have legal protection. Puffins are hunted by

1176-612: The Institute for Bird Populations (IBP), and Earthwatch, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service undertook comprehensive landbird studies at Mother Goose Lake from 1994 through to 2001. Between 1994 and 1999 over 110 Earthwatch volunteers used the scheme to educate themselves in bird biology. In conjunction with the National Audubon Society , the park has also hosted an annual Christmas Bird Count between December 14 and January 5 annually since 1986 to register birds in

1225-638: The Interior to withdraw up to 80 million acres of land from development for conservation purposes. These lands, referred to as "d-2" lands, were to be available for potential congressional designation as National Parks, Wildlife Refuges, Wild and Scenic rivers, or National Forests. The "d-2" provision of ANCSA gave the Secretary nine months to withdraw lands before they would re-open to development. On December 17, 1972, Interior Secretary Rogers Morton forwarded 127.1 million acres (514,000 km ) of selected lands to Congress under 17(d)(1) and 17(d)(2), known as

1274-515: The Morton proposal as H.R. 12336, and the next day Senator Henry M. Jackson (D-Washington) introduced the Senate version of the bill. These bills were the first of many failed proposals leading to the eventual passage of ANILCA seven years later. Over the course of the seven years many bills were introduced with a wide range of proposals for disposal of the selected lands. As the sunset date approached in 1978 both chambers of Congress scrambled to pass

1323-419: The Secretary's withdrawal within five years of the passage of ANCSA; if the Secretary did not act to withdraw lands earmarked for special protections within nine months of the passage of ANCSA, or Congress did not act to implement the Secretary's selection within five years of the passage of ANCSA, the lands would be reopened to development. On January 29, 1973, Congressman James A. Haley (D-Florida) introduced

1372-513: The area since 1992 to count waterfowl by species approximately four times a week. Species common to the refuge include common merganser , common goldeneye , tundra swan , greater white-fronted goose , mallard , northern pintail , American and Eurasian wigeon , American green-winged teal , Canada goose , greater scaup , northern shoveler , red-breasted merganser , black scoter , and long-tailed duck . Working with Boreal Partners in Flight,

1421-514: The bill expedited the enactment of the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Puffin F. arctica F. cirrhata F. corniculata † F. dowi Lunda Sagmatorrhina Bonaparte, 1851 Puffins are any of three species of small alcids ( auks ) in the bird genus Fratercula . These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crevices among rocks or in burrows in

1470-476: The bill. With adjournment fast approaching, a provision to extend the (d)(2) protections for one more year to allow for additional time to pass a bill was passed in the House, and introduced in the Senate on October 16, 1978. Gravel threatened a filibuster , and the provision did not pass the Senate. The sunset provision of section (d)(2) of ANCSA was set to expire on December 18, 1978. The Interior Department and

1519-440: The chicks spend the first few years of their lives at sea, returning to breed about five years later. Puffins in captivity have been known to breed as early as three years of age. After breeding, all three puffin species winter at sea, usually far from coasts and often extending south of the breeding range. Iceland is the home to most of the Atlantic puffins with about 10 million individuals. The largest single puffin colony in

Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge - Misplaced Pages Continue

1568-591: The corridor from the Kvichak Bay beach at Naknek to Lake Camp at the mouth of Naknek Lake. The refuge has sponsored a North American Migration Count on the second Saturday in May since 1998. The refuge covers an area of 5,568 square miles (14,421 km) and lies in the Alaska Peninsula . It spans Aleutians East Borough , Kodiak Island and Lake and Peninsula Borough . The Alaska Peninsula Refuge contains

1617-717: The diversity of puffins in the early Pliocene was as great in the Atlantic as it is in the Pacific today. This diversity was achieved through influxes of puffins from the Pacific; the later loss of species was due to major oceanographic changes in the late Pliocene due to closure of the Panamanian Seaway and the onset of severe glacial cycles in the North Atlantic. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The puffins are stocky, short-winged, and short-tailed birds, with black upper parts and white or brownish-grey underparts. The head has

1666-548: The lands designated as National Monument were part of the original Morton Proposal. An additional 40 million acres (160,000 km ) were withdrawn under the authority of section 204(c) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act by Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus . Carter stated that he had been forced to use the Antiquities Act by Congress's failure to act in a reasonable time, but his actions nevertheless caused wide protest across Alaska. President Carter

1715-467: The most extensive crater glacier in North America . In 1967, Mount Veniaminof was designated as a National Natural Landmark. The Upper Sandy River has its source at Mount Veniaminof and flows down to form a delta above Sandy Lake. In contrast to the volcanic landscape of the refuge, the Pacific coast of the protected area is characterised by rugged cliffs, bays, fjords, and streams. In particular

1764-431: The need to work toward passage of an acceptable bill, rather than no bill at all. However, in 1978, 75 seats in the House had changed hands, producing a much more conservative body than the one that had supported Carter's use of the Antiquities Act. Proponents were forced to continue to work compromises, and the bill's passage was further delayed. In early November 1980, Jimmy Carter lost re-election to Ronald Reagan , and

