Kosatka Island

 Novasola is a US state in the northern Pacific Ocean separated from mainland North America. However, the island of Novasola is just one of many islands comprising the state. The main island is roughly 473,808 square miles and the largest island in the US, as well as the second largest island globally, but the state is composed of hundreds of islands, four of which are prominent and of significant size. These are the Novasola main island, usually confusingly called “Novasola” or “the Mainland”, the Francis Islands to the south, and Kosatka Island in the northeast. For more information on the Francis Islands, click here.

The ecology and history of Novasola is exciting, diverse, and unique, and this is especially true of its satellite islands including Kosatka Island. Kosatka Island is particularly fascinating, as its size and distance from other land makes it subject to relatively strong island effects. As such, the island is home to many organisms and ecosystems found nowhere else on the planet.  

At roughly 165 kilometers long and 120 kilometers across at its widest, Kosatka Island has a total land area of approximately 9,969 square kilometers, making it the largest island in the state excluding the main island. This is slightly larger than Kodiak Island in Alaska and just below the Big Island in Hawaii. Kosatka Island is situated about 105 kilometers to the northeast of Novasola’s main island, jutting out into the Gulf of Alaska. Kosatka Bay sits at almost exactly 50^o N by 150^o W.

Map with scale bar and labels. All pictures provided by the Museum of Novasola.

There are three permanent settlements on Kosatka and a limited population outside those settlements; the island’s total population according to the 2020 Census is 12,050. Port Umaik, situated where the Umiak River empties into Kosatka Bay, is the largest village on the island with about 4,500 residents and serves as the de facto “capital” of the region. The village of Chilkadak on the south end of the island has a permanent population of about 3,000, and the village of Ahosk in the north has a permanent population of about 2,000. The remaining 2,500-some people are spread across the island. However, Kosatka Island’s total population fluctuates drastically throughout the year, as some seasons see huge influxes of people, mostly seasonal fishermen and tourists. Port Umiak is an important commercial fishing port, especially for crabbing operations, salmon, and shellfish.

There is relatively little development on the island. While Port Umiak has infrastructure in line with a typical settlement of its size, Chilkadak has only four paved roads and Ahosk no paved roads whatsoever; even the airstrips on the island, which were all built during World War II, are unpaved.  There is no road connecting the towns. Instead, most transportation around the island is done by boat or seaplane. There is a trail connecting the towns that is inaccessible to motor vehicles but can be traversed by foot or horseback. This trail, the Kosatka Ridge Trail, bisects the island and connects the island’s major summits. On average, it takes a well-prepared hiker seven days to travel from Chilkadak to Ahosk, with added time to include Port Umiak. It is a popular tourist attraction, and many outdoors enthusiasts make a trip out of completing the entire trail and summiting Kosatka’s four tallest mountains.

Kosatka Island’s tallest point is White-bear Peak, at 9,587 feet above sea level. Little-bear Peak is the second tallest at 8,869 ft, followed by Aladak Peak at 7,530 feet and Moonrise Peak at 5,712 feet. In general Kosatka Island is less mountainous than much of Novasola, with mostly gradual slopes from the central ridge to the coast, except for the region encompassing Port Umiak, White-bear, Little-bear, and Moonrise Peaks. The northeast side of the island, especially the area around Point Baranof, is relatively flat and low elevation with shallow coastal waters. Point Baranof and Mud Bay experience notably high differences between high and low tides.

Kosatka Island was formed by the same geological processes that formed the Morning Mountains, so technically Ahosk Point is the most northern point of the Morning mountain chain. The Morning Mountains were once islands in the pacific that were lifted when the Alaska and Novasola tectonic plates collided during the Cretaceous period. During periods of low sea levels, like the last ice age, Kosatka Island would connect with the rest of Novasola, but as sea levels rose it once again became an island. Because there have been many cycles of sea level rise and fall, Kosatka Island has at many times in history been either connected to and disconnected from Novasola and the North American mainland. It’s estimated that Kosatka Island was last connected to Novasola 13,000 years ago.  

Kosatka Island has numerous small lakes and ponds, but none larger than a few square kilometers. Similarly, the island has many streams and rivers, most notably the Umiak River, though most are small. Nonetheless, these streams are important salmon spawning areas.

