Southwest Alaska is a region of the U.S. state of Alaska . The area is not exactly defined by any governmental administrative region(s); nor does it always have a clear geographic boundary.
62-516: Southwest Alaska includes a huge swath of terrain 500 miles (800 km) from the western Bering Sea coast to Cook Inlet . Although much of the region is coastal, it also includes tens of thousands of square miles of interior boreal forests, swamps, and highlands, and the immense mountain barrier of the southern Alaska/Aleutian Range. The Aleutian Range, part of the Ring of Fire , includes many of Alaska's volcanoes including Mount Katmai , Novarupta and
124-670: A Yup'ik dance festival held each spring; and the Bethel Fair held in August. Southwestern Alaska has been the homelands of Yup'ik peoples and their ancestors for thousands of years. The residents of what became Bethel were called the Mamterillermiut, meaning "Smokehouse People", after their nearby fish smokehouse . In the late 19th century, the Alaska Commercial Company established a trading post in
186-577: A fox . In the summer, many species of migratory birds nest on the tundra here, and there are many large seabird rookeries in the Aleutian Islands . Only small local road systems exist in Southwest Alaska. Only a few closely adjacent villages are linked by roads. The area is easily accessible only by air, sea, or river. Alaska Airlines 737 passenger jets serve Bethel , King Salmon, Dillingham, Adak, Dutch Harbor, and Kodiak. Bethel
248-518: A bimonthly "Saturday Market" where artisans and crafters from the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta come to sell their crafts. There is a variety at the market, but many of the crafts include traditional Yup'ik qaspeq , story knives, woven baskets, ulu knives and more. Bethel and the smaller communities surrounding it are primarily served by Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Regional Hospital, a 50-bed general acute care medical facility. Services located in
310-553: A capacity of 207 inmates, men and women, and a staff of 45. Bethel is also the site of a unique 8.5-mile (13.7 km) prototype single-wire earth return electrical intertie to Napakiak, Alaska , constructed in 1981. Lower Kuskokwim School District (LKSD) operates five schools in Bethel: Other institutions: Bethel is home to a noted, mid-distance dogsled race, the Kuskokwim 300. Held every January since 1980,
372-422: A female householder with no husband present, and 33.7% were non-families. 24.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.00 and the average family size was 3.65. The age distribution was 35.5% under 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 32.7% from 25 to 44, 18.9% from 45 to 64, and 3.9% who were 65 or older. The median age
434-913: A few Aleutian Island communities to the ports of Southcentral Alaska . A combination of ocean and river barges are important to the communities along the Kuskokwim and Yukon rivers. Snowmachine travel is a critical component of winter transport; an ice road for highway vehicles is used along portions of the Kuskokwim River . roughly from west to east Southwest Alaska contains numerous state and federal protected areas . These include: 56°48′00″N 162°14′00″W / 56.8000°N 162.2333°W / 56.8000; -162.2333 Bering Sea The Bering Sea ( / ˈ b ɛər ɪ ŋ , ˈ b ɛr ɪ ŋ / BAIR -ing, BERR -ing , US also / ˈ b ɪər ɪ ŋ / BEER -ing ; Russian: Бе́рингово мо́ре , romanized : Béringovo móre , IPA: [ˈbʲerʲɪnɡəvə ˈmorʲe] )
496-652: A pod of beluga whales in the Bering Sea. One of the central characters in the 1949 film Down to the Sea in Ships has the given name "Bering" due to having been born in a ship crossing the Bering Sea. The 2002 supernatural thriller, Ghost Ship , directed by Steve Beck , follows a marine salvage crew in the Bering Sea who discover the lost Italian ocean liner, Antonia Graza that disappeared in 1962. Bethel, Alaska Bethel ( Central Yupik : Mamterilleq )
558-403: A population of 53,349 as of the 2000 census , less than one-tenth of Alaska's inhabitants. The population is in large part Alaska Native , with 58.1% identifying as entirely or partly "Native American" in the 2000 census. About 121 towns and villages, generally far apart and with populations in the hundreds, exist in the region. Southwest Alaska can be considered to be the areas assigned to 4 of
620-677: A region which covers the Kodiak Archipelago and part of the Alaska Peninsula. Kodiak (6,334) on Kodiak Island is the largest town and the commercial hub of the area. The Corporation region is very similar to, but not exactly the same area as the Kodiak Island Borough , which has a population of about 14,000 people in 11 communities. Aleut Corporation 's lands are on the Aleutian Islands and
