Alaska

State of Alaska

ORIGIN OF STATE NAME: From the Aleut word "alyeska," meaning "great land."

NICKNAME: Land of the Midnight Sun; The Last Frontier.

CAPITAL: Juneau.

ENTERED UNION: 3 January 1959 (49th).

SONG: "Alaska's Flag."

MOTTO: North to the Future.

FLAG: On a blue field, eight gold stars form the Big Dipper and the North Star.

OFFICIAL SEAL: In the inner circle symbols of mining, agriculture, and commerce are depicted against a background of mountains and the northern lights. In the outer circle are a fur seal, a salmon, and the words "The Seal of the State of Alaska."

BIRD: Willow ptarmigan.

FISH: King salmon.

FLOWER: Wild forget-me-not.

TREE: Sitka spruce.

GEM: Jade.

LEGAL HOLIDAYS: New Year's Day, 1 January; Martin Luther King Jr. Day, 3rd Monday in January; Presidents' Day, 3rd Monday in February; Seward's Day, last Monday in March; Memorial Day, last Monday in May; Independence Day, 4 July; Labor Day, 1st Monday in September; Alaska Day, 18 October; Veterans' Day, 11 November; Thanksgiving Day, 4th Thursday in November; Christmas Day, 25 December.

TIME: 3 AM Alaska Standard Time, 2 AM Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time = noon GMT.

LOCATION, SIZE, AND EXTENT

Situated at the northwest corner of the North American continent, Alaska is separated by Canadian territory from the coterminous 48 states. Alaska is the largest of the 50 states, with a total area of 591,004 sq mi (1,530,699 sq km). Land takes up 570,833 sq mi (1,478,456 sq km) and inland water, 20,171 sq mi (52,243 sq km). Alaska is more than twice the size of Texas, the next largest state, and occupies 16% of the total US land area; the e-w extension is 2,261 mi (3,639 km); the maximum n-s extension is 1,420 mi (2,285 km).

Alaska is bounded on the n by the Arctic Ocean and Beaufort Sea; on the e by Canada's Yukon Territory and province of British Columbia; on the s by the Gulf of Alaska, Pacific Ocean, and Bering Sea; and on the w by the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, Chukchi Sea, and Arctic Ocean.

Alaska's many offshore islands include St. Lawrence, St. Matthew, Nunivak, and the Pribilof group in the Bering Sea; Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska; the Aleutian Islands in the Pacific; and some 1,100 islands constituting the Alexander Archipelago, extending se along the Alaska panhandle.

The total boundary length of Alaska is 8,187 mi (13,176 km), including a general coastline of 6,640 mi (10,686 km); the tidal shoreline extends 33,904 mi (54,563 km). Alaska's geographic center is about 60 mi (97 km) nw of Mt. McKinley. The northern-most point in the United States—Point Barrow, at 71°23′30″n, 156°28′30″w—lies within the state of Alaska, as does the western-most point—Cape Wrangell on Attu Island in the Aleutians, at 52°55′30″n, 172°28′e. Little Diomede Island, belonging to Alaska, is less than 2 mi (3 km) from Big Diomede Island, belonging to Russia.

TOPOGRAPHY

Topography varies sharply among the six distinct regions of Alaska. In the southeast is a narrow coastal panhandle cut off from the main Alaskan landmass by the St. Elias Range. This region, featuring numerous mountain peaks of 10,000 ft (3,000 m) in elevation, is paralleled by the Alexander Archipelago. South-central Alaska, which covers a 700-mi (1,100-km) area along the Gulf of Alaska, includes the Kenai Peninsula and Cook Inlet, a great arm of the Pacific penetrating some 200 mi (320 km) to Anchorage. The southwestern region includes the Alaska Peninsula, filled with lightly wooded, rugged peaks; and the 1,700-mi (2,700-km) sweep of the Aleutian islands, barren masses of volcanic origin. Western Alaska extends from Bristol Bay to the Seward Peninsula, an immense tundra dotted with lakes and containing the deltas of the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, the longest in the state at 1,900 mi (3,058 km) and 680 mi (1,094 km), respectively. The Yukon River also ranks third among the nation's longest rivers; its source is McNeil River in Canada. Interior Alaska extends north of the Alaska Range and south of the Brooks Range, including most of the drainage of the Yukon and its major tributaries, the Tanana and Porcupine rivers. The Arctic region extends from Kotzebue, north of the Seward Peninsula, east to Canada. From the northern slopes of the Brooks Range, the elevation falls to the Arctic Ocean. The mean elevation of the state is approximately 1,900 ft (580 m).

The 11 highest mountains in the United States—including the highest in North America, Mt. McKinley (20,320 ft/6,198 m), located in the Alaska Range—are in the state, which also contains half the world's glaciers; the largest, Malaspina, covers more area than the entire state of Rhode Island. Ice fields cover 4% of the state. Alaska has more than three million lakes larger than 20 acres (8 hectares), and more than one-fourth of all the inland water wholly within the United States lies inside the state's borders. The largest lake is Iliamna, occupying about 1,000 sq mi (2,600 sq km). The lowest point of the state is at sea level at the Pacific Ocean.

The most powerful earthquake in recorded US history, measuring 8.5 on the Richter scale, struck the Anchorage region on 27 March 1964, resulting in 114 deaths and $500 million in property damage in Alaska and along the US West Coast.

CLIMATE

Americans, who called Alaska "Seward's icebox" when it was first purchased from the Russians, were unaware of the variety of climatic conditions within its six topographic regions. Although minimum daily winter temperatures in the Arctic region and in the Brooks Range average −20°f (−29°c) and the ground at Point Barrow is frozen permanently to 1,330 ft (405 m), summer maximum daily temperatures in the Alaskan lowlands average above 60°f (16°c) and have been known to exceed 90°f (32°c). The southeastern region is moderate, ranging from a daily average of 30°f (−1°c) in January to 56°f (13°c) in July; the south-central zone has a similar summer range, but winters are somewhat harsher, especially in the interior. The Aleutian Islands have chilly, damp winters and rainy, foggy weather for most of the year; western Alaska is also rainy and cool. The all-time high for the state was 100°f (38°c), recorded at Ft. Yukon on 27 June 1915; the reading of −79.8°f (−62°c), registered at Prospect Creek Camp in the northwestern part of the state on 23 January 1971, is the lowest temperature ever officially recorded in the United States.

The annual normal daily mean temperature in Juneau is 41.5°f (5.3°c). Juneau receives an annual average precipitation of 55.2 in (140 cm), with an average of 99 in (251 cm) of snowfall recorded at the airport there each year. The entire southeastern region of Alaska has a wide range of microclimates with varying levels of precipitation; Juneau's metropolitan area precipitation ranges from 40 in (102 cm) to over 100 in (254 cm) per year. Parts of Alaska are prone to wildfires, which burned about 4.4 million acres statewide in 2005.

FLORA AND FAUNA

Life zones in Alaska range from grasslands, mountains, and tundra to thick forests, in which Sitka spruce (the state tree), western hemlock, tamarack, white birch, and western red cedar predominate. Various hardy plants and wild flowers spring up during the short growing season on the semiarid tundra plains. Some species of poppy and gentian are endangered.

