Priorities
Habitat acquisition and protection has been an important focus of the Kodiak Brown Bear Trust. In 1994 the Kodiak Brown Bear Trust actively participated in negotiations with the Exxon Valdez Trustees Council to obtain restitution monies from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. As a result, 278,000 acres of critical bear habitat were acquired from willing sellers, including most of the land that had been transferred to private ownership from the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge by the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
© Matt Van Daele
Bear Protection
Today the Kodiak Brown Bear Trust continues to support protection of important bear habitat, focusing on providing guidance to land owners on how to conserve fish and wildlife habitat on their lands, aiding bear-resistant garbage collection and landfill programs in local villages, assisting in the development of conservation easements, and monitoring of State land exchanges.
Funding
In collaboration with other partners, the Kodiak Brown Bear Trust contributed funds for acquisition of an inholding along Humpy Creek on the Aliulik Peninsula, acquisition of the “Little Waterfall Parcel” on Afognak Island, and purchase of 60 small parcel inholdings. All of these acquisitions are now part of the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge.
The Humpy Creek acquisition was an important contribution to improved habitat for brown bears on Kodiak Island.