682-554: A small subspecies of Canada goose, the Bering Canada goose ( Branta canadensis asiatica ) is extinct due to overhunting and the introduction of rats to their breeding islands. The Bering Sea supports many species of fish, some of which support large and valuable commercial fisheries. Commercial fish species include Pacific cod , several species of flatfish , sablefish , Pacific salmon , and Pacific herring . Shellfish include red king crab and snow crab . Fish biodiversity
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#1732791373638744-438: A student at Bethel Regional High School, shot and killed his principal and one student and wounded two others, for which he later received a 210-year prison sentence. In 2009, Bethel opted out of status as a " Local Option " community, theoretically opening the door to allowing alcohol sales in the city; residents and city officials maintained that all liquor license requests would be actively opposed. In October 2015, though,
806-713: A total population of about 8000. The Corporation region includes part of the Alaska Peninsula, the Bering Sea coast west to Cape Newenham and the lands draining onto that coast, as well as parts of the Alaska and Aleutian Ranges. The combined areas of the Dillingham Census Area , the Bristol Bay Borough, and the Lake and Peninsula Borough are almost coincident with the BBNC area. Koniag, Incorporated has
868-511: A vote for allowing alcohol sales in Bethel passed and two liquor licenses were approved for existing stores in the city. In 2012, pranksters distributed flyers falsely announcing the launch of a Taco Bell restaurant in Bethel, prompting Taco Bell to airlift into the town a Taco Bell food truck loaded with ingredients for 10,000 tacos. On November 3, 2015, the Kilbuck building housing both
930-601: Is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean . It forms, along with the Bering Strait , the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and the Americas . It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves . The Bering Sea is named after Vitus Bering , a Danish -born Russian navigator, who, in 1728,
992-559: Is a city in the U.S. state of Alaska , located on the Kuskokwim River approximately 50 miles (80 km) from where the river flows into Kuskokwim Bay . It is the largest community in western Alaska and in the Unorganized Borough and the eighth-largest in the state . Bethel has a population of 6,325 as of the 2020 census , up from 6,080 in 2010. Annual events in Bethel include the Kuskokwim 300 dogsled race; Camai,
1054-416: Is also a link between arriving ocean barges carrying freight or fuel and the smaller barges which continue up the Kuskokwim. Aniak, Iliamna and some other communities are accessible via scheduled flights from Anchorage on PenAir and smaller air carriers. The small carriers provide essential links onward to smaller communities. Alaska Marine Highway ferries connect Kodiak Archipelago, Alaska Peninsula, and
1116-573: Is both most frequent and greatest during the summer months, averaging 18.5 inches (470 mm) per year. Snowfall usually falls in light bouts, and is actually greater in November and December (before the sea freezes) than in January and February, averaging 45 inches (114 cm) a season. Extreme temperatures have ranged from −52 °F (−47 °C) on January 18–19 and 25, 1947 up to 90 °F (32 °C) on June 17, 1926. The first settlement at
1178-581: Is commonly referred to as the " Bering land bridge " and is accepted by most, though not all scientists, to be the first point of entry of humans into the Americas . There is a small portion of the Kula Plate in the Bering Sea. The Kula Plate is an ancient tectonic plate that used to subduct under Alaska. On 18 December 2018, a large meteor exploded above the Bering Sea. The meteor exploded at an altitude of 25.6km, releasing 49 kilotons of energy. The International Hydrographic Organization defines
1240-416: Is high, and at least 419 species of fish have been reported from the Bering Sea. The Bering Sea is world-renowned for its productive and profitable fisheries, such as king crab , opilio and tanner crabs, Bristol Bay salmon, pollock and other groundfish. These fisheries rely on the productivity of the Bering Sea via a complicated and little understood food web. Commercial fishing is lucrative business in
1302-658: Is little private land, other than that owned by the Native Corporations. The economy rests on resource extraction, subsistence, and government spending. Fishing , both commercial and recreational , is the mainstay of the economy. Much of the commercial fishing is conducted by non-residents. Kodiak and Unalaska are among the most productive fishing ports in the United States. The salmon , trout , king crab , and halibut fisheries are extremely lucrative. Bristol Bay 's commercial sockeye salmon industry