Mammals abound amid the wilderness. Great herds of caribou migrate across some northern areas of the state. Moose move within ranges they establish, but do not migrate seasonally or move in herds as do caribou. Reindeer were introduced to Alaska as herd animals for Alaska Natives, and there are no free-ranging herds in the state. Kodiak, polar, black, and grizzly bears, Dall sheep, and an abundance of small mammals are also found. The sea otter and musk ox have been successfully reintroduced. Round Island, along the north shore of Bristol Bay, has the world's largest walrus rookery. North America's largest population of bald eagles nest in Alaska, and whales migrate annually to the icy bays. Pristine lakes and streams are famous for trout and salmon fishing. In all, 386 species of birds, 430 fishes, 105 mammals, 7 amphibians, and 3 reptiles have been found in the state.

Izembek Lagoon, at the tip of the Alaskan Peninsula, contains what is considered to be the most extensive eelgrass meadow in the world. The area is a staging and nesting ground for hundreds of thousands of migratory birds and ducks. At least 39 species of fish visit the site as a spawning ground.

In April 2006, a total of 12 species occurring within the state were on the threatened and endangered species list of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. These included 11 endangered animals, such as the Eskimo curlew, short-tailed albatross, leatherback sea turtle, Steller sea-lion, and bowhead, finback, and humpback whales. Three species listed as threatened included the spectacled eider, Steller's aider, and Steller sea-lion. Numerous species considered endangered in the coterminous US remain common in Alaska, however.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

In 1997, Alaska's number one environmental health problem was the unsafe water and sanitation facilities in over 135 of Alaska's communities—mostly Alaska Native villages. The people of these communities must carry their water from streams or watering points to their homes; people must use "honey buckets" or privies for disposal of human waste; and solid waste lagoons are usually a collection of human waste, trash, and junk, infested with flies and other carriers of disease. The government of Alaska, under then-governor Tony Knowles, established a goal of "putting the honey bucket in museums" as of 2005. To accomplish this goal, in 1993 Knowles established the "Rural Sanitation Task Force" to guide the effort and has committed approximately $40 million per year in state and federal funds to finance new water, sewer, and solid waste facilities. In 2005, federal EPA grants awarded to the state included over $49 million for the development and construction of water and wastewater systems.

A tremendous backlog of contaminated sites from World War II (1939–45) military installations exists, and some of these sites many years later were discovered to be the source of contamination of groundwater, drinking water, and fisheries habitat. The US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) database listed 86 hazardous waste sites in Alaska in 2003. As of 2006, six of these sites were on the National Priorities List, five of which were military installations. The Standard Steel & Metal Salvage Yard of the US Department of Transportation had been deleted from the list that year. Sites have been identified and prioritized, and an aggressive state/federal cleanup effort is underway. Two former pulp mill sites in southeast Alaska are also the subject of major cleanup efforts. In 2005, the EPA spent $179,975 through the Superfund program for the cleanup of hazardous waste sites in the state.

Alaskan wetlands, which cover about 170 million acres, serve as resting and nesting grounds for over 13 million ducks and geese and 100 million shorebirds. Freshwater wetlands, primarily peat-lands or marshes, bogs, fens, tundra, and meadows, cover about 110 million acres. Protection of coastal wetlands is shared by local, state, and rural regional governments. Izembek Lagoon National Wildlife Refuge, located at the westernmost tip of the Alaskan Peninsula, was designated as a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance in 1986.

The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill highlighted the need for better prevention and response abilities. Since then these capabilities have been increased through stronger laws and more clearly defined roles among all the various governments and communities and greatly enhanced state regulatory agency capabilities. State-of-the-art tugs now escort tankers in Prince William Sound; these tankers are constantly monitored to ensure that they stay on course, and their crews have been increased to ensure redundancy of critical positions.

Oil development on the North Slope and in Cook Inlet, mining throughout the state, and timber harvesting largely in the southern regions remain areas of focus for environmental protection, as do winter violations of air quality standards for carbon monoxide in Anchorage and Fairbanks. In 2003, 539.6 million lb of toxic chemicals were released by the state, the highest amount of any state in the nation.

POPULATION

Alaska, with a land area one-fifth the size of the conterminous United States, ranked 47th in population in 2005 with an estimated total of 663,661, an increase of 5.9% since 2000. Between 1990 and 2000, Alaska's population grew from 550,043 to 626,932, or 14%. The state is projected to have a population of 732,544 by 2015 and 820,881 by 2025. Regions of settlement and development constitute less than 1% of Alaska's total land area. The population density was 1.2 persons per sq mi in 2004, making Alaska the nation's most sparsely settled state.

Historically, population shifts in Alaska have directly reflected economic and political changes. The Alaska gold rush of the 1890s resulted in a population boom from 32,052 in 1890 to 63,592 a decade later; by the 1920s, however, mining had declined and Alaska's population had decreased to 55,036. The region's importance to US national defense during the 1940s led to a rise in population from 72,524 to 128,643 during that decade. Oil development, especially the construction of the Alaska pipeline, brought a 78% population increase between 1960 and 1980. Almost all of this gain was from migration.

The state's population is much younger than that of the nation as a whole. The median age was 33.4 in 2004, compared with the national average of 36.2, and only 6.4% of all Alaskans were 65 years of age or older, while 28.7% were under 18 years old (compared with the national average of 25%). Alaska is one of the few states where men outnumber women; as of 2004, women accounted for 48.3% of Alaskan residents.

About half of Alaska's residents live in and around Anchorage, whose population was estimated at 272,687 in 2004. The 2004 estimated population of Fairbanks was 85,930. Less than one-quarter of the population lives in Western Alaska.

ETHNIC GROUPS

In 2000 Native Americans accounted for 15.6% of Alaska's population—the highest percentage of any state. In 2004, that figure was 15.8% of Alaska's population. American Indians, primarily Athabaskan (14,520) and Tlingit-Haida (14,825) living in southeastern Alaska (Alaska Panhandle), numbered around 29,345 in 2000. There are also small numbers of Tsimshian living in this area. Eskimos (45,919) and Aleuts (11,941), the other native peoples, live mostly in scattered villages to the north and northwest. Taken together, Alaska Natives were estimated in 2000 to number about 98,043, up from 86,000 (16%) in 1996. The Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 gave 13 native corporations nearly $1 billion in compensation for exploration, mining, and drilling rights, and awarded them royalties on oil and the rights to nearly 12% of Alaska's land area.

In 2000, the black population was 21,787, or 3.5% of the total population, down slightly from 22,000 in 1990. In 2004, the black population was 3.6% of the total population. Among those of Asian origin in 2000 were 12,712 Filipinos, 1,414 Japanese, and 4,573 Koreans; in the same year, the total Asian population was 25,116 and Pacific Islanders numbered 3,309. In 2004, the Asian population was 4.5% of the total population. In 2000, of Alaska's total population, about 25,852 individuals was of Hispanic or Latino origin, with 13,334 of those claiming Mexican ancestry (up from 6,888 in 1990). In 2004, 4.9% of the population claimed Hispanic or Latino origin, and 4.7% of the population claimed origin of two or more races. Foreign-born persons numbered 37,170, or 5.9% of the population (up from 4.4% in 1990).

LANGUAGES

From the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian groups of lower Alaska almost no language influence has been felt, save for hooch (from Tlingit hoochino ); but some native words have escaped into general usage, notably Eskimo mukluk and Aleut parka. Native place-names abound: Skagway and Ketchikan (Tlingit), Kodiak and Katmai (Eskimo), and Alaska and Akutan (Aleut).

In 2000, 85.7% of the population five years old and older was reported to speak only English in the home, a decrease over 87.9% recorded in 1990.

