Raspberry Island is an island of the Kodiak Archipelago

Kodiak Archipelago

The Kodiak Archipelago is an archipelago, or group of islands, south of main land mass of the state of Alaska , about by air south of Anchorage in the Gulf of Alaska. The largest island in the archipelago is Kodiak Island, the second largest island in the United States...

 located in the Gulf of Alaska

Gulf of Alaska

The Gulf of Alaska is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east, where Glacier Bay and the Inside Passage are found.The entire shoreline of the Gulf is...

 in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

. It is located two miles northwest of Whale Island

Whale Island (Alaska)

Whale Island is an island of the Kodiak Archipelago in the Gulf of Alaska in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska, United States. It lies off the northern end of Kodiak Island, between it and Afognak Island to the north. It is separated from Kodiak Island by Whale Pass, and from Afognak Island by Afognak...

, and just across the mile wide Raspberry Strait from the southwestern end of Afognak

Afognak

Afognak is an island north of Kodiak Island in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is 43 miles from east to west and 23 miles from north to south and has a land area of , making it the 18th largest island in the United States. The coast is split by many long, narrow bays...

. The island is separated from Kodiak Island

Kodiak Island

Kodiak Island is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago, Kodiak Island is the second largest island in the United States and the 80th largest island in the world, with an...

 by the Kupreanof Strait, with the Shelikof Strait

Shelikof Strait

Shelikof Strait is a strait on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Alaska between the Alaska mainland to the west and Kodiak and Afognak islands to the east....

 to the northwest. Raspberry Island is 18 miles (29 km) long with a width that varies from 3 miles (4.8 km) to 8 miles (12.9 km). The highest point on the island is 3,300 ft (1000 m).

The island is considered part of the Aleneva

Aleneva, Alaska

Aleneva is a census-designated place in the Kodiak Island Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2000 census, the population was 68.-Geography and climate:...

 census-designated place

Census-designated place

A census-designated place is a concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...

 in the Kodiak Island Borough

Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska

-National protected areas:* Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge ** Barren Islands** Semidi Wilderness*** Semidi Islands** Trinity Islands*** Sitkinak Island*** Tugidak Island...

. The only permanent residents on Raspberry Island are located at Port Wakefield

Port Wakefield, Alaska

Port Wakefield, Alaska is a ghost town on the north-east coat of Raspberry Island in the Kodiak Archipelago located in the Gulf of Alaska.It was established shortly after World War II by Lowell A...

 and Raspberry Island Remote Lodge which operate full service wilderness lodges. Power is provided via hydro power harnessed in nearby creeks. The nearest town is Kodiak, Alaska

Kodiak, Alaska

Kodiak is one of 7 communities and the main city on Kodiak Island, Kodiak Island Borough, in the U.S. state of Alaska. All commercial transportation between the entire island and the outside world goes through this city either via ferryboat or airline...

, an hour and a half boat ride or a thirty minute float plane ride away.

Environment and wildlife

Sitka spruce

Sitka Spruce

Picea sitchensis, the Sitka Spruce, is a large coniferous evergreen tree growing to 50–70 m tall, exceptionally to 95 m tall, and with a trunk diameter of up to 5 m, exceptionally to 6–7 m diameter...

 is one of the dominant trees on Raspberry Island. Spruce forests are interrupted by fields of salmonberry

Salmonberry

Rubus spectabilis is a species of Rubus native to the west coast of North America from west central Alaska to California....

 bushes, alders and wildflowers. Higher elevations have wild blueberry and cranberry bushes with more grasses. Wildlife of note on the island includes Sitka Deer

Sitka Deer

The Sitka deer or Sitka black-tailed deer , is a subspecies of mule deer , and similar to another subspecies the black-tailed deer . Their name originates from Sitka, Alaska. Weighing in on average between , Sitka deer are characteristically smaller than other types of black-tailed deer...