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#17327913736381364-534: Is the largest and is the commercial hub for the Kuskokwim region. The Calista region is outlined by the combined Kusilvak and Bethel Census Areas. Calista owns 4,997,263 acres (20,223 km) of the 41,713,612 acres (168,809 km) in the region, almost all the rest is owned by the state or federal government. In the Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC) region Dillingham (2,466), is the largest town. The BBNC region has 29 villages and
1426-402: Is the largest in the world. Approximately 80% of that catch is taken by non-locals. A part of the fishery is processed locally. Only a small share of the value of the harvest is captured in the region, mainly as wages, and taxes and royalties levied by local governments and Native Regional Corporations. Hunting and other tourism industries are dependable, although small and seasonal, parts of
1488-401: Is very important to the seabirds of the world. Over 30 species of seabirds and approximately 20 million individuals breed in the Bering Sea region. Seabird species include tufted puffins , the endangered short-tailed albatross , spectacled eider , and red-legged kittiwakes . Many of these species are unique to the area, which provides highly productive foraging habitat, particularly along
1550-536: The Discovery Channel television program Deadliest Catch . Landings from Alaskan waters represents half the U.S. catch of fish and shellfish. Because of the changes going on in the Arctic, the future evolution of the Bering Sea climate and ecosystem is uncertain. Between 1979 and 2012, the region experienced small growth in sea ice extent, standing in contrast to the substantial loss of summer sea ice in
1612-576: The North Aleutians Basin is also known as the "Greenbelt". Nutrient upwelling from the cold waters of the Aleutian basin flowing up the slope and mixing with shallower waters of the shelf provide for constant production of phytoplankton . The second driver of productivity in the Bering Sea is seasonal sea ice that, in part, triggers the spring phytoplankton bloom. Seasonal melting of sea ice causes an influx of lower salinity water into
1674-586: The Nushagak and Kvichak rivers in the Bristol Bay watershed. Also, the federal government is seeking to lift the moratorium on oil drilling leases in Bristol Bay . Most of the smaller settlements rely on subsistence activities. Most of the area's residents are shareholders in a Native Corporation. Southwest Alaska is one of the richest salmon areas in the world, with the world's largest commercial salmon fishery in Bristol Bay . It also has one of
1736-603: The Ring of Fire , while in far western Alaska lava fields only a few thousand years old are common. In between lie an incomplete record of rocks from as old as 2.07 Ga years to the Holocene . A sequence of continental fragments, seafloor, and island arcs , torn, rafted, and assembled by plate tectonics , form the Proterozoic , Paleozoic and Mesozoic basement for more recent Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks deposited on top of, and intruded into, them. Southwest Alaska had
1798-1005: The United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 48.7 square miles (126.1 km ), of which 43.2 square miles (111.8 km ) is land and 5.5 square miles (14.3 km ), or 11.34%, is water. Though the region is flat and generally treeless, Bethel lies inside the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge , the second largest wildlife refuge in the United States. Bethel has a subarctic climate ( Köppen : " Dfc "), with long, somewhat snowy, and cold winters, and short, mild summers. Normal monthly mean temperatures range from 6.6 °F (−14.1 °C) in January to 56.1 °F (13.4 °C) in July, with an annual mean of 30.7 °F (−0.7 °C). Warm days of above 70 °F (21 °C) can be expected on 14 days per summer. Precipitation
1860-642: The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes , Mount Redoubt , Mount Iliamna , and Augustine Volcano . Southwest Alaska encompasses, roughly from west to east: the Pribilof Islands , Nunivak Island and other Bering Sea islands lying west of the Alaska coast and east of the Russian coast; the immense combined delta of the Yukon River and Kuskokwim River ; hundreds of miles of interior highlands, including
1922-479: The poverty line , including 9.7% of those under the age of 18 and 18.3% of those ages 64 and over. The state-owned Bethel Airport is the regional transportation hub, and is served by three passenger carriers, including Alaska Airlines , Grant Aviation , and Renfro's Alaskan Adventure. It also receives service from three major cargo operators: Everts Air Cargo , Northern Air Cargo , Lynden Air Cargo , and numerous small air taxi services. The airport ranks third in