The following table gives selected statistics from the 2000 Census for language spoken at home by persons five years old and over. The category "Other Native North American languages" includes Apache, Cherokee, Choctaw, Dakota, Keres, Pima, and Yupik. The category "Other Pacific Island languages" includes Chamorro, Hawaiian, Ilocano, Indonesian, and Samoan.

RELIGIONS

The largest religious organization in the state is the Roman Catholic Church, which had 52,892 members and 78 parishes in 2004; the Anchorage archdiocese reported about 29,693 members. In 2006, the Latter-day Saints (Mormons), reported a statewide membership of 27,600 members, with 73 congregations; a small local temple was built in Anchorage in 1999. As of 2000, the Southern Baptists have been one of the largest Protestant denominations, with 22,959 adherents and 68 congregations; there were 526 new members in the Southern Baptist Convention in 2002.

Many Aleuts were converted to the Russian Orthodox religion during the 18th century, and small Russian Orthodox congregations are still active on the Aleutian Islands, in Kodiak and southeastern Alaska, and along the Yukon River. The Orthodox Church in America—Territorial Dioceses had 20,000 adherents and 46 congregations in 2000.

The next largest denominations (with 2000 data) include the Assembly of God, 11,638; Independent, Non-Charismatic Churches, 7,600; and Episcopalians, 6,693. There were about 3,525 Jews and 1,381 Muslims. About 65.7% of the population did not specify a religious affiliation.

TRANSPORTATION

The first rail transportation networks in Alaska were constructed to serve mining interests. The 110-mi (177-km) White Pass and Yukon Railway (WP&YRR), originally constructed during the Klondike gold rush and completed in 1900, constituted the key link between tidewater at Skagway, the Yukon River, and the gold fields. Today, this line runs as a summer-only tourist attraction and provides service between Skagway and Fraser, British Columbia. Shortly after the turn of the century, the Guggenheims financed the construction of the Copper River & Northwestern Railway, which connected Cordova and McCarthy to service the Kennicott Copper Mining Company.

Regular passenger and freight railroad service began in 1923, when the Alaska Railroad began operation. The Alaska Railroad links communities between Whittier, Seward, Anchorage, and Fairbanks. As of 2003, this railroad of 466 route mi (750 km) was not connected to any other North American line (although rail-barge service provides access to the rest of the US rail network). The Alaska Railroad was federally operated until 1985, when it was bought by the state government for $22.3 million. The railroad carries volumes of coal from Healy north to Fairbanks (600,000 tons/year) and south to Seward for export (800,000 tons/year). The rail-road also carries large volumes of gravel to Anchorage (more than two million tons from Palmer in the mid-1990s) and petroleum products (more than one million tons from Mapco's North Pole refinery) to Anchorage and various military bases in the area. The railroad is increasing summer passenger travel, often by hauling dome/dining rail cars owned by tour companies.

The Alaska Highway, which extends 1,523 mi (2,451 km) from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, to Fairbanks, is the only total road link with the rest of the United States. In-state roads are few and far between: although Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Seward are linked, Juneau, the state capital, has no road link. In total, there were 14,107 mi (22,712 km) of roads in use in 2004, including more than 1,800 mi (2,896 km) of roads in national parks and forests. During that same year, the state had around 669,000 registered vehicles and 482,532 licensed drivers. The largest public transit system, that of Anchorage, accommodated over three million unlinked passenger trips annually in the mid-1990s.

The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) provides year-round scheduled ferry service to over 30 communities throughout southeast and southwest Alaska. Service extends from Bellingham, Washington, and Prince Rupert, British Columbia. This ferry system extends over 3,500 route mi (5,632 km) and connects communities with each other, with regional centers, and with the continental road system.

Water transport in Alaska is dominated by Valdez, which annually ships about 100 million tons of crude petroleum from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Terminal. In 2004, total cargo volume for the Port of Valdez totaled 46.758 million tons, making it the 18th-busiest port in the United States. Kenai/Nikishka is the state's second-largest freight-handling port and also has petroleum as its principal commodity. Anchorage is the state's largest general cargo port, with over three million tons per year. In 2004, Alaska had 5,497 mi (8,850 km) of navigable inland waterways. Waterborne shipments for the state in 2003 totaled 65.353 million tons.

Air travel is the primary means of intrastate transportation, with regional carriers serving remote communities. In 2005, Alaska had a total of 678 public- and private-use aviation-related facilities. This included 517 airports, 37 heliports, and 124 seaplane bases. The state has three major international airports, at Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau, the state's capital. Anchorage International Airport (AIA) is a major refueling stop for international freight airplanes and is a freight hub for Federal Express and United Parcel Service. In 2004, Anchorage International had 2,439,969 passenger enplanements. Fairbanks International in that same year had 420,394 enplanements, while Juneau International had 377,505.

HISTORY

At some time between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago, the ancestors of all of America's aboriginal peoples trekked over a land bridge that connected northeastern Siberia with northwestern America. These early hunter-gatherers dispersed, eventually becoming three distinct groups: Aleut, Eskimo, and Indian.

Ages passed before overseas voyagers rediscovered Alaska. Separate Russian parties led by Aleksei Chirikov and Vitas Bering (who had sailed in 1728 through the strait that now bears his name) landed in Alaska in 1741. Within a few years, the discoverers were followed by the exploiters, who hunted the region's fur-bearing animals. In 1784, the first permanent Russian settlement was established on Kodiak Island: 15 years later, the Russian American Company was granted a monopoly over the region. Its manager, Aleksandr Baranov, established Sitka as the company's headquarters. In 1802, the Tlingit Indians captured Sitka, but two years later lost the town and the war with the Russian colonizers. Fluctuations in the fur trade, depletion of the sea otter, and the Russians' inability to make their settlements self-sustaining limited their development of the region. Increasingly, the czarist government viewed the colonies as a drain on the treasury. In 1867, as a result of the persistence of Secretary of State William H. Seward, a devoted American expansionist, Russia agreed to sell its American territories to the United States for $7,200,000. From 1867 until the first Organic Act of 1884, which provided for a federally appointed governor, Alaska was administered first by the US Army, then by the US Customs Service.

The pace of economic development quickened after the discovery of gold in 1880 at Juneau. Prospectors began moving into the eastern interior after this success, leading to gold strikes on Forty Mile River in 1886 and at Circle in 1893. But it was the major strike in Canada's Klondike region in 1896 that sparked a mass stampede to the Yukon Valley and other regions of Alaska, including the Arctic. The gold rush led to the establishment of permanent towns in the interior for the first time.

Subsequent development of the fishing and timber industries increased Alaska's prosperity and prospects, although the region suffered from a lack of transportation facilities. A significant achievement came in 1914, when construction started on the Alaska Railroad connecting Seward, a new town with an ice-free port, with Anchorage and Fairbanks. Politically there were advances as well. In 1906, Alaskans were allowed to elect a nonvoting delegate to Congress for the first time. Congress granted territorial status to the region in 1912, and the first statehood bill was introduced in Congress four years later.

Mineral production declined sharply after 1914. Population declined too, and conditions remained depressed through the 1920s, although gold mining was helped by a rise in gold prices in 1934. World War II (1939–45) provided the next great economic impetus for Alaska; the Aleutian campaign that followed the Japanese invasion of the islands, though not as pivotal as the combat in other areas of the Pacific, did show American policymakers that Alaska's geography was in itself an important resource. Thus the spurt of federal construction and movement of military personnel continued even after the war ended, this time directed at the Soviet Union—only 40 mi (64 km) across the Bering Strait—rather than Japan.

