St. Lawrence Island

Infobox Islands
name = St. Lawrence


image caption = Closeup map of St. Lawrence Island
image size =
locator
Location map|Alaska|lat=63.5|long=-170.5
map_custom = yes
native name =
native name link =
nickname =
location = Bering Sea
coordinates = coord|63|24|54.19|N|170|23|57.56|W|display=inline,title
archipelago =
total islands =
major islands =
area = convert|1791.56|sqmi|km2
length = convert|90|mi|km
width = convert|22|mi|km
highest mount =
elevation =
country = United States
country admin divisions title = State
country admin divisions = flag|Alaska
country admin divisions title 1 =
country admin divisions 1 =
country admin divisions title 2 =
country admin divisions 2 =
country largest city = Gambell
country largest city population = 653
population = 1292
population as of = 2000
density = 0.28
ethnic groups =
additional info =

St. Lawrence Island is located west of mainland Alaska in the Bering Sea, just south of the Bering Strait, at about 64° North 170° 1928' West. It is part of Alaska, but closer to Russia than to the Alaskan mainland. St. Lawrence Island is thought to be one of the last surviving non-submerged portions of the land bridge that once joined Asia with North America during the Pleistocene period. [cite web
title=Tools and Implements: St. Lawrence Island and the Bering Strait Region
work=University of Missouri-Columbia Museum of Anthropology
url=http://anthromuseum.missouri.edu/minigalleries/bering/intro.shtml
accessdate=2006-05-24] It is the sixth largest island in the United States and the 113th largest island in the world.

Geography

The United States Census Bureau defines St. Lawrence Island as Block Group 6, Census Tract 1 of Nome Census Area, Alaska. As of the 2000 census there were 1,292 people living on a land area of 4,640.12 km² (1,791.56 sq mi). [ [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-show_geoid=Y&-tree_id=4001&-_showChild=Y&-context=dt&-errMsg=&-all_geo_types=N&-mt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_P001&-redoLog=false&-transpose=N&-search_map_config=|b=50|l=en|t=4001|zf=0.0|ms=sel_00dec|dw=17.701027675209602|dh=6.035539041852557|dt=gov.census.aff.domain.map.EnglishMapExtent|if=gif|cx=-170.20089635341083|cy=63.430295928031335|zl=8|pz=8|bo=318:317:316:314:313:323:319|bl=362:393:358:357:356:355:354|ft=350:349:335:389:388:332:331|fl=381:403:204:380:369:379:368|g=04000US02&-PANEL_ID=p_dt_geo_map&-_lang=en&-geo_id=15000US021800001006&-CONTEXT=dt&-format=&-search_results=14000US02180000100&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U Block Group 6, Census Tract 1, Nome Census Area] United States Census Bureau] The island is about 145 km (90 miles) long and 13–36 km (8–22 miles) wide. The island has no trees, and the only woody plants are Arctic Willow, standing no more than a foot (30 cm) high.

The island's abundance of seabirds and marine mammals is due largely to the influence of the Anadyr Current, an ocean current which brings cold, nutrient-rich water from the deep waters of the Bering Sea shelf edge.

To the south of the island is a persistent polynya, formed when the prevailing winds from the north and east blow the migrating ice away from the coast. [cite web
title=St Lawrence Polynya
work=Polar Research at UW Oceanography
url=http://polar.ocean.washington.edu/st_lawrence/st_lawrence.html
accessdate=2006-06-12]

Prehistory

St. Lawrence Island was first occupied around 2,000 to 2,500 years ago by coastal people characterized by artifacts decorated in the Okvik (oogfik) style. Archaeological sites on the Punuk Islands, off the eastern end of St. Lawrence Island, at Kukulik, near Savoonga and on the hill slopes above Gambell have evidence of the Okivik occupation. The Okvik decorative style is zoomorphic and elaborate, executed in a sometimes crude engraving technique, with greater variation than the later Old Bering Sea and Punuk styles.

The Okivik occupation is influenced by and may have been coincident with the Old Bering Sea occupation of 2000 years ago to around 700 years ago, characterized by the simpler and more homogeneous Punuk style. Stone artifacts changed from chipped stone to ground slate; carved ivory harpoon heads are smaller and simpler in design.