, Red Fox

Red Fox

The red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...

es and Kodiak Bear

Kodiak Bear

The Kodiak bear , also known as the Kodiak brown bear or the Alaskan grizzly bear or American brown bear, occupies the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago in South-Western Alaska. Its name in the Alutiiq language is Taquka-aq. It is the largest subspecies of brown bear.- Taxonomy :Taxonomist C.H...

s, as well as Tufted Puffin

Tufted Puffin

The Tufted Puffin also known as Crested Puffin, is a relatively abundant medium-sized pelagic seabird in the auk family found throughout the North Pacific Ocean....

s and Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...

s. Afognak and Raspberry islands are the only locations in Alaska with elk populations. The island's Roosevelt Elk

Roosevelt elk

The Roosevelt elk , also known as Olympic elk, is the largest of the four surviving subspecies of elk in North America...

 developed from eight calves translocated

Translocation (Wildlife conservation)

Translocation in wildlife conservation means capture, transport and release or introduction of species, habitats or other ecological material from one location to another...

 from Washington state's Olympic Peninsula

Olympic Peninsula

The Olympic Peninsula is the large arm of land in western Washington state of the USA, that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the east by Puget Sound. Cape Alava, the westernmost point in the contiguous...

 in 1928. The elk have adapted well to the island, with some mature bulls weighing nearly 1300 lbs

Pound (mass)

The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...

 (600 kg

Kilogram

The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...

) The muskrat

Muskrat

The muskrat , the only species in genus Ondatra, is a medium-sized semi-aquatic rodent native to North America, and introduced in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands and is a very successful animal over a wide range of climates and habitats...

 is another species that was successfully introduced

Introduced species

An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...

 to the island. Whales commonly meander down Raspberry Strait but must turn around because it becomes too shallow for them to pass all the way through. Kayakers take advantage of this phenomenon to wait for them to pass by again on their way back out to deeper water. Bald Eagles are abundant.

History

Originally inhabited by Aleut natives for over 7000 years, Russian fur traders took control of the islands in the 18th century and nearly wiped out the now abundant sea otter

Sea Otter

The sea otter is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between 14 and 45 kg , making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among the smallest marine mammals...

s that can often be seen floating together in the strait. Several fishing canneries existed on the island including Port Wakefield and Northwest Cannery in the early 20th century. These went out of business several decades later and a fox fur farm existed on the Northwest Cannery site for a while. Deposits of placer gold were noted at Raspberry Beach as early as 1915.
However, the last recorded mining activity on the beach was in 1935. The half-mile long beach is located on the northwest coast of the island at Drivers Bay. Much of the island is owned by the First Native Corporation and is uninhabited except for the two wilderness lodges that exist on land previously owned by the canneries.

Economy

After the decline of the canneries, their land was eventually purchased and used by the two wilderness lodges as unique tourist destinations. They are unique because the land surrounding them and on the opposing Afognak Island is owned by the First Native corporation and almost completely uninhabited. Fishing vessels based in the city of Kodiak and Port Lions regularly fish the waters around Raspberry Island for the abundant salmon and halibut. Tourists frequent the two wilderness lodges that provide bear viewing, kayaking, extreme wilderness adventures and backpacking, ocean and fly fishing as well as hunting excursions. National Geographic filmed a true television story about two hunters that had separate bear encounters on Kodiak, one hunter was killed by a bear on nearby Uganik Island, the other stabbed the bear with a knife and then killed it with a gun on Raspberry Island and was able to drag himself out to be rescued by his son and Coast Guard airlift. Silver Salmon is one of the salmon spawning streams on the island available to fishermen and observers.

Transportation

There are no roads on Raspberry island except between the lodgings at one of the two wilderness lodges. Hiking trails do exist and are used by wildlife as well as the occasional human. Although it has been known to happen that people have arrived at Raspberry via kayak while on an extreme wilderness adventure, most transportation to and from the island is by floatplane

Floatplane

A floatplane is a type of seaplane, with slender pontoons mounted under the fuselage; only the floats of a floatplane normally come into contact with water, with the fuselage remaining above water...

 or boat. All inhabitants, tourists, and supplies arrive at the island by first going through the city of Kodiak, Alaska

Kodiak, Alaska

Kodiak is one of 7 communities and the main city on Kodiak Island, Kodiak Island Borough, in the U.S. state of Alaska. All commercial transportation between the entire island and the outside world goes through this city either via ferryboat or airline...

, the nearest town, which is an hour and a half boat ride or a thirty minute float plane ride away.

Additional Images

See also

• Raspberry Island Remote Lodge