Commander Islands

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Overview
Overview: 

The Commander Islands are situated in the Bering sea east of the Kamchatka Peninsula.  They were discovered by and named after Commander Vitus Bering in 1741. They were uninhabited when discovered.  In 1825, Aleuts from the Aleutian Islands were relocated to the Commander Islands to expand the Russian Fur Trade and Bolster Russian Claims to sovereignty over the Islands.  They settled on both Medney and Bering but today the entire population of approx 800 persons live in the small village of Nikol’skoye  on Bering Island.

The flora and fauna are remarkable because of the unusual combination of species of Asian and American origin.

Geography
Geographical Information: 
The Commander Islands form the western most part of the Aleutian islands’ arc being peaks of a grandiose submarine volcanic ridge which borders the Bering sea from the south. This island arc can be considered as a connecting link between Asia and North America – a bridge along which plants and animals migrated.
Area: 
Total area of the Islands is 185,379 hectares. If the Marine Reserve is included there is a total area of 3,648,679 hectares.
Maximum Altitude: 
The highest point is 755 meters ASL. If marine Reserve is included the deepest point of the Ocean is -7,030 meters below sea level.
Physical Features: 

The Islands include  mountain tundra, motely-grass meadows, wetlands and coastal areas. There are two major Islands Bering and Medney and two smaller islands Arii Kamen and Toporkov plus a number of rocky islets.

History
Historical Features: 

The Commander Islands and the 30 mile Marine Zone around them were declared a zapovednik  (Federal Nature  Reserve) in 1993. They have also been included in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves by UNESCO.  They have been nominated as a World Heritage Site, and listed as a globally Important Bird Area by BirdLife International, the national Audubon Society and the Russian Bird Conservation Union.

 

Fauna & Flora
Flora and Vegetation: 

Mountain tundra covered by heathers with crowberry, characterised by Arctus alpine, Rhodonendron kamtschaticum, Rhododendron aurea, Loiseleuria procumbens, Motley-grass meadows with Calamagrostis Landsdorffii, Anemone villosissima, Geranium erianthum. Wetlands including lakes, rivers and swamps  sedges (Carex sp) cotton grass (Eriophorum sp), willows (Salix sp), sphagnum (Sphagnum sp)  and coastal eco systems  characterized by Senecio pseudoarnica, Leymus mollis, Ammodenia peploides and Mertensia simplicissima.

Birding Highlights: 

There are six endemic species  and/or subspecies of birds such as the ancient murrelet.   Twenty five of the bird species found here are listed in the Russian Red Data Book as threatened or endangered.  There has been a total of 203 bird species recorded from the Island many of these are vagrants.  A number of the species recorded are migratory species  coming annually to the island to breed.  There are 19 species of seabird nest annually along the rocky cliffs with an estimated total population of over 1 million birds.

Mammals: 

The Islands are important for their diversity and abundance of marine mammals. There is an estimated 225,000 northern fur seals  (22% of the worlds population) Steller sea lions and sea otters are reasonably common again after almost being hunted to extinction during the 18th century “Fur Rush”. There are 18 species of whales, dolphins and porpoises recorded from the marine area of the Reserve. Ten or 56% are listed as threatened or endangered.
There is a scarcity of land mammals  because of the islands extreme isolation. The arctic fox found on the island constitute the most ancient and isolated populations of canines in the world.