Southwest Alaska - Misplaced Pages Continue
1984-596: The 12 land-holding Alaska Native Corporations in 1971 for selection of land and for corporate organization of villages under ANCSA . The Calista Corporation region is in the Yukon/Kuskokwim delta, the lower and middle reaches of the Kuskokwim River drainage, and the Bering Sea coast from the Yukon to Cape Newenham. It contains 56 villages with a total population of about 23,000 people; Bethel (5,471),
2046-402: The 1900 Census, but has on every census since 1910. It would formally incorporate as a city in 1957. As of the census of 2000, there were 5,471 people, 1,741 households, and 1,190 families residing in the city. The population density was 125.0 inhabitants per square mile (48.3/km ). There were 1,990 housing units at an average density of 45.5 per square mile (17.6/km ). The racial makeup of
2108-556: The Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands and on the far north by the Bering Strait , which connects the Bering Sea to the Arctic Ocean 's Chukchi Sea . Bristol Bay is the portion of the Bering Sea between the Alaska Peninsula and Cape Newenham on mainland Southwest Alaska . The Bering Sea ecosystem includes resources within the jurisdiction of the United States and Russia , as well as international waters in
2170-466: The Arctic Ocean to the north. 'The White Seal', one of many chapters on Rudyard Kipling 's The Jungle Book , features the Bering Sea as the birthplace and homeland of Kotick, a rare white fur seal . The film Harbinger Down , which was released on August 7, 2015, was about a group of grad students who booked passage on the crabbing boat Harbinger to study the effects of global warming on
2232-635: The Ayaprun Elitnaurviat Yup'ik immersion school and the Kuskokwim Learning Academy caught fire, destroying the immersion school and damaging the boarding school. Fire fighters demolished part of the building in an effort to save a media center containing Yup'ik artifacts and elder interviews. Bethel is located at 60°47′32″N 161°45′21″W / 60.79222°N 161.75583°W / 60.79222; -161.75583 (60.792222, −161.755833). According to
2294-488: The Bering Sea, which is relied upon by the largest seafood companies in the world to produce fish and shellfish. On the U.S. side, commercial fisheries catch approximately $ 1 billion worth of seafood annually, while Russian Bering Sea fisheries are worth approximately $ 600 million annually. The Bering Sea also serves as the central location of the Alaskan king crab and snow crab seasons, which are chronicled on
2356-614: The Delta, from the Bering Sea to the Yukon. The town's single paved road, about 10 miles (16 km), supports a taxicab industry. With 93 taxi drivers, the town has more cab drivers per capita than any other city in the US. Most local cab drivers are Albanian or South Korean immigrants. Bethel is home to the lone detention center in southwestern Alaska, the Yukon Kuskokwim Correction Center. This prison has
2418-710: The Kisaralik, Kwethluk, Aniak, Kanektok, Arolik, Goodnews, Eek and Holitna River systems. Traditional dancers from all over Alaska and beyond participate every March in the Cama-i dance festival. Hundreds of costumed dancers, drummers, and singers perform traditional Yup'ik story dances during the three-day festival, sponsored by the Bethel Council on the Arts. "Cama-i" (pronounced Cha-Mai) translates as "a warm hello." The Yupiit Piciryarait Cultural Center also hosts
2480-806: The Pacific east of the Alaska Peninsula, is the most eastern part of Southwest Alaska. Southwest Alaska consists roughly of the Aleutians East , Bristol Bay , Kodiak Island , Lake and Peninsula boroughs, plus the portion of the Kenai Peninsula Borough that lies west of Cook Inlet ; along with the Aleutians West , Bethel , Dillingham , and Kusilvak census areas. These areas have a combined area of 170,732 square miles (442,190 km), slightly larger than California. Volcanic eruptions and mountain-building are active along
2542-481: The United States. River travel is the primary means of local transportation in the summer. A Bethel-based barge service provides goods to Kuskokwim villages. Within Bethel are approximately 16 miles (26 km) of roads that are not connected to any contiguous highway system. Winter ice roads lead to several nearby villages, but their condition varies depending on temperature and snowfall. An extensive network of snow machine trails connects Bethel to villages all over
Southwest Alaska - Misplaced Pages Continue