The US government built the Alaska Highway and many other facilities, including docks, airfields, and an extension of the Alaska Railroad. Population soared as thousands of civilian workers and military personnel moved to the territory. The newcomers added impetus to a new movement for statehood, and the Alaska Statehood Act was adopted by Congress in June 1958 and ratified by Alaska voters that August. On 3 January 1959, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the proclamation that made Alaska the 49th state.

In 1971, the Native Claims Settlement Act provided an extensive grant to the state's natives but also precipitated a long federal-state controversy over land allocations. A major oil field was discovered in 1968, and in 1974, over the opposition of many environmentalists, construction began on the 789-mi (1,270-km) Trans-Alaska Pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. The oil that began flowing through the pipeline in 1977 made Alaska almost immediately one of the nation's leading energy producers.

Alaska's extraordinary oil wealth enabled it to embark on a heavy program of state services and to abolish the state income tax. However, state spending failed to stimulate the private sector to the degree expected. Further, the state's dependence on oil—82% of its revenue came from oil industry taxes and royalties—became a disadvantage when overproduction in the Middle East drove the price of oil down from $36 a barrel at the peak of Alaska's oil boom in 1980–81 to $13.50 a barrel in 1988. In 1986, the state's revenues had declined by two-thirds. Alaska lost 20,000 jobs between 1985 and 1989. The economy's collapse forced 10,000 properties into foreclosure in those years. At the same time, the state rapidly depleted its oil reserves. In 1981, the Interior Department estimated that 83 billion barrels of undiscovered oil existed. By 1989, that estimate had dropped to 49 billion barrels.

On 24 March 1989, the Exxon Valdez, a 987-ft (300-m) oil tanker, hit a reef and ran aground. The tanker spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil. The oil eventually contaminated 1,285 mi (2,068 km) of shoreline, fouling Prince William Sound and its wildlife sanctuary, the Gulf of Alaska, and the Alaska Peninsula. In the settlement of the largest environmental suit in US history brought by the state and federal governments, Exxon was fined $1.025 billion in civil and criminal penalties. By 1992, Exxon had spent some $2 billion cleaning up Prince William Sound and paid another $300 million in compensation for losses. Ten years after the spill, a $100-million response system was in place to prevent future disasters and every tanker that departed the Valdez terminal in Prince William Sound was escorted by tugboats.

In the early 1990s, oil production in Prudhoe Bay was declining, a development that forced Governor Tony Knowles to implement cutbacks in state spending and brought a renewal of proposals to open areas of the nearly 20-million acre (8.1 million hectare) Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to commercial development. A congressional bill introduced in October 1999 by Alaskan senator Frank Murkowski and backed by the state's other members of Congress, would allow oil and gas, tourism, and residential development in the refuge, which is often called "America's Serengeti" for its wealth and diversity of wildlife. As the Republican-dominated Congress considered the bill in 2000 and after, conservationists rallied against it. In November 2002, Murkowski was elected governor of Alaska and continued his support for oil drilling in ANWR. The US Senate has continually voted to reject drilling in ANWR, but the US House of Representatives has voted in favor. In August 2005, President George W. Bush signed the first national energy legislation in more than a decade, and signaled the law would help wean the United States off foreign sources of oil by encouraging the domestic production of oil and natural gas and the use of cleaner-burning, domestic energy sources such as nuclear power, ethanol, and liquefied natural gas. The legislation dropped an amendment regarding the long-standing contentious issue of drilling in ANWR, which had blocked passage of earlier versions. As early as October 2005, however, the Senate Energy Committee voted to open ANWR to oil drilling as part of a broad budget bill to fund the federal government; the issue is far from being resolved.

STATE GOVERNMENT

Under Alaska's first and only constitution—adopted in 1956, effective since the time of statehood and amended 29 times by January 2005—the House of Representatives consists of 40 members elected for two-year terms; the Senate has 20 members elected for staggered four-year terms. The minimum age is 21 for a representative, 25 for a senator; legislators must have resided in the state for at least three years before election and in the district at least one year. Annual legislative sessions begin in January and are limited to 121 calendar days. Special sessions, limited to 30 calendar days, may be called by a two-thirds vote of the members. As of 2004, legislators' salaries were $24,012. Legislators receive reimbursement for living expenses at the rate of $204 per day.

Alaska's executive branch, modeled after New Jersey's, features a strong governor who appoints most cabinet members and judges subject to legislative confirmation. The lieutenant governor (elect-ed jointly with the governor) is the only other elected executive. The governor must be at least 30 years old, and must have been a US citizen for seven years and an Alaska resident for seven years. The term of office is four years, and the governor is limited to two consecutive terms. The qualifications for the lieutenant governor are the same as for the governor. As of December 2004, the governor's salary was $85,766.

After a bill has been passed by the legislature, it becomes law if signed by the governor; if left unsigned for 15 days (Sundays excluded) while the legislature is in session, or for 20 days after it has adjourned; or if passed by a two-thirds vote of the elected members of the combined houses over a gubernatorial veto (to override a veto of an appropriations bill requires a three-fourths vote). Constitutional amendments require a two-thirds vote of the legislature and ratification by the electorate. Voters must be 18 years old (within 90 days of registration), US citizens, and not registered to vote in another state. Restrictions apply to convicted felons and those declared mentally incompetent by the court.

Between 1993 and 1995, the Constitutional Revision Task Force studied alternatives to existing methods of revising the state constitution, recommending the appointment of a permanent advisory commission to submit proposals to the state legislature. In 2002 voters rejected a proposal that called for a constitutional convention.

POLITICAL PARTIES

When Congress debated the statehood question in the 1950s, it was assumed that Alaska would be solidly Democratic, but this expectation has not been borne out; as of 2004 there were 472,000 registered voters, of which only nearly 16% were Democratic, while 25% were Republican and 59% were unaffiliated or members of other parties.

In 1990, a member of the Alaskan Independent party, Walter J. Hickel, was elected governor. Democrat Tony Knowles won the governorship in the November 1994 election and was reelected in 1998. Two Republicans, Frank Murkowski and Ted Stevens, were reelected to the US Senate in 1998 and 2002, respectively. Murkowski was elected Alaska's governor in 2002; he appointed his daughter Lisa to the US Senate to fill his vacancy when he as-sumed the office of governor; Lisa Murkowski then won election in the 2004 Senate race, with 48.6% of the vote to Democrat Tony Knowles 45.6%.

In 2004, Alaska's incumbent US Representative, Republican Don Young, was reelected with 71% of the vote. In presidential elections since 1968, Alaskans have voted Republican 10 consecutive times. Alaskans reelected incumbent Republican George W. Bush with 61.8% of the vote in 2004 (an increase from 59% in 2000) to Democrat John Kerry's 35.0%. The state had three electoral votes in the 2004 presidential election. Alaska's state legislature in 2005 consisted of 8 Democrats and 11 Republicans in the Senate, and 14 Democrats and 26 Republicans in the House. Twelve women held statewide elected office in 2003.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Alaska has 12 borough governments, which function much in the same way that county governments do in other states. Each borough has its own administrative assembly. There are also four consolidated city-borough governments: Anchorage, Juneau, Sitka, and Yakutat. Alaska is divided into 149 municipalities, ranging from the geographically small Bristol Bay (519 sq mi or 1,344 sq km) to the expansive North Slope (87,860 sq mi or 227,557 sq mi). Most municipalities were governed by elected mayors and councils, and there are more than 100 village councils. There are 53 public school districts in Alaska. The state has 14 special districts. For census purposes, Alaska is divided into 27 county equivalents.

