U.S. Department of the Interior
Office of the Secretary

Stephanie Hanna (O) 202/208-6416


For Release: November 15, 1995

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt today announced the signing of an agreement with Mr. Frank Pagano, the President of Koniag, Inc., an Alaska Native corporation, to protect nearly 60,000 acres of prime fish and wildlife habitat for bear, salmon, bald eagles and other species on Kodiak Island in perpetuity.

"This agreement will protect important fish and wildlife habitat and increase opportunities for hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities in the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge," Secretary Babbitt said. "This agreement marks another major step forward to preserve the salmon resources found on the Island and to help promote the restoration of important fish and wildlife populations, following the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989."

Mr. Frank Pagano, President of Koniag, Inc., signed on behalf of the board of directors and shareholders of Koniag, Inc., one of thirteen Alaska Native regional corporations, which were established under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

Secretary Babbitt, Assistant Secretary George T. Frampton, Jr. and Mollie Beattie, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, represented the Department at today's announcement ceremony.

Together, the agreements protect nearly 60,000 acres of land in perpetuity and an additional 60,000 acres under a six-year conservation easement for a total cost of $28.5 million, to be paid from Exxon-Valdez oil spill settlement funds.

The agreement will help implement the Final Restoration Plan of November 1994, which is designed to help guide efforts to restore natural resources injured by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound and the northern Gulf of Alaska. The agreement complements agreements reached with two other Alaskan Native corporations signed earlier this year. Together, the three agreements would protect approximately 210,000 acres within the refuge boundary.

The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, consisting of three federal and three state representatives, administers the $900 million civil settlement reached in 1991 with the Exxon Corporation. The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill injured populations of sea birds, salmon and marine mammals. The agreement announced today is designed to protect important habitat for species injured by spill, including pink salmon, sockeye salmon, pacific herring, bald eagles, river otter, sea otters, marbled murrelets, harlequin ducks, pigeon guillemots and harbor seals.

The agreements are the result of a strong partnership involving the Interior Department, State of Alaska and the corporate leadership of Koniag, Inc.

The agreements also complement the State of Alaska's recent acquisition of lands on Afognak Island, which is north of Kodiak Island in the Kodiak archipelago, and within the boundary of Kachemak Bay State Park on the Kenai Peninsula, near the town of Homer.

Upon final closing of the sales, the lands, which are within the boundaries of Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, will be added to that refuge, as part of the National Wildlife Refuge System. National Wildlife Refuges are managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

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In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge by executive order, following the recommendation of Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes. President Roosevelt established the refuge "for the purpose of protecting the natural feeding and breeding range of the brown bears and other wildlife on Uganik and Kodiak Islands, Alaska."

Sport hunting groups, lead by the Boone and Crockett Club, lobbied to establish the refuge in order to protect the local population of brown bear. The Boone and Crockett Club was created by Theodore Roosevelt.

In 1958, the Eisenhower administration expanded the refuge boundary to further protect the fish and wildlife habitat on the island.

In 1971, Congress passed the Alaskan Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) which created Native Alaskan village corporations. ANCSA also authorized village corporations to select nearby lands to extinguish aboriginal land claims. On Kodiak, Native corporations were entitled to select 310,000 acres within the boundary of the refuge.

In 1980 the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act (ANILCA) added additional lands to the refuge and further expanded on the mission of the refuge to:

-- Conserve fish and wildlife populations and habitats in their natural diversity including, but not limited to, Kodiak brown bears, salmonids, sea otters, sea lions and other marine mammals and migratory birds

-- Fulfill international treaty obligations of the United States with respect to fish and wildlife

-- Provide the opportunity for continued subsistence uses by local residents consistent with the primary purposes of the refuge

-- Ensure the maintenance of water quality and necessary water quantity within the refuge to conserve populations and habitats in their natural diversity.

In addition to the protection of habitat for the species injured by the 1989 oil spill, the wildlife resources on the refuge include:

Brown Bear - Subspecies Ursus arctos middendorffi found only on Kodiak archipelago. Kodiak Island population, estimated at 2,500 to 3,000 animals, includes some of the highest known densities of brown bear in the world.

Salmon - All five Pacific salmon, including king(chinook), red(sockeye), pink(humpback), chum(dog) and silver(coho) are important sportfish species. Up to 70% of salmon taken commercially in the Kodiak area come from refuge-based stocks.

Bald Eagle - More than 400 nesting pairs.

Marine Mammals - gray, sei, fin, minke, and humpback whales, harbor seal, Steller's sea lion, sea otter, killer whale, Dall and harbor porpoise.

Seabirds and Waterfowl - 1.5 million seabirds in over 140 colonies and 150,000 ducks & geese overwinter on Kodiak bays, inlets and shores.

Native Land Mammals (6 species) - brown bear, short-tailed weasel, river otter, tundra vole, little brown bat, red fox.

Introduced Land Mammals - include Sitka black-tailed deer (1920's), beaver, mountain goat, snowshoe hare, Roosevelt elk (Afognak Island).

All Birds - Over 225 sighted species (including seabirds and waterfowl).

Other Sportfish - Arctic char, Dolly Varden, rainbow trout and steelhead. The Ayakulik River is one of the state's top king salmon, silver salmon and steelhead sportfishing rivers.