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| The old CAA towers on the north end of the island |
Last week I got to make a quick overnight trip out to Chirikof Island. I've spent a lot of time there in the past surveying the island for archaeological sites (2005) and sampling middens (2013) (
click here for some posts about past trips). And on this trip I accompanied some journalists doing a story on the feral cows that live on the island. The unmanaged cows have overgrazed the island, altered the ecosystem, and damaged the archaeological sites. I was along as a sort of 'tour guide' to show them archaeological sites and tell them what I know of the history of the island.
In this post I'll stick more with the experience than on the island's archaeology or the effects of the cows. The link above is to numerous past posts where I have expounded on those stories. The only thing I have to add to what I wrote about the cows and archaeological sites in the above link is that I have since surveyed a similar island where the cows are well-managed and not feral. Last Spring I surveyed nearby Sitkinak Island (
click here for some posts), and what a contrast with Chirikof. There the ranchers have put up fences to keep the cows out of sensitive areas (like wetlands), and have kept their numbers low to reduce over-grazing. And WOW what a difference!
All of my trips to Chirikof have been very different. In 2005 I went out in late April and the cows had just reached a 'Malthusian limit', over-grazed the island and experienced a severe winter kill. In 2013 I visited in late July and everything was bright green and there was a lot of blooming lupine. This year we stuck to the northeast corner of the island and I was struck by the blooming cottongrass and birds. Since I last visited the USFWS got rid of the arctic foxes, and it seems to have made a difference with the nesting birds. On this visit there seemed to be a lot more nesting birds.
The journalists and I had time for 2 long hikes - on the first day we hiked to the old CAA towers (basically 'lighthouses' for planes during WWII). The north end of the island has turned into a desert and is literally blowing away. Up there I did find one new prehistoric site, but there was no intact soils and basically when people had lived at the site it was 3 or 4 meters up above where it is today. All of the artifacts that I saw at the site had been polished and fluted by the wind blown sand.
On the second day we went on another long hike and visited the old ranch. The old ranch is on top of an old terrace that is literally falling into the sea. I examined my old notes of the locality from 2005 and looked at old photos and estimate that since 2005 the terrace has been cut back about 60 meters! When I visited in 2005 the old ranch headquarters was still standing and there was still a prehistoric site in a blowout just behind the cliff edge. Today the prehistoric site has gone completely over the edge and the main ranch building is in the process of going over too. WOW!
Finally, I'll add that on this trip I did not find a single glass ball. I did look but mostly along the east side beaches where there are rocks along the high tide line. At the north end where there is a HUGE sandy beach and lots of bottle and other marine debris I stuck to the high terrace edge and looked for old archaeological sites.
Patrick
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