Alaska

C

Plants and Animals

Vegetation ranges from lush coniferous forests, located in the Panhandle and on the coast of the Gulf of Alaska, dominated by hemlock, spruce and birch trees, to a treeless tundra. Much of the interior is covered by taiga, or northern forest, consisting largely of spruce and birch. Alaska’s many flowers include fireweed, lupine, and the state flower, forget-me-not.

Alaska has a rich and diverse fauna. Surrounding waters are renowned for whale, northern fur seal, walrus, and sea otter, as well as salmon, halibut, crab, shrimp, and other marine life. Bears, including polar, brown, and black, are well represented. Great herds of caribou still migrate across the Brooks Range, followed by packs of wolves.

D

Resources, Products, and Industries

Oil from the vast Prudhoe Bay oil field (via the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, opened in 1977) and natural gas are by far Alaska’s most important mineral resources. Oil revenues have enabled the state to abolish its personal income tax and to distribute annual cash dividends to all state residents. However, oil production is now declining steadily, falling from a peak of 2 million barrels a day to 1.4 million in the mid-1990s as the Prudhoe Bay fields near depletion. In 2000 Alaska produced about 13 billion cu m (459 billion cu ft) of natural gas. Other minerals include copper, gold, coal, sand, molybdenum, gravel, stone, and clay.

Forestry is important to the economy, the principal trees being western hemlock, Sitka spruce, cedar, and other softwoods, which are used for timber and paper-making. Fishing is also a thriving industry, with salmon accounting for a major share of the value of the annual catch. In the early 1990s the total catch in the state was 2.6 million tonnes, valued at US$1.6 billion. Farming accounts for less than 1 per cent of the annual gross state product. Greenhouse products, dairy products, potatoes, and cattle dominate agricultural output. Leading manufacturing industries are food processing and fish-processing, timber and wood products, and printing and publishing.

III

Population

The population of Alaska is 683,478 (2007 estimate), an increase of 14 per cent since 1990. The average population density in 2000 was less than 1 person per 3 sq km (1 per sq mi), the lowest overall population density of any state. Alaska’s major cities are Juneau, the capital (population, 2005, 30,987); Anchorage (population, 2005, 275,043); Fairbanks (population, 2006, 31,142); Sitka (population, 2005, 8,986); and Ketchikan (population, 2006, 7,446).

In 1990 whites made up 69.3 per cent of the population and blacks 3.5 per cent. Other major population groups (1990 figures) included some 44,401 Inuit, then amounting to 8.1 per cent of the total population; 31,245 Native Americans, then 5.7 per cent of the total; and 10,052 Aleut, then accounting for 1.8 per cent of the total.

A

Education

The first mission school for native Alaskans was founded at Wrangell by Presbyterian missionaries in 1876. By 1884 the free state school system had been established in the territory. Today, general public schools are supported by the state and local governments. Schools for Native American children are operated by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs.

In the late 1990s Alaska spent about US$8,800 on each student's education, compared to a national average of about US$6,835. At the beginning of the 21st century there were nine institutions of higher education in Alaska. These institutions included the University of Alaska (1917), with its flagship campus at Fairbanks and branches in 11 communities, and Alaska Pacific University (1959), at Anchorage.

B

Places of Interest

Denali National Park and Preserve and Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve are two of the most popular areas. There are also many places of historical interest. The sites of 18th-century Russian settlements, for example, are found on Kodiak Island and at Sitka, and Sitka National Historical Park includes the site of a fort used by the Russians to gain control over the Tlingit (indigenous peoples of Alaska) in the early 19th century. Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, at Skagway, commemorates the great Gold Rush of 1897-1898.

The Anchorage Museum of History and Art contains outstanding collections on Alaskan history and native arts. The University of Alaska Museum, in Fairbanks, includes extensive exhibits on Alaskan archaeology and wildlife, while the Alaska State Museum, in Juneau, and the Sheldon Jackson Museum, in Sitka, feature exhibits of Native American and Inuit artefacts.