Agattu Island, refuge cabin, Aleutians 1988

Agattu ( ale, Angatux̂; russian: Агатту) is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

, part of the

Near Islands The Near Islands or Sasignan Islands ( ale, Sasignan tanangin, russian: Ближние острова) are a group of American islands in the Aleutian Islands in southwestern Alaska, between the Russian Commander Islands to the west and the Ra ...

in the western end of the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large v ...

. With a land area of Agattu is one of the largest uninhabited islands in the Aleutians. It is the second largest of the Near Islands, after Attu Island. It is volcanic and considerably mountainous. The treeless island has a

tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mou ...

-like terrain which reaches a peak of above sea level. Its length is and width is .

Environment

Agattu has been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International. It has seven large

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...

colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

, and an estimated population of 66,000 birds. About 1% of the global population of red-faced cormorants and tufted puffins nest on the island. Other inhabitants include

rock sandpiper The rock sandpiper (''Calidris ptilocnemis'') is a small shorebird in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae. This is a hardy sandpiper that breeds in the arctic and subarctic regions of Alaska and the Chukotka and Kamchatka Peninsulas. It is closely ...

red-necked phalarope The red-necked phalarope (''Phalaropus lobatus''), also known as the northern phalarope and hyperborean phalarope, is a small wader. This phalarope breeds in the Arctic regions of North America and Eurasia. It is migratory, and, unusually for a ...

grey-crowned rosy finch The gray-crowned rosy finch or gray-crowned rosy-finch (''Leucosticte tephrocotis'') is a species of passerine bird in the family Fringillidae native to Alaska, western Canada, and the north-western United States. Due to its remote and rock ...

and

snow bunting The snow bunting (''Plectrophenax nivalis'') is a passerine bird in the family Calcariidae. It is an Arctic specialist, with a circumpolar Arctic breeding range throughout the northern hemisphere. There are small isolated populations on a few ...

Aleutian cackling geese The Aleutian cackling goose (''Branta hutchinsii leucopareia''), is a small subspecies of the cackling goose The cackling goose (''Branta hutchinsii'') is a species of goose found in North America. Description The black head and neck with whi ...

were reintroduced to the island after foxes were eliminated from the island in the 1970s. The elimination of the foxes on the island also made it possible for conservationists to reintroduce the Evermann's rock ptarmigan (''Lagopus muta evermanni''). In 2006 there were reports of at least 25 breeding pairs of the ptarmigan on the island.

Geology

Agattu is unique among the volcanic Aleutian Islands in being composed almost entirely of well-bedded sedimentary rocks. These rocks were clearly deposited in water and are composed chiefly of amorphous silica and fine detritus derived from a volcanic terrain. Igneous rocks are sparsely represented by intrusions of porphyry, diabase, and trap. The entire island has been heavily glaciated.

Inhabitants

Archeological excavations have discovered evidence and remains of Aleuts living on Agattu Island as early as 760 BCE.D.G. Corbett, D. Causey, M. Clemente, P.L. Koch, A. Doroff, C. Lefavre, D. West (2008) "Aleut Hunters, Sea Otters, and Sea Cows", ''Human Impacts on Ancient Marine Ecosystems'', University of California Press Based on the number of simultaneously inhabited archeological sites on the island, experts have estimated that the pre-contact population may have reached 500-1000 individuals. After Russian contact with the Aleutians in 1751, the population on Agattu declined precipitously. Russian traders would stay multiple years at a time in the Near islands hunting sea otter. Interactions with the Aleuts were sometimes violent. A veteran Russian navigator was killed by the locals on Agattu in 1761. By the 1760s, all Near Islanders had moved into a single village on Attu Island. During World War II, the villagers of Attu were interned in Japan and at war's end the survivors were resettled on

Atka Island Atka Island ( ale, Atx̂ax̂, russian: Атка остров) is the largest island in the Andreanof Islands of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. The island is east of Adak Island. It is long and wide with a land area of , making it the 22nd l ...

.National Park Service

References

External links

Agattu Island: Block 1149, Census Tract 1, Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska
United States Census Bureau
Agattu Island Nautical Chart
NOAA Nautical Chart 16434 Agattu Island, 6th Edition, May 2004
U.S. Coast Pilot 9, Chapter 7, Aleutian Islands

Agattu Island Photos
Photos from Agattu Island, July 2008 {{authority control Near Islands Uninhabited islands of Alaska Islands of Unorganized Borough, Alaska Islands of Alaska Important Bird Areas of the Aleutian Islands Important Bird Areas of Alaska

Environment

Geology

Inhabitants

References

Further reading

External links