Alaska, USA
Regional Site
Contact: Brian J. McCaffery; Wildlife
Biologist
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Yukon Delta NWR
P.O. Box 346
Bethel, Alaska 99559
WHSRN
Site Location
Yukon-Kuskokwim
Delta (YKD), Coastal and Andreafsky Units
Area of Site:
The Coastal Unit encompasses about 4,824,000 ha. and the Andreafsky Unit encompasses about 850,000 ha.
Yukon Delta Land Description:
The Yukon-Kuskokwim River Delta includes 8,000,000 ha of low tundra communities, 310,000 ha. of unvegetated intertidal mud and sand flats, and 4,100 km of shoreline broken by 22 large river mouths and 13 bays. The extensive intertidal flats are adjacent to about 920,000 ha of wet, sedge-grass meadows that lie between the average high-tide line and the storm-tide line. Coastal meadows and heath tundra are dotted with numerous lakes and ponds that often have mid-summer water coverage exceeding 50% (Gill and Handel 1990).
The
Andreafsky Wilderness is a region of rolling hills, most of which are covered
by moist tundra. Ridge tops and sleeper
slopes support xeric alpine tundra.
Spruce forest/muskeg is widespread in the two major river valleys of the
Andreafsky River. Oxbow lakes, beaver
ponds, and gravel bars provide additional shorebird habitat along the rivers.
Land
Use:
Protection:
Current Threats:
·
Subsistence
harvest of large shorebirds has increased dramatically along at the central YKD
coastline over the last several years.
The reasons for and scope of the increase are unknown.
·
Although
human induced threats are minimal, possible increase in the number of Common
Ravens, due to the presence of open dumps in neighboring villages, could
increase predation on shorebird nests to a point that exceeds historical
levels.
Major Causes of
Disturbance:
Biology: What Shorebird Species
Use This Site?
Black-bellied
Plover
American
Golden-Plover
Pacific
Golden-Plover
Greater
Yellowlegs
Wandering
Tattler
Whimbrel
Bar-tailed
Godwit
Ruddy
Turnstone
Black
Turnstone
Red Knot
Sanderling
Semipalmated
Sandpiper
Western
Sandpiper
Pectoral
Sandpiper
Sharp-tailed
Sandpiper
Rock
Sandpiper
Dunlin
Long-billed
Dowitcher
Red-necked
Phalarope
Red
Phalarope
Solitary
Sandpiper
Bristle-thighed
Curlew
Hudsonian
Godwit
Surfbird
Least
Sandpiper
Baird’s
Sandpiper
Short-billed
Dowitcher
Common
Snipe
Recent Management & Research Activities
All nominated lands are within the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, which is managed for the benefit of fish and wildlife resources and other compatible uses in accordance with the National Refuge Administration Act (1966), the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (1980), and the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act (1997).
Information Relating to WHSRN
Land Owners of Areas Signed to WHSRN:
·
U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service owns about 4,652,680 ha in the nominated areas.
·
The
state of Alaska owns the inter-tidal land the 600 km of nominated shoreline.
·
Twelve
native corporations own about 1,021,320 ha within the broad nominated area.
·
About
5,400 km2 of federal lands are being considered for conveyance to
either native or state ownership. Due
to the complexities of land conveyance and the numerous native land owners,
native and native-selected lands are not currently included in the nomination.
Date Yukon Joined WHSRN:
Locally Involved Agencies, Communities
& Organizations:
Local Community Contacts:
·
·
Robert
Gill, Wildlife Biologist, Alaska Biological Science Center, U.S.
Geological Survey, 1011 E Tudor Rd.,
Anchorage, AK, 99503.
·
Colleen
Handel, Biologist, Alaska Biological Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey,
1011 E Tudor Rd., Anchorage, AK, 99503.
·
Local Activities & Contacts:
Dedication Ceremony:
Pending
Bibliography:
Ernst, R.D. 1988. Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge coastal survey. Unpubl. Rep., U.S. Fish Wildlife Service, Anchorage, AK 48pp.
Field, R.
1993. Bird-habitat associations on the coastal plain of north-central Alaska.
Unpubl. Rep., U.S. Fish Wildlife Service, Anchorage, Alaska. 300 pp.
Gill,
R.E., Jr., and C.M. Handel. 1981. Shorebirds of the Eastern Bearing Sea. Pages
719-738 in E.W. Hood and J.A>
Calder, eds. Eastern Bearing Sea Shelf; Oceanography and Resources. Office of Marine Pollution Assessment, Natl.
Oceanic Atmos. Admin. Univ. Washington Press, Seattle.
Gill,
R.E., Jr., and C.M. Handel. 1990. The importance of sub-arctic intertidal
habitats to shorebirds; a study of the central Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska.
Condor 92: 709-725.
Gill,
R.E., Jr., and B.J. McCaffery. 1999. Bar-tailed Godwits Limosa lapponica in Alaska: a population estimate from the staging
grounds. Wader Study Group Bulletin 88: 49-54.
Handel,
C.M., and C.P. Dau. 1988. Seasonal occurrence of migrant Whimbrels and
Bristle-thighed Curlews on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska. Condor 90:
782-790.
Handel,
C.M., and R.E. Gill Jr. 1992. Breeding distribution of the Black Turnstone.
Wilson Bull. 104:122-135.
Holmes,
R.T. 1969. Differences in population density, territoriality, and food supply
of Dunlin on arctic and sub arctic tundra. Pages 303-319 in
Animal Populations in Relation to their Food Resources. Sym. British Ecol. Soc.
No. 10.
Holmes,
R.T. 1971. Density, habitat, and the mating systems of the Western Sandpiper.
Oecologia. 7:191-208.
Johnsgaurd,
P.A. 1981. The plovers, sandpipers and snipes of the world. Univ. Nebraska
Press, Lincoln. 493 pp.
Jones R.,
Jr., and M.D. Kirchoff. 1977. Draft: Coastal habitat for migratory birds in
western Alaska. Unpubl. Rep. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bethel, AK
Kessel, B.
1989. Birds of Seward Peninsula, Alaska. Univ. Alaska Press, Fairbanks. 330 pp.
McCaffery,
B.J., and R.E. Gill Jr. 1999. Australasian waders in Alaska. Tattler 21:1, 4-5.
McCaffery,
B.J. and D.R. Ruthrauff. 1999. Patterns of spring shorebird use in sub arctic
meadows on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Unpubl. Rep., U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, Bethel, AK
McCaffery,
B.J. and C.M. Hardwood. 2000. Status of Hudsonian Godwits on the
Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. West. Birds. In
press (pending revisions).
Troy, D.M.
1996. Population dynamics of breeding shorebirds in Arctic Alaska. Int. Wader
Studies 8:15-27.
Wentworth
C., 1999. Subsistence waterfowl harvest survey: Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta,
1987-1997. Unpubl. Rep., U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchorage, AK.
Wentworth
C., and S. Seim. 1996. Subsistence waterfowl harvest survey: Yukon-Kuskokwim
Delta, Comprehensive Report 1985-1995 and Results 1995. Unpubl. Rep., U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, Anchorage, AK.
Wentworth
C., and D. Wong. 1999. Migratory bird subsistence harvests: Yukon-Kuskokwim
Delta and Bristol bay, 1995-1998. Unpubl. Rep., U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Anchorage, AK.