2604-403: The city was 26.8% White , 0.9% Black or African American , 61.8% Native American , 2.9% Asian , 0.2% Pacific Islander , 0.5% from other races , and 6.9% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 1.7% of the population. There were 1,741 households, out of which 44.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.6% were married couples living together, 15.2% had
2666-462: The eastern Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island, Aleut in the Aleutians, Pribilofs, and the western Alaska Peninsula, and a few Dena'ina Athabaskans near the western shore of Cook Inlet. Land in Southwest Alaska is owned and managed mainly by the federal government, the state of Alaska, and Alaska Native Regional Corporations including Calista, Cook Inlet, Bristol Bay, Aleut, and Koniag. There
2728-407: The economy. Mining , mainly for gold, platinum, and mercury, has been a consistent part of the Southwest Alaska economy since purchase from Russia. Although mining is currently occurring only on a small scale, a controversy rages over a number of proposed resource extraction projects. These include the proposed Pebble Mine , which would put a large open pit gold and copper mine at the headwaters of
2790-633: The facility via helicopter or air ambulance. Also, there are five sub-regional primary care clinics located in some of the more remote and less populated cities neighboring Bethel ( Emmonak , St. Mary's , Aniak , Toksook Bay , and Hooper Bay ). Many of the services found at the hospital in Bethel are also available at these sub-regional clinics, such as urgent care, diagnostic review, physical exams, prenatal care, minor surgery, laboratory tests, X-rays, and distribution of medications. The hospital, sub-regional clinics, and additional village clinics are all part of Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation . Bethel has
2852-526: The highest concentrations of brown bears , feeding on the salmon, as well as berries and other vegetation. Bear watching is a popular tourist attraction at Katmai National Park and Preserve . This area is also home to a number of caribou herds - the Mulchatna herd is the third largest in the state. The western limit for both caribou and bears is on Unimak Island , first in the Aleutian chain. More western Aleutian Islands have no mammals larger than
2914-469: The hospital include an adult medical-surgical ward, a pediatric ward, an obstetric ward, as well as outpatient family medicine clinics, an emergency room, pharmacy, lab, X-ray, and specialty clinics. The facility is accessible by road for those individuals living in or visiting the city of Bethel. Depending on weather and the season, road access to the hospital may also be available to some of the surrounding communities. If not, individuals must be airlifted into
2976-584: The last 50 years. The implication is that the carrying capacity of the Bering Sea is much lower now than it has been in the past. The sea supports many whale species, including the beluga , humpback whale , bowhead whale , gray whale and blue whale , the vulnerable sperm whale , and the endangered fin whale , sei whale and the rarest in the world, the North Pacific right whale . Other marine mammals include walrus , Steller sea lion , northern fur seal , orca and polar bear . The Bering Sea
3038-402: The limits of the Bering Sea as follows: Islands of the Bering Sea include: Regions of the Bering Sea include: The Bering Sea contains 16 submarine canyons including the largest submarine canyon in the world, Zhemchug Canyon . The Bering Sea shelf break is the dominant driver of primary productivity in the Bering Sea. This zone, where the shallower continental shelf drops off into
3100-501: The location of Bethel reported on the 1880 U.S. Census as "Mumtrekhlagamute Station." It had 29 Yup'ik. 1/2 mile away was the adjacent Mumtrekhlagamute Village (1880 population: 41 (all Yup'ik); 1890 population (as Mumtrekhlagamiut) was 33 (28 Yup'ik and 5 Whites). Bethel was established at Mumtrekhlagamute Station in 1885 and supplanted it by the 1890 U.S. Census. It reported 20 residents (13 Yup'ik and 7 Whites). Mumtrekhlagamiut would later be absorbed into Bethel. Bethel did not appear on
3162-696: The lower and middle Kuskokwim drainages; the entire watersheds of Goodnews Bay and Bristol Bay and other parts of the southern coast, including mountain ranges and great interior lakes including the Wood-Tikchik Lakes , Lake Iliamna , and Lake Clark ; the western heights of the Alaska Range , and its continuation southward as the Aleutian Range along the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands . The Kodiak Archipelago , in