In 1971 land claims were settled, returning 44 million acres of federal land to Alaska's native population. Through the US Bureau of Indian Affairs, native communities receive varying levels of assistance including help in setting up villages in accordance with governing laws. In 2002, there were 12 Alaska Native Regional Corporations.

In 2005, local government accounted for about 27,167 full-time (or equivalent) employment positions.

STATE SERVICES

To address the continuing threat of terrorism and to work with the federal Department of Homeland Security, homeland security in Alaska operates under the authority of the governor and state statute; the adjutant general was designated as the state homeland security adviser.

By law, Alaska's government may contain no more than 20 administrative departments. As of 2006 departments in Alaska were: Administration; Commerce, Community, and Economic Development; Corrections; Education and Early Development; Environmental Conservation; Fish and Game; Health and Social Services; Labor and Workforce Development; Law; Military and Veterans Affairs; Natural Resources; Public Safety; Revenue; and Transportation and Public Facilities. In addition, the state has an ombudsman with limited powers to investigate citizen complaints against state agencies.

JUDICIAL SYSTEM

The Alaska Supreme Court, consists of a chief justice and four associate justices, and hears appeals for civil matters from the 15 superior courts, whose 40 judges are organized among the four state judicial districts, and for criminal matters from the three-member court of appeals. The superior court has original jurisdiction in all civil and criminal matters, and it hears appeals from the district court. The lowest court is the district court, of which there are 56 in four districts. All judges are appointed by the governor from nominations made by the Judicial Council, but are thereafter subject to voter approval. Supreme court justices serve terms of ten years, while court of appeals and superior court judges serve terms of eight years. District judges serve terms of four years.

As of 31 December 2004, a total of 4,554 prisoners were held in Alaska's state and federal prisons, an increase from 4,527 of 0.6% from the previous year. As of year-end 2004, a total of 397 inmates were female, up from 392 or 1.3% from the year before. Among sentenced prisoners (one year or more), Alaska had an incarceration rate of 398 per 100,000 population in 2004.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 2004 Alaska had a violent crime rate (murder/nonnegligent manslaughter; forcible rape; robbery; aggravated assault) of 634.5 reported incidents per 100,000 population, or a total of 4,159 reported incidents. Crimes against property (burglary; larceny/theft; and motor vehicle theft) in that same year totaled 22,172 reported incidents or 3,382.8 reported incidents per 100,000 people. Alaska does not have a death penalty.

In 2003, Alaska spent $207,159,311 on homeland security, an average of $296 per state resident.

ARMED FORCES

A huge buildup of military personnel occurred after World War II (1939–45), as the Cold War with the Soviet Union led the United States to establish the Distant Early Warning (DEW) System, Ballistic Missile Early Warning System, and Joint Surveillance System in the area. Later years saw a cutback in personnel, however, from a high of 40,214 in 1962 to 15,906 in 2002, 9,136 of them in the Air Force. Anchorage is the home of both the largest Army base, Fort Richardson (Anchorage), and the largest Air Force base, Elmendorf (Anchorage). These bases had the most active-duty military personnel and civilian personnel in the state, 7,140 and 1,133, respectively. In the Aleutians are several Navy facilities and the Shemya Air Force Base. In 2004, there were 21,002 active duty military personnel, 1,513 in the National Guard, and 3,527 civilian personnel. Alaska firms received defense contracts worth $1.2 billion in 2004. In that same year, the Defense Department payroll was about $1.2 billion, including retired military pay.

There were 67,299 veterans of US military service in Alaska as of 2003, of whom 3,475 served in World War II; 3,612 in the Korean conflict; 23,948 during the Vietnam era; and 15,678 during 1990–2000 (in the Gulf War). Expenditures on veterans amounted to $230 million in 2004.

The Alaska State Troopers provide police protection throughout the state, except in the larger cities, where municipal police forces have jurisdiction. As of 31 October 2004, the Alaska State Troopers employed 353 full-time sworn officers.

MIGRATION

The earliest immigrants to North America, more than 10,000 years ago, likely came to Alaska via a land bridge across what is now the Bering Strait. The Russian fur traders who arrived during the 1700s found Aleuts, Eskimos, and American Indians already established there. Despite more than a century of Russian sovereignty over the area, however, few Russians came, and those that did returned to the mother country with the purchase of Alaska by the United States in 1867. Virtually all other migration to Alaska has been from the continental US—first during the gold rush of the late 19th century and most recently during the oil boom of the 1970s. Between 1970 and 1983, Alaska's net gain from migration was 78,000, but Alaska suffered net losses in domestic migration of over 37,500 from 1985 to 1990, and 21,000 from 1990 and 1998.

Mobility is a way of life in Alaska. Urbanization increased with migration during the 1980s; the urban population increased from 64.5% of the total population in 1980 to 67.5% in 1990. In the 1990s, migration added 17,000 people to the state. In 1998, Alaska admitted 1,008 immigrants. Between 1995 and 1998, the population increased 2.1%. In the period 2000–05, net international migration was 5,800 and net internal migration was −4,619, for a net gain of 1,181 people.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL COOPERATION

Alaska participates with Washington, Oregon, and California in the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission. Alaska also belongs to other Western regional agreements covering energy, corrections, radioactive waste, and education. The most important federal-state effort, the Joint Federal-State Land Use Planning Commission, was involved with the Alaska lands controversy throughout the 1970s. The Interstate Oil and Gas Compact was enacted in 1980. In 1990, Alaska also joined the Western States/British Columbia Oil Spill Tax Force. Federal grants to Alaska amounted to $2.3 billion in fiscal year 2001; following a national trend, they declined markedly thereafter, to $1.634 billion in fiscal year 2005, an estimated $1.751 billion in fiscal year 2006, and an estimated $1.849 billion in fiscal year 2007.

ECONOMY

When Alaska gained statehood in 1959, its economy was almost totally dependent on the US government. Fisheries, limited mining (mostly gold and gravel), and some lumber production made up the balance. That all changed with development of the petroleum industry during the 1970s. Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline brought a massive infusion of money and people into the state. Construction, trade, and services boomed—only to decline when the pipeline was completed.

One area of growth in the 1980s and early 1990s was the Alaska groundfish industry. Commercial fishing is one of the bulwarks of the Alaska economy. The seafood industry had wholesale values of more than $3 billion in 1990, and Alaska's fishery accounts for 50% of the total annual US catch. The volume of Alaska ground-fish catches rose from 69 million lb (31.3 million kg) in 1980 to 4.8 billion lb (2.2 billion kg) in 1990. Employment in seafood harvesting grew from 45,000 in 1980 to 54,000 in 1991, although the boom has slowed somewhat since.

The tourism industry attracted over 1.1 million visitors in 2000, and contrary to national trends, continued to expand into 2002. The number of inbound cruise ship visitors, for example, increased 14% from summer 2001 to summer 2002. As of 2005, tourism had become the state's second-largest private-sector employer, gener-ating $640 million in payroll and 30,700 jobs. Overall, tourism brings in more than $1 billion annually to the state. Other important industries include timber, mining (including gold, coal, silver, and zinc), and agriculture. From 1997 to 2002, increased environmental regulations and foreign competition from, particularly, Chile and Norway contributed to a decline in employment in the traditional seafood-packing industry of more than 15%. On the other hand, employment in both state and local government and in the hotels and lodging industry increased by almost 15%. Employment in the oil and gas extraction sector increased by about 5% from 1997 to 2002, while employment with the federal government decreased almost 3%. In 2006, rising oil prices, reflecting political instability among suppliers such as Nigeria, Iraq, and possibly Iran, were expected to benefit the Alaskan economy.