1813-767: The park area was affected by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill which devastated the Alaska Peninsula. In an effort to determine species presence, distribution, habitat use, and migratory patterns, extensive studies have been conducted in the refuge. Biologists have studied extensively in the biologically rich Naknek River basin which provides an important habitat for thousands of ducks, geese and swans. From mid-March through mid-May, refuge biologists monitor waterfowl from established points from Naknek Lake to Kvichak Bay in Naknek. Biologists have been working in

1862-768: The protection. The final bill accelerated logging in the Tongass National Forest, the nation's largest, by giving the US Forest Service a yearly $ 40,000,000 appropriation to cut timber, not subject to the appropriation laws but derived from the taxes on oil etc, and by providing that 450 million board feet of trees would be clearcut each year. This was the price conservationists paid in the compromise. Under Title VIII, Subsistence Management And Use, not just Alaska Natives qualified but also rural residents were granted hunting and fishing rights when fish and game are not under outside threat. In addition

1911-408: The puffin's black and white plumage resemble robes worn by monks . The genus contain three species. The rhinoceros auklet ( Cerorhinca monocerata ) has sometimes been included in the genus Fratercula , and some authors place the tufted puffin in the genus Lunda . The puffins and the rhinoceros auklet are closely related, together composing the subfamily Fraterculini. The oldest alcid fossil

1960-844: The single largest expansion of protected lands in history and more than doubled the size of the National Park System . The Act provided for 43.585 million acres (176,380 km ) of new national parklands in Alaska; the addition of 9.8 million acres (40,000 km ) to the National Wildlife Refuge System; twenty-five wild and scenic rivers, with twelve more to be studied for that designation; establishment of Misty Fjords and Admiralty Island National Monuments in Southeast Alaska; establishment of Steese National Conservation Area and White Mountains National Recreation Area to be managed by

2009-559: The soil. Two species, the tufted puffin and horned puffin , are found in the North Pacific Ocean , while the Atlantic puffin is found in the North Atlantic Ocean . All puffin species have predominantly black or black and white plumage, a stocky build, and large beaks that get brightly colored during the breeding season. They shed the colorful outer parts of their bills after the breeding season, leaving

Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge - Misplaced Pages Continue

2058-631: The spectacular parks, monuments, refuges and other areas set aside by the 1980 legislation have become a significant boon to Alaska tourism and the State's economy. A telephone poll in 2000 showed that 45 percent of Alaskans supported the protection of the ANILCA-designated 1002 coastal plain area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the most controversial aspect of ANILCA's protected areas, while 49 percent opposed

2107-507: The towns would not support NPS authorities, not enforce NPS regulations, and would shelter individuals who broke the regulations. Though these protests continued for some time, the designation of the monuments broke the legislative opposition to ANILCA. Some in Congress, and various oil and gas industry, and other development interest, continued to oppose passage of the bill, but in the wake of Carter's proclamations most opponents recognized

2156-511: The water, typically 10 m (33 ft) as compared with the 1.6 m (5.2 ft) of other auks. Puffins breed in colonies on coasts and islands; several current or former island breeding sites are referred to as Puffin Island . The male Atlantic puffin builds the nest and exhibits strong nest-site fidelity. Both sexes of the horned puffin help to construct their nest. Horned puffin burrows are usually about 1 meter (3.3 feet) deep, ending in

2205-462: The world is in the Westmann Isles of Iceland . In 2009, scientists estimated the number of nests to be 1.1 million, and number of individuals there is estimated to be up to 4 million. Like many auks, puffins eat both fish and zooplankton but feed their chicks primarily with small marine fish several times a day. The puffins are distinct in their ability to hold several (sometimes over

2254-607: Was burned in effigy in Fairbanks . Residents in the Cantwell area undertook a large act of civil disobedience known as the Great Denali Trespass  – they went into the park, fired off guns, made campfires, and conducted various other activities prohibited under Federal regulations. The towns of Eagle and Glennallen , both in the shadow of new monuments, produced official proclamations stating that

2303-484: Was deemed unacceptable by the Carter administration and supporters of H.R. 39 in the House. With limited time left before adjournment, the House and Senate conferenced in order to resolve differences between the two bills. Senator Mike Gravel (D-Alaska) inserted himself into the negotiations, making a number of new demands not included in either bill. Changes made to the bill did not satisfy Gravel, and he refused to support

2352-592: Was found on the Channel Islands of California until the Late Pleistocene or early Holocene . The Fraterculini are thought to have originated in the Pacific, primarily due to their greater diversity there; there exists only one extant species in the Atlantic, compared to two in the Pacific. This species has shown some significant signs of animal intelligence. In January 2020, some researchers reported that, Atlantic puffins were seen using sticks as

2401-469: Was signed into law to resolve the long-standing issues surrounding aboriginal land claims in Alaska, as well as to stimulate economic development throughout Alaska. Section 17(d)(1) gave the Secretary of the Interior ninety days to withdraw from development any lands necessary "to insure that the public interest in these lands is properly protected." Additionally, Section 17(d)(2) directed the Secretary of

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