The climate of Kosatka Island, like much of Novasola, is moderated by the North Pacific Current which brings mild temperatures and heavy precipitation. High elevations on the island, namely the four major peaks, experience subpolar oceanic climates. In general, Kosatka’s climate is similar to that of Haida Gwaii, Canada, and of far-southern Alaska. The island experiences cool summers and relatively mild winters, with minor change in seasonal average temperatures. It also experiences heavy rainfall throughout much of the year, as well as occasional snow in the winter, especially at higher elevations. Fog, mist, and low-hanging clouds are common. The total annual rainfall in Port Umiak averages around 65 inches, with the highest monthly rainfall average in December at 8 inches, and the total annual snowfall averages around 20 inches. The Gulf of Alaska, in which Kosatka Island sits, experiences frequent storms, and as a result Kosatka Island is often battered by intense winds, waves, and precipitation, and is also threatened by tsunamis.

Kosatka Island’s ecosystem is comprised mostly of dense conifer forests and wetlands. Much of the island is covered in forests dominated by Coopers-fir, spruce, redcedar, goldcedar, pacific hemlock, and Ciganak yew. Areas where the elevation rises sharply, most notably the western peninsula, are subject to higher rates of rainfall as air rises and cools when it meets the slopes, and these areas support temperate rainforests. Higher elevations transition to subalpine zone dominated by firs, hemlocks, and pines. White-bear and Little-bear peaks rise above the tree line and are permanently snowcapped, but also support small areas of alpine meadow. Much of the island’s coastal lowlands are covered in wetlands and marshes of both freshwater and saltwater, peat soils, and forests of spruce and larch.  

"Inlet" Oil painting of Kosatka Island by artist Mary Walton, 1986 

Because Kosatka is a large island, and over 100 kilometers from the nearest landmass, it hosts an astoundingly unique and diverse ecology. The island supports a high quantity of endemic species and subspecies found nowhere else, including 18 extant terrestrial vertebrate species, numerous invertebrates, plants, fungi, and many now-extinct species. Many, if not most, species on Kosatka that aren’t entirely endemic are at least classed as endemic subspecies or phenotypes/morphotypes. It is likely that many other endemic species are yet to be discovered, especially of fungi, slime molds, and other taxa that have only recently seen major research efforts. It’s thought the amount of endemic species would be significantly higher if Kosatka in the past did not occasionally connect with Novasola via land-bridges allowing for migration and geneflow to and from Kosatka, because this prevented Kosatka from acting like a true island ecosystem for long enough stretches of evolutionary time. Unfortunately, most endemic Kosatka species are threatened with extinction if they haven’t gone extinct already, as is the case with island species across the globe. Islands are fragile ecosystems, and the biggest threats to life on Kosatka are competition with introduced species, habitat destruction, and climate change. Colonists have brought animals with them to the islands like cats, rats, dogs, sheep, and pigs, which all have wreaked havoc on the islands’ natural systems. Colonists and their animals also brought diseases which spread through the contained ecosystem like wildfire. Kosatka Bay was once filled with kelp forests that supported large numbers of fish, whales, sea otters, sea cows, and sea lions, all of which were subject to intensive hunting, first by the indigenous peoples and then more extremely by Russian whaling vessels and eventually commercial fishing operations. The waters around Kosatka Island are still heavily fished.

Below is a list of the endemic terrestrial vertebrate species.

·        Kosatka Island Spotted Skunk (Spilogale kosatkanus) – Larger than Novasola Spotted Skunk S. tosaii, slightly different coat pattern.

·        Kosatka Island Fox (Urocyon pacificus) – Similar to Gray Fox, but significantly larger. Largest extant endemic species. Now endangered, thanks mostly to the introduction of cats and dogs which outcompete the foxes for rodents.

·        Kosatka Marten (Martes kosatkanus) – Similar to American marten, but smaller and darker in color.

·        Kosatka Hare (Lepus kosatkanus) –Closely related to snowshoe hare. Now endangered, threatened by the introduction of predators like cats, dogs, and rats.

·        Kosatka Island Red Bat (Lasiurus insulatus) – Endangered, but very little is known about their ecology, population status, and the particular threats they face.

·        Kosatka Island Mouse (Peromyscus kosatkanus) – Now endangered after the introduction of the deer mouse.

·        Kosatka Island Shrew (Sorex petersoni)

·        Amphibians – Three species of salamander, two species of frog, and one species of newt are endemic to the island.

·        Reptiles – One species of lizard and one snake are native to the island.