In 2004, Alaska's gross state product (GSP) was $34.023 billion, of which the mining sector (including oil extraction) accounted for $7.328 billion or 21.5% of GSP, followed by real estate, rental and leasing at $3.209 billion, or 9% of GSP. The manufacturing sector contributed $725 million, or just over 2% of GSP in 2004. As in other states, small business plays an important role in the state's economy. In 2004, the state had an estimated 63,497 small businesses. Of the 16,975 firms that year with employees, 16,443 or 96.9% were considered small businesses. However, the creation of new businesses fell 24.3% from 2003 to 2004. Business terminations in 2004 totaled 2,650, up 5.7% from 2003, although business bankruptcies in 2004 fell 47.1% (to 64) that year. In 2005, Alaska had the lowest personal bankruptcy rate in the United States. The combined Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy rate in the state stood at 216 filings per 100,000 people.

INCOME

In 2005 Alaska had a gross state product (GSP) of $40 billion, which accounted for 0.3% of the nation's gross domestic product and placed the state at number 46 in highest GSP among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2004 Alaska had a per capita personal income (PCPI) of $34,000. This ranked 17th in the United States and was 103% of the national average of $33,050. The 1994–2004 average annual growth rate of PCPI was 3.1%. Alaska had a total personal income (TPI) of $22,363,425,000, which ranked 48th in the United States and reflected an increase of 4.4% from 2003. The 1994–2004 average annual growth rate of TPI was 4.0%. Earnings of persons employed in Alaska increased from $17,903,311,000 in 2003 to $19,099,127,000 in 2004, an increase of 6.7%. The 2003–04 national change was 6.3%.

The US Census Bureau reports that the three-year average median household income for 2002–04 in 2004 dollars was $54,627, compared to a national average of $44,473. During the same period an estimated 9.2% of the population was below the poverty line as compared to 12.4% nationwide.

LABOR

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in April 2006 the seasonally adjusted civilian labor force in Alaska numbered 342,300, with approximately 24,000 workers unemployed, yielding an unemployment rate of 7%, compared to the national average of 4.7% for the same period. Preliminary data for the same period placed nonfarm employment at 313,800. Since the beginning of the BLS data series in 1976, the highest unemployment rate recorded in Alaska was 11.5% in July 1986. The historical low was 5.9% in September 1999. Preliminary nonfarm employment data by occupation for April 2006 showed that approximately 6.1% of the labor force was employed in construction; 20.4% in trade, transportation, and public utilities; 4.7% in financial activities; 7.5% in professional and business services; 11.4% in education and health services; 9.9% in leisure and hospitality services; and 26% in government. Data for manufacturing was unavailable.

The US Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2005, a total of 63,000 of Alaska's 275,000 employed wage and salary workers were formal members of a union. This represented 22.8% of those so employed, up from 20.1% in 2004, above the national average of 12%. Overall in 2005, a total of 66,000 workers (24.1%) in Alaska were covered by a union or employee association contract, which includes those workers who reported no union affiliation. Alaska is one of 28 states that does not have a right-to-work law. It is also one out of only five states with a union membership rate of over 20%.

As of 1 March 2006, Alaska had a state-mandated minimum wage rate of $7.15 per hour. In 2004, women accounted for 46% of the employed civilian labor force.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is especially strong in the state, covering a range of workers from truck drivers to school administrators.

AGRICULTURE

A short but intense growing season provides good potential for Alaska commercial agriculture, although the expense of getting agricultural products to market is a limiting factor. International export opportunities are being developed. Alaska's 620 farms covered 900,000 acres (364,000 hectares) in 2004. Commodities including hay, potatoes, lettuce, cabbage, carrots, beef, pork, dairy products, and greenhouse and nursery items are commonly produced. In 2004, hay production was 28,000 tons, valued at $6,440,000; potatoes, 177,000 hundredweight (8 million kg), $3,469,000; and barley for grain, 145,000 tons, $500,000. The leading farming regions of Alaska are the Matanuska Valley, northeast of Anchorage, and Delta Junction, north of Fairbanks.

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

Dairy and livestock products account for about 55% of Alaska's agricultural receipts. In 2003, an estimated 16.7 million lb (7.6 million kg) of milk were produced. Milk cows numbered 1,300 in 2003. Meat and poultry production is negligible by national standards.

FISHING

In 2005 Alaska was the leading commercial fishing state in terms of volume and value. The total catch was over 5.3 billion lb (2.4 billion kg), valued at over $1.711 billion. Landings at the port of Dutch Harbor-Unalaska had the highest volume of all US domestic ports (886.4 million lb/402.9 million kg) and the second highest catch in terms of value ($155 million). The Kodiak port ranked fourth in the nation in volume (312.6 million lb/142 million kg) and fourth in value ($91 million).

According to 2004 figures, the salmon catch, the staple of the industry, amounted to 697.8 million lb (317.1 million kg), valued at $225.3 million and representing 94% of total US salmon landings. The distribution of Alaska salmon landings by species that year was pink, 43%; sockeye, 36%; chum, 14%; coho, 5%; and chinook, 2%. Landings of pollock amounted to 3.4 billion lb (1.5 billion kg), and the Pacific cod catch came to about 586.7 million lb (266.7 million kg). The Alaskan catch of sea herring (at 70.8 million lb/32.2 million kg) accounted for 94% of the Pacific coast catch. Alaska had the nation's third largest catch of dungeness crab, a major export item for the state.

As of 2003, Alaska had 306 processing and wholesale plants with an average of 8,077 employees. In 2002, the commercial fishing fleet had 14,035 boats and vessels.

Anglers are also attracted by Alaska's abundant stocks of salmon and trout. There were about 468,735 sport anglers licensed in Alaska in 2004.

FORESTRY

In 2004, Alaska's forested area was 127,380,000 acres (51,550,000 hectares), far more than any other state. However, the area of harvestable timberland was only 11,865,000 acres (4,801,000 hectares). Some 35,875,000 acres (14,519,000 hectares) of forestland were privately held in 2004. Alaska contains the nation's largest national forests, Tongass in the southeast (17.4 million acres—7 million hectares) and Chugach along the Gulf Coast (6.9 million acres—2.8 million hectares).

Timber companies harvest logs from the two national forests, with the majority from the Tongass National Forest. The timber is made available for harvest through a competitive bidding process. Timber removals in 2003 totaled 140 million cu ft.

MINING

Preliminary data from the US Geological Survey put the value of Alaska's nonfuel mineral production in 2004 at an estimated $1.32 billion, up about 22% over 2003 and up almost 2% from 2002 to 2003. Metallic minerals accounted for 94% of Alaska's total non-fuel mineral production in 2004, most of it the result of zinc, lead, and silver production at the Red Dog Mine in the northwestern part of the state and the Greens Creek Mine in southeastern Alaska (southwest of Juneau), and of gold production at the Fort Knox Mine near Fairbanks and the Greens Creek Mine. Overall, Alaska retained its 12th ranked position among the 50 states in total non-fuel mineral output, accounting for 3% of US production.