Prehistoric and early historic occupations of St. Lawrence Island were never permanent, with periods of abandonment and reoccupation depending on resource availability and changes in weather patterns. Famine was common, as evidenced by Harris lines and enamel hypoplasia in human skeletons. Travel to and from the mainland was common during calm weather, so the island was used as a hunting base, and occupation sites were re-used periodically rather than permanently occupied.

Major archaeology sites at Gambell and Savoonga (Kukulik) were excavated by Otto Geist and Ivar Skarland of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Collections from these excavations are curated at the University of Alaska Museum on the UAF campus.

History

The island was called "Sivuqaq" by the Yupik who lived there. It was visited by Russian/Danish explorer Vitus Bering on St. Lawrence's Day, August 10 (Old Style), 1728, and named after the day of his visit. The island was the first place in Alaska known to have been visited by European explorers.

There were about 4,000 Central Alaskan Yupik and Siberian Yupik living in several villages on the island in the mid 1800s. They subsisted by hunting walrus and whale and by fishing. A famine in 1878–1880 caused many to starve and many others to leave, decimating the island's population. Nearly all the residents remaining were Siberian Yupik.

Reindeer were introduced on the island in 1900 in an attempt to bolster the economy. The reindeer herd grew to about 10,000 animals by 1917, but has since declined. Reindeer are herded as a source of subsistence meat to this day.

Villages

The island presently contains two villages: Savoonga and Gambell. The two villages were given title to most of the land on St. Lawrence Island by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971. As a result of having title to the land, the Yupik are legally able to sell the fossilized ivory and other artifacts found on St. Lawrence Island.

The island is now inhabited mostly by Siberian Yupik engaged in hunting, fishing, and reindeer herding. The St. Lawrence Island Yupik people are also known for their skill in carving, mostly with materials from marine mammals (walrus ivory and whale bone).

Northeast Cape and PCB contamination

Northeast Cape Air Force Station (AFS) was a United States Air Force facility consisting of an Aircraft Control and Warning (AC&W) radar site, a United States Air Force Security Service (USAFSS) listening post and a White Alice Communications System (WACS) site constructed at Northeast Cape on St. Lawrence Island. It operated from about 1952 to about 1972. The area surrounding the Northeast Cape base site had been a traditional camp site for several Yupik families for centuries. After the base closed down in the 1970s, many of these people started to experience health problems. Even today, people who grew up at Northeast Cape have high rates of cancer and other diseases, possibly due to PCB exposure around the site. [cite web
author=Coming Clean network
title=PCB's in People of St. Lawrence Island
work=Body Burden Report
url=http://www.chemicalbodyburden.org/rr_alaska.htm
accessdate=2006-06-12] According to the State of Alaska, those elevated cancer rates have been shown to be comparable to the rates of other Alaskan and non-Alaskan arctic natives who were not exposed to a similar Air Force facility. [State of Alaska Epidemiology Bulletin. [http://www.epi.hss.state.ak.us/bulletins/docs/rr2003_1.pdf PCB Blood Test Results from St. Lawrence Island] . February 6, 2003.] In any event, the majority of the facility was removed in a $10.5 million dollar cleanup program in 2003. Monitoring of the site will continue into the future. [cite web
author=State of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
title=St. Lawrence Island
work=Contaminated Sites Program
url=http://www.dec.state.ak.us/spar/csp/sites/stlawrence.htm
accessdate=2006-06-12]

t. Lawrence Dam

In September 2008 a plan was published [ [http://www.cleverclimate.org/climate/12/diomede_crossroads/ Diomede Crossroads – Saving the North Pole? Thoughts on plausibility - Clever Climate] ] to build a dam connecting St. Lawrence Island to mainland Alaska and Siberia. The intended purpose of this proposed St. Lawrence Dam is to slow down Arctic sea ice melting and permafrost thawing, thereby decreasing Arctic methane release.

The favourable trajectory of this dam is not over the narrow Bering Strait, connecting the Diomede Islands, but instead further south in the Bering Sea, where St. Lawrence Island can make up a significant part of the barrier. This way all waters of the Alaskan river Yukon would flow to the Arctic Ocean, slightly lowering salinity and favouring sea ice conditions, especially in the Chukchi Sea. Also the dam would lower water temperature in the Chukchi, as the inflow of relatively warm Pacific waters would be stopped.

Apart from these possible [ [http://www.cleverclimate.org/climate/26/comments/ Diomede Crossroads – Comments - Clever Climate] ] climate impacts, the 300 kilometre long dam would allow a railroad connection between Eurasia and America via St. Lawrence Island.

References