All Critters Great and Small-Kodiak

Alaska just keeps on getting better and better. Today the Viking Orion docked at the fishing boat pier in Kodiak, Ordinarily one would prefer a nice cushy passenger ship terminal, but it was an honor to be in the home of the second largest fishing boat fleet in the world. If you have ever watched the television series, “The Deadliest Catch,” you know a bit about the talents and the tenacity of the fishermen from the Aleutian Islands. Theirs is one of the most dangerous professions in the world. It is understandable, then, that the largest U. S. Coast Guard station in the country is also here. I spent part of the morning looking at an orange and white C-130 flying around the airport off the bow of the Viking Orion. I wonder what harrowing rescue stories the Coast Guardsmen here could tell us. Berthed here at Fishing Pier #2, Viking Orion is among some of the best sailors in the world.

We walked into town this morning, and our first stop was the Visitors’ Center for the U. S. National Wildlife Preserve. This whole island is a nature preserve with more Kodiak bears, bald eagles, puffins, sea otters and seals per square kilometer than anywhere else. The Kodiak bear is one of the largest species in the world, and is genetically distinct from the Alaskan Brown Bear or the “Grizzly,” which lives nearby on the mainland. On their hind legs Kodiaks stand over ten feet tall and are the chief predator in this ecosystem. When the whales are making their annual trip from here to Hawaii, there are also more cetaceans here than just about anywhere else. Several years ago a dead whale washed up on the beach, and a concerned neighbor, Stacy Studebaker, quickly pulled all of the red tape necessary to preserve the skeleton, and then reassemble it on the second floor of the new visitors’ center. She was there this morning and we actually got to talk with her about the wildlife here. A retired schoolteacher, she is an avid environmentalist.

Most of the people we met here are on extremely close terms with Mother Nature. I have never been in a community where so many people of all classes, professions, and ethnic backgrounds are so completely committed to preserving the animals and natural resources. One woman told us with pride that a new hydroelectric station, plus the six wind turbine generators make Kodiak completely energy independent. They use no electricity from the statewide grid, and the only fossil fuels still burned here are in automobiles.

As we wandered through town we stopped at the small Russian Orthodox Church, a vestige from the days when Kodiak was the capital of Russian Alyeska. The small cemetery we passed has as many Russian crosses as Roman. We made it a point to go by the new public library after our docent at the visitors’ center told us about the artwork there. A new state law requires municipalities to use one percent of the total cost of any public building for artwork.

It is truly remarkable to see how humans and animals are finding a way to live together on this island. While hunting is allowed, it is carefully controlled by state game wardens who themselves are avid, and responsible, hunters. I was genuinely encouraged to see how the people and the animals of Kodiak all seem intent on finding a way to coexist in harmony. From the looks of things, they’re doing a pretty good job of it.En savoir plus