According to preliminary figures for 2004, Alaska produced 2.8 million metric tons of crushed stone, valued at $16.5 million, and 10.2 million metric tons of sand and gravel, valued at $58 million. Gold and silver production in 2002 (the latest year for which data was available) totaled 16,900 kg and 559,000 kg, respectively, and was valued at $170 million and $83.1 million, respectively.

Although reported placer gold production was limited, it did reflect an increase in output in 2004 of up to 873 kg. In 2003, reported production totaled 734 kg.

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) presents reclamation awards to mining firms for exemplary work in returning disturbed ground to useful condition as required by state law. In 2004, the award was given to two employees from Taiga Mining Co for work on Bear Creek and its Dry and Ida creek tributaries.

ENERGY AND POWER

As of 2003, Alaska had 73 electrical power service providers, of which 34 were publicly owned, 21 were investor owned and 18 were cooperatives. As of that same year, there were 290,842 retail customers. Of that total, over 207,630 received their power from cooperatives. Publicly owned service providers accounted for 56,553 customers, while investor owned providers had 26,659 customers.

Total net summer generating capability by the state's electric-generating plants in 2003 stood at 1.896 million kW, with total production that same year at 6.388 billion kWh. Of the total amount generated, 89.5% came from electric utilities, with the remainder coming from independent producers and combined heat and power service providers. The largest portion of all electric power generated, 3.354 billion kWh (52.9%), came from natural gas-fired plants, with hydroelectric plants in second place at 1.582 billion kWh (25%). Petroleum fueled plants accounted for 13.4% of all power produced, while coal accounted for 8.7%. Alaska had no nuclear power plants.

As of 2004, Alaska had proven crude oil reserves of 4,327 million barrels, or 20% of all US reserves, while output that same year averaged 908,000 barrels per day. Including federal offshore domains, Alaska that year ranked third (second excluding federal offshore) in reserves and in output among the 31 producing states. Alaska had 1,924 producing oil wells and accounted for 17% of all US production. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline runs 789 mi (1,270 km) from the North Slope oil fields to the port of Valdez on the southern coast. Most of Alaska's energy products are produced and refined locally. As of 2005, the state's six refineries had a combined crude distillation capacity of about 374,000 barrels per day.

In 2004, Alaska had 224 producing natural gas and gas condensate wells. In that same year, marketed gas production (all gas produced excluding gas used for repressuring, vented and flared, and nonhydrocarbon gases removed) totaled 471.899 billion cu ft (13.4 billion cu m). As of 31 December 2004, proven reserves of dry or consumer-grade natural gas totaled 8,407 billion cu ft (238.7 billion cu m).

Alaska in 2004, had only one producing coal mine, which was a surface operation. Coal production that same year totaled 1,512,000 short tons, up from 1,081,000 short tons in 2003. The state's sole coal mine was located at Healy.

INDUSTRY

Alaska's manufacturing sector is primarily centered on the manufacture of food products, particularly seafood, although there is some petroleum refining, apparel manufacturing, and lumber processing.

According to the US Census Bureau's Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM) for 2004, Alaska's manufacturing sector had a total shipment value of $50.680 million. Of that total, the manufacturing of food products accounted for $31.039 million.

In 2004, a total of 10,262 people in Alaska were employed in the state's manufacturing sector, according to the ASM. Of that total, 8,696 were actual production workers. In the food manufacturing industry that same year, there were 7,289 production workers, of which 6,486 were actually involved in the production process.

ASM data for 2004 showed that Alaska's manufacturing sector paid $351.542 million in wages. Of that amount, the food-manufacturing sector accounted for $207.230 million.

COMMERCE

According to the 2002 Census of Wholesale Trade, Alaska's wholesale trade sector had sales that year totaling $3.6 billion from 740 establishments. Wholesalers of durable goods accounted for 393 establishments, followed by nondurable goods wholesalers at 308 and electronic markets, agents, and brokers accounting for 39 establishments. Sales by durable goods wholesalers in 2002 totaled $1.6 billion, while wholesalers of nondurable goods saw sales of $1.7 billion. Electronic markets, agents, and brokers in the wholesale trade industry had sales of $181.7 million.

In the 2002 Census of Retail Trade, Alaska was listed as having 2,661 retail establishments with sales of $7.4 billion. The leading types of retail businesses by number of establishments were: miscellaneous store retailers (458); food and beverage stores (384); motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts dealers (302); clothing and clothing accessories stores (259); and sporting goods, hobby, book, and music stores (247). In terms of sales, general-merchandise stores accounted for the largest share of retail sales at $1.8 billion, followed by motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts dealers at $1.7 billion, and food and beverage stores at $1.2 billion. A total of 32,984 people were employed by the retail sector in Alaska that year.

During 2005, Alaskan exporters sold $3.5 billion of merchandise. Many of Alaska's resource products, including the salmon and crab catch, pass through the Seattle customs district. By federal law, Alaskan petroleum cannot be exported to other countries, a provision many Alaskans would like to see repealed. Around one-third of Alaska's manufactured goods were exported to other countries, with paper and food products being major items.

CONSUMER PROTECTION

Consumer protection in Alaska is the responsibility of the Consumer Protection Unit of the Department of Law, which falls under the Office of the Attorney General and provides consumers with information, investigates business and trade practices, and enforces statutes prohibiting unfair, false, misleading, or deceptive acts and practices.

When dealing with consumer protection issues, the state's Attorney General's Office can initiate civil and criminal proceedings; represent the state before state and federal regulatory agencies; administer consumer protection and education programs; handle formal consumer complaints; and exercise broad subpoena powers. In antitrust actions, the Attorney General's Office can act on behalf of those consumers who are incapable of acting on their own; initiate damage actions on behalf of the state in state or federal courts; and initiate criminal proceedings. However, the state's Attorney General cannot represent counties, cities, and other governmental entities in recovering civil damages under state or federal law.

The offices of the Consumer Protection Unit are located in Anchorage.

BANKING

As of June 2005, Alaska had seven insured banks, savings and loans, and saving banks, in addition to one state-chartered and eleven federally chartered credit unions (CUs). Excluding the CUs, Anchorage and Fairbanks each accounted for five and six financial institutions, respectively in 2004. Unlike other states, CUs play a major role in the state's financial industry. As of June 2005, CUs accounted for 49.3% of all assets held by all financial institutions in the state, or some $3.909 billion. Banks, savings and loans, and savings banks collectively accounted for the remaining $4.020 billion in assets held.

Alaska's state-chartered banks are under the regulatory authority of the Department of Community and Economic Development's Division of Banking, Securities, and Corporations, including the Denali State Bank and the Northrim Bank. As of 2003, approximately 18.72% of all bank assets in Alaska were held in state-chartered institutions. The state's federally chartered banks are under the regulatory authority of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

As of 2004, the state's median net interest margin (the difference between the lower rates offered to savers and the higher rates charged on loans) stood at 4.88%, up from 4.86% in 2003.

INSURANCE

In 2004, there were 178,000 individual life insurance policies in force, with a total value of $27.7 billion; total value for all categories of life insurance (individual, group, and credit) was $41.2 billion. The average coverage amount is $156,000 per policy holder. Death benefits paid that year totaled $80.5 million.

As of 2003, there were no life insurance companies based on Alaska, but seven property and casualty insurance companies were domiciled there. Direct premiums for property and casualty insurance amounted to $1.4 billion in 2004. That year, there were 2,429 flood insurance policies in force in the state, with a total value of $410.8 million.

