Raspberry Island (Alaska) facts for kids
Raspberry Island is a beautiful island in Alaska, part of the Kodiak Archipelago. It's found in the Gulf of Alaska. The island is about 18 miles (29 km) long and its width changes from 3 miles (4.8 km) to 8 miles (12.9 km). The highest point on the island is 3,300 feet (1000 meters) tall.
Raspberry Island is close to other islands like Whale Island and Afognak. It's also separated from Kodiak Island by a channel called Kupreanof Strait. The only people who live on Raspberry Island permanently are at two wilderness lodges: Port Wakefield and Raspberry Island Remote Lodge. These lodges use hydro power from nearby creeks. The closest town is Kodiak, Alaska, which is about an hour and a half away by boat or a thirty-minute floatplane ride.
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Island Nature and Animals
The island is covered in Sitka spruce trees. You'll also find many fields of salmonberry bushes, alder trees, and colorful wildflowers. Higher up on the mountains, there are wild blueberry and cranberry bushes mixed with grasses.
Amazing Island Wildlife
Raspberry Island is home to many cool animals. You can see Sitka deer, red foxes, and even large Kodiak bears. Birds like tufted puffins and bald eagles are also common.
Did you know that Raspberry and Afognak islands are the only places in Alaska where you can find Roosevelt Elk? These elk came from Washington state in 1928, when eight young elk were brought here. They have grown big and strong, with some male elk weighing almost 1,300 pounds (590 kg)! Another animal that was brought to the island and did well is the muskrat.
Whales in Raspberry Strait
Large whales often swim into Raspberry Strait. They have to turn around because the water gets too shallow for them to pass all the way through. This is great for kayakers who can wait for the whales to swim back out to deeper water.
Island History
For over 7,000 years, the Aleut native people lived on these islands. In the 1700s, Russian fur traders arrived and hunted many sea otters, almost making them disappear. Today, you can often see sea otters floating together in the water.
In the early 1900s, there were several fishing canneries on the island, like Port Wakefield. These canneries eventually closed. For a while, a fox fur farm operated where one of the canneries used to be. People also found small amounts of placer gold on Raspberry Beach as early as 1915, but mining stopped there by 1935.
Most of Raspberry Island is owned by the First Native Corporation. This means it's mostly wild and untouched, except for the two wilderness lodges.
Getting Around the Island
There are no public roads on Raspberry Island, only small paths between the lodges. You can find hiking trails that both animals and people use. Most people travel to and from the island by floatplane or boat.
If you want to visit Raspberry Island, you'll usually start in Kodiak, Alaska. From Kodiak, it's about a 90-minute boat ride or a 30-minute floatplane trip to the island.
Island Economy
After the fishing canneries closed, their land was bought by the two wilderness lodges. These lodges are special because most of the land around them, and on nearby Afognak Island, is owned by the First Native Corporation and is wild.
Fishing boats from Kodiak and Port Lions often fish in the waters around Raspberry Island. They catch lots of salmon and halibut. Tourists come to the two wilderness lodges for many activities. These include watching bears, kayaking, backpacking, and both ocean and fly fishing. Some people also come for hunting trips. Silver Salmon is one of the streams on the island where salmon spawn, making it a great spot for fishing and observing nature.
Images for kids
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Kayakers off the coast of Raspberry Island.
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A seiner netting salmon in July off the coast of Raspberry Island, Alaska
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Bald eagles are abundant on Raspberry Island.
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A wild Dall's porpoise posing for her Wikipedia photo on a calm day in the Shelikof Strait off the coast of Raspberry Island
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A wild Dall's porpoise plays in the shadow of a boat and photographer in the Shelikof Strait
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Lupin and other wildflowers cover the mountaintop on Raspberry Island. Cranberries, blueberries, bearberries and salmonberries are also found in abundance.
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Wildflowers growing on the mountaintop of Raspberry Island
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A mountain stream on Raspberry Island
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A field of purple iris on Raspberry Island
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Silver salmon caught in the ocean just off Raspberry Island, Alaska