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#17327913736383224-424: The middle and other shelf areas, causing stratification and hydrographic effects which influence productivity. In addition to the hydrographic and productivity influence of melting sea ice, the ice itself also provides an attachment substrate for the growth of algae as well as interstitial ice algae. Some evidence suggests that great changes to the Bering Sea ecosystem have already occurred. Warm water conditions in
3286-485: The middle of the sea (known as the "Donut Hole" ). The interaction between currents, sea ice, and weather makes for a vigorous and productive ecosystem. Most scientists think that during the most recent ice age , sea level was low enough to allow humans to migrate east on foot from Asia to North America across what is now the Bering Strait. Other animals including megafauna migrated in both directions. This
3348-453: The race commemorates an early mail route that once tied the settlement to the outside world. Top mushers and hundreds of sled dogs participate in the race for a purse of $ 100,000, the largest offered by any 300-mile (480 km) sled dog race. Local recreational activities include snow machining, skiing, bicycling, kayaking, caribou hunting, and salmon fishing. Bethel is an established starting point to Float Alaska wilderness rivers in
3410-526: The shelf edge and in other nutrient-rich upwelling regions, such as the Pribilof, Zhemchug , and Pervenets canyons. The Bering Sea is also home to colonies of crested auklets , with upwards of a million individuals. Two Bering Sea species, the Steller's sea cow ( Hydrodamalis gigas ) and spectacled cormorant ( Phalacrocorax perspicillatus ), are extinct because of overexploitation by man. In addition,
3472-407: The state for total number of flights. It offers a 6,400 foot (1,951-meter) asphalt runway, a 4,000 foot (1,219-meter) asphalt runway, and 1,850 foot (564-meter) gravel crosswind runway, and is currently undergoing a $ 7 million renovation and expansion. Three float plane bases are nearby: Hangar Lake, H Marker Lake, and the Kuskokwim River . The Port of Bethel is the northernmost, medium-draft port in
3534-426: The summer of 1997 resulted in a massive bloom of low energy coccolithophorid phytoplankton (Stockwell et al. 2001). A long record of carbon isotopes , which is reflective of primary production trends of the Bering Sea, exists from historical samples of bowhead whale baleen . Trends in carbon isotope ratios in whale baleen samples suggest that a 30–40% decline in average seasonal primary productivity has occurred over
3596-659: The town, called Mumtrekhlogamute, which had a population of 41 people by the 1880 census . In 1885, the Moravian Church established a mission in the area under the leadership of William and Caroline Weinland and John and Edith Kilbuck . He made Yup'ik the language of the Moravian Church in the community and region, and helped translate the Christian Bible into the language. The missionaries moved Bethel from Mamterillermiut to its present location on
3658-521: The west side of the Kuskokwim River. A United States post office was opened in 1905. In 1971, Bethel established a community radio station KYUK , the first Native-owned and -operated radio station in the U.S. Similar stations were soon started in Kotzebue , and by 1990, there were 10 stations in communities of fewer than 3,500 people. On February 19, 1997, a school shooting attracted widespread media attention to Bethel when 16-year-old Evan Ramsey,
3720-651: The western end of the Alaska Peninsula. The Corporation area is exactly the same as the Aleutians East Borough and the Aleutians West Census Area combined. Unalaska /Dutch Harbor (4,283), is the largest town. About 8000 people live in the region, in about a dozen towns, and several military towns. Natives in Southwest Alaska are mainly Central Yup'ik in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and Bristol Bay areas, Alutiiq on
3782-418: Was 29 years. For every 100 females, there were 110.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 109.6 males. The median income for a household in the city was $ 57,321, and the median income for a family was $ 62,431. Males had a median income of $ 45,321 versus $ 39,010 for females. The per capita income for the city is $ 20,267. About 10.6% of the families and 11.2% of the population were below
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#17327913736383844-658: Was the first European to systematically explore it, sailing from the Pacific Ocean northward to the Arctic Ocean . The Bering Sea is separated from the Gulf of Alaska by the Alaska Peninsula . It covers over 2,000,000 square kilometers (770,000 sq mi) and is bordered on the east and northeast by Alaska , on the west by the Russian Far East and the Kamchatka Peninsula , on the south by
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