·        Birds – Kosatka has four extant species of endemic birds:

o   Kosatka Sparrow (Passerella kosatkanus)

o   Kosatka Murrelet (Synthliboramphus andersonius) – Threatened by habitat destruction and past overhunting.

o   Kosatka Pheasant (Arborophasianus aladakus) – Threatened by predation by and competition with introduced species and habitat destruction.

o   Kosatka Blue Ground Dove (Neotrugon kosatkanus) – Critically endangered, threatened by introduced predators.

Of the many documented endemic vertebrates that have gone extinct, the majority are birds. These include species of cuckoothrush, duck, kelpduck, ground dove, and finch.

Regardless of endemism, Kosatka Island is rich in species and a critical area for wildlife and a target of conservation. The waters surrounding the island once supported a massive kelp forest, much of which was destroyed, but recent efforts to restore the kelp have seen marked success. Now, marine species like fish, cetaceans, pinnipeds, otters, shellfish, and seabirds are again plentiful. Invertebrates and microorganisms like plankton are also bountiful at times. Gray Whales pass by Kosatka Island during their seasonal migrations, as are orca for which the island is named (“Kosatka” was a coined by Russian whalers for their word for orca).

Prehistoric life on Kosatka Island was likely also quite diverse, though there have been relatively few fossils discovered on the island. Perhaps more exciting than fossils, however, are the numerous preserved specimens found buried in the peat. Point Baranof has a number of peat wetlands that occasionally reveal preserved prehistoric animal remains like those of mammoths, mastodons, bears, dire wolves, muskox, lions, and birds. Most interesting of all, evidence of early human occupation has been found at multiple sites on the island, and Kosatka Island seems to have preserved a snapshot of time from the earliest migrations of humans into North America. Stone tools dating from 16,000 years ago were found near Ahosk and are among the oldest known artifacts in the Americas. People migrating east across Beringia over 16,000 years ago were met with massive ice sheets than blocked any overland route into North America until they melted, but there was a narrow strip of exposed land connecting Beringia to Novasola and what is now Kosatka Island, much of which was itself glaciated. Nonetheless people made their way to the region, and humans have likely inhabited the area ever since.

Kosatka Island has played a crucial role in indigenous cultures for thousands of years. The Island is home to a number of native tribes, and its possible some these groups can trace some part of their ancestry all the way back to those original immigrants 16,000 years ago. At the time of first contact with European explorers in 1760, Kosatka was home to at least seven distinct cultural groups. Most of these groups spoke Eskimo-Aleut languages and belong to the greater Taiyalun culture. The most notable groups then were the Kinglapiq and Aluk, the two surviving tribes today. Since 1760 all other tribes on the island were exterminated, either by disease, war, or US-sanctioned genocide. Today 77 percent of Kosatka Island residents are members of either the Aluk and Kinglapiq tribes, and the entire island falls under the jurisdiction of a shared tribal government. Their name for the island is Aluka. When Francisco Ricci landed in 1760 he named the island “Isla de Gente Amable”, or “Island of Kind People”. Russian whalers were the first white colonists to establish a permanent presence on the island when they used it as a base from which to hunt orca, and its from them the name Kosatka originates. While the people already inhabiting the island may have been kind to Ricci, they were less welcoming to the Russians, as by then they had already suffered great losses from European diseases. After years of violent conflict with the whalers, the Aluk and Kinglapiq drove the Russians away permanently, which in turn helped the US government purchase the land from Russia.

Artist Michael Cee, Aluk, combines traditional whale-bone carving with modern art.

Kosatka Island has the highest percentage of Native American/Indigenous identifying people of any region in the state, but it also is the poorest region with the lowest per capita income, which is no coincidence. However, Aluk and Kinglapiq people are resilient and active in conserving their culture, heritage, and natural systems. There has been a huge social movement advocating for better conditions and more rights for the tribes. Aluk artists have been gaining attention recently for reviving a long-standing cultural tradition of whale-bone carving, often fusing traditions carving with more modern forms. The Kosatka Island tribes are allowed by treaty to hunt whales for specific ceremonies, as they have for millennia, and now many tribal artists sell the whale-bone carvings to raise money for the tribes. Any scientific research that takes place on Kosatka must collaborate with the tribes and ensure their interests are protected. Environmental conservation on Kosatka Island is predominantly performed by the tribes, and it is mostly thanks to the tribes that most of the island’s forests remain intact and the marine systems have recovered. 

    

Orcas photographed off Ahosk Point, 2008