Redoubt Lake
Encyclopedia
Redoubt Lake, or Kunaa Shak Áayi, is a long, narrow lake on Baranof Island
, near Sitka, Alaska
. It is located in a glacially-carved valley in Tongass National Forest
. It was named Ozero Glubokoye, meaning "deep lake", in 1809 by the Russian navigator Ivan Vasilyev
.
Redoubt Lake is one of the largest meromictic lakes in North America. Its water is fresh to a depth of 330 ft (100.6 m), below which is a dense, saltwater layer. The lake's maximum depth is 870 ft (265.2 m) with a mean depth of 460 ft (140.2 m). Its surface area covers 3200 acre (12.9 km²).
In the early 19th century Redoubt Lake was part of Russian America. The Russians established a small settlement near the lake's outlet known variously as Ozersk Redoubt, Ozyorsk Redoubt, The Redoubt, Seleniye Dranishnikova, or Dranishnikov Settlement. Salmon traps were set in the lake and the catch was salted and dried at Ozersk Redoubt. Between 1817 and 1832 the Russians at Sitka and Ozersk Redoubt salted an average of 20,000 salmon annually.
Fish harvests by the Russians at Redoubt Lake sometimes exceeded 50,000 sockeye salmon
per year. Annual escapements possibly exceeded 100,000 sockeye. In the 1980s, sockeye escapement or returns of adult fish had declined to an average less than 10,000 annually. Some years the numbers measured in the low hundreds.
Baranof Island
Baranof Island, also sometimes called Baranov Island, Shee or Sitka Island, is an island in the northern Alexander Archipelago in the Alaska Panhandle, in Alaska. The name Baranof was given in 1805 by Imperial Russian Navy captain U. F. Lisianski to honor Alexander Andreyevich Baranov...
, near Sitka, 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 in a glacially-carved valley in Tongass National Forest
Tongass National Forest
The Tongass National Forest in southeastern Alaska is the largest national forest in the United States at 17 million acres . Most of its area is part of the temperate rain forest WWF ecoregion, itself part of the larger Pacific temperate rain forest WWF ecoregion, and is remote enough to be home...
. It was named Ozero Glubokoye, meaning "deep lake", in 1809 by the Russian navigator Ivan Vasilyev
Ivan Vasilyev
Ivan Vasilyev was a Russian explorer and navigator of the Imperial Russian Navy. He accompanied Leonty Andrianovich Gagemeister on ship Neva to explore the coasts of Alaska and the North Pacific in 1806....
.
Redoubt Lake is one of the largest meromictic lakes in North America. Its water is fresh to a depth of 330 ft (100.6 m), below which is a dense, saltwater layer. The lake's maximum depth is 870 ft (265.2 m) with a mean depth of 460 ft (140.2 m). Its surface area covers 3200 acre (12.9 km²).
In the early 19th century Redoubt Lake was part of Russian America. The Russians established a small settlement near the lake's outlet known variously as Ozersk Redoubt, Ozyorsk Redoubt, The Redoubt, Seleniye Dranishnikova, or Dranishnikov Settlement. Salmon traps were set in the lake and the catch was salted and dried at Ozersk Redoubt. Between 1817 and 1832 the Russians at Sitka and Ozersk Redoubt salted an average of 20,000 salmon annually.
Fish harvests by the Russians at Redoubt Lake sometimes exceeded 50,000 sockeye salmon
Sockeye salmon
Sockeye salmon , also called red salmon or blueback salmon in the USA, is an anadromous species of salmon found in the Northern Pacific Ocean and rivers discharging into it...
per year. Annual escapements possibly exceeded 100,000 sockeye. In the 1980s, sockeye escapement or returns of adult fish had declined to an average less than 10,000 annually. Some years the numbers measured in the low hundreds.