In 2004, 52% of state residents held employment-based health insurance policies, 4% held individual policies, and 21% were covered under Medicare and Medicaid; 18% of residents were uninsured. In 2003, employee contributions for employment-based health coverage averaged are 11% for single coverage and 17% for family coverage, representing one of the lowest employee contribution rates in the country. Alaska does not offer extended health benefits in connection with the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA, 1986), a health insurance extension program for those who lose employment-based coverage due to termination or reduction of work hours.

In 2003, there were 375,498 auto insurance policies in effect for private passenger cars. Required minimum coverage includes bodily injury liability of up to $50,000 per individual and $100,000 for all persons injured, as well as property damage liability of $25,000. In 2003, the average expenditure per vehicle for insurance coverage was $937.32, which ranked as the tenth-highest average in the nation.

The insurance industry is regulated by the Department of Commerce and Economic Development's Division of Insurance.

SECURITIES

There are no securities exchanges in Alaska. In 2005, there were 260 securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents. In 2004, there were over six publicly traded companies within the state, with over three NASDAQ companies: Alaska Communications Systems Group, Inc.; General Communications, Inc.; and Northern Bank.

The Alaska Securities Act of 1959 serves as the foundation for the regulation of the sale of securities through a triple-tiered system of registration for brokers and dealers, as well as through antifraud provisions.

PUBLIC FINANCE

Alaska's annual budget is prepared by the Division of Budget and Management within the Office of the Governor, and is submitted by the governor to the legislature for amendment and approval. The fiscal year (FY) runs from 1 July through 30 June. Alaska's budget process is by and large timely, as is its financial reporting, with good audit results. The state depends on petroleum-based revenues. In 2006, general funds were estimated at nearly $3.9 billion for resources and $3.9 billion for expenditures. In 2004, federal government grants to Alaska were $3.2 billion. In 2007, federal funding for the construction of an Alaska Region Research Vessel for studying changes in the ocean around Alaska is provided, as well as more funding for the Indian Health Service and Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (PCSRF), for tribal efforts at habitat restoration, and funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Coastal Zone Management Program.

TAXATION

In 2005, Alaska collected $1,851 million in tax revenues or $2,787 per capita, which placed it eighth among the 50 states in per capita tax burden. The national average was $2,192 per capita. Property taxes accounted for 2.3% of the total; selective sales taxes, 10.3%; corporate income taxes, 31.8%; and other taxes 55.6%.

As of 1 January 2006, Alaska had no state income tax, a distinction it shared with Wyoming, Washington, Nevada, Florida, Texas, and South Dakota. The state taxes corporations at rates ranging from 1.0 to 9.4% depending on tax bracket.

In 2004, state and local property taxes amounted to $859,056,000, or $1,306 per capita. The per capita amount ranks the state 12th highest nationally. Local governments collected $811,688,000 of the total and the state government, $47,368,000.

Alaska does not tax retail sales. However, Alaskan cities and boroughs may levy local sales taxes from 1% to 6%. Food purchased for consumption off-premises is taxable. As of 2004, the tax on cigarettes is 160 cents per pack, which ranks seventh among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Alaska taxes gasoline at 8 cents per gallon. This is in addition to the 18.4 cents per gallon federal tax on gasoline.

According to the Tax Foundation, for every federal tax dollar sent to Washington in 2004, Alaska citizens received $1.87 in federal spending, which ranks the state second-highest nationally.

ECONOMIC POLICY

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA), a public corporation of the state, provides long-term financing for capital investments and loans for most commercial and industrial activities, including manufacturing, small business, tourism, mining, commercial fishing, and other enterprises. In 1985 its mission was extended to provide financing for infrastructural projects to support private enterprise in Alaska. In 2000, economic development projects included the Gateway Alaska project, which undertook reconstruction of the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and surrounding roads. Under the AIDEA's Conduit Revenue Bond Program, designed to facilitate access to the state bond market, Hope Community Resources in 2002 was able to borrow to expand its facilities for providing services for the developmentally disabled. In 1999, the Rural Development Initiative Fund, created in 1992 to help small businesses not eligible for traditional commercial finance, was transferred to the AIDEA. The AIDEA also has oversight over the Alaska Energy Authority which was created in 1976 and has responsibility for two major programs, the Alaska Rural Energy Plan and the Statewide Energy Plan. The rural population poses a challenge to economic development of the state, which the state government has begun to address by broadening the utilities infrastructure and by subsidizing energy costs. The Alaska Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF), created in 1988, has as its mission the improvement of the state economy through investments in science and technology. The state imposes no taxes on income, sales, gross receipts or inventories. It offers an investment tax credit for the development of gas-processing projects and for the mining of minerals and other natural deposits, except oil and gas.

In 2004, the Office of Economic Development (OED) was established. The OED facilitates economic development and employment opportunities, particularly in rural Alaska. The OED offers specialized assistance in the tourism, fisheries, and minerals development sectors.

HEALTH

The infant mortality rate in October 2005 was estimated at 5.8 per 1,000 live births. The birth rate in 2003 was 15.6 per 1,000 population. The abortion rate stood at 11.7 per 1,000 women in 2000. In 2003, about 79.8% of pregnant woman received prenatal care beginning in the first trimester. In 2004, approximately 75% of children received routine immunizations before the age of three.

The crude death rate in 2003 was 4.9 deaths per 1,000 population. As of 2002, the death rates for major causes of death (per 100,000 resident population) were: heart disease, 88.1; cancer, 111.1; cerebrovascular diseases, 24.5; chronic lower respiratory diseases, 22.1; and diabetes, 13.4. The death rates for heart disease and diabetes represent the lowest in the nation. However, Alaska has the second-highest suicide rate (after Wyoming), with 20.5 per 100,000 residents. The state also has one of the highest rates for accidental deaths at 53.7 per 100,000. The 2002 mortality rate from HIV infection was not available. In 2004, the reported AIDS case rate was 8.4 per 100,000 population. In 2002, about 59.5% of the population was considered overweight or obese, representing the fifth-highest percentage in the nation. As of 2004, about 24.7% of state residents were smokers.

In 2003, Alaska had 19 community hospitals, with about 1,500 beds. There were about 46,000 patient admissions that year and 1.4 million outpatient visits. The average daily inpatient census was about 800 patients. The average cost per day for hospital care was $1,952. Also in 2003, there were about 15 certified nursing facilities in the state, with 821 beds and an overall occupancy rate of about 76.8%. In 2004, it was estimated that about 69.6% of all state residents had received some type of dental care within the past year. Alaska had 217 physicians per 100,000 resident population in 2004 and 761 nurses per 100,000 in 2005. In 2004, there was a total of 490 dentists in the state.

About 21% of state residents were enrolled in Medicaid and Medicare programs in 2004. Approximately 18% of the state population was uninsured in 2004. In 2003, state health care expenditures totaled $1.2 million.

Alaska's Pioneer Homes, operated by the state's Department of Administration, are residential facilities for Alaskans over 65 (with at least one year of residency in the state) that offer five levels of care, from independent living to full medical care, including Alzheimer's disease units. As of 1997, a total of 600 residents were being served at six locations.

SOCIAL WELFARE

In 2004, about 46,000 people received unemployment benefits, with an average weekly unemployment benefit of $194. In fiscal year 2005, the estimated average monthly participation in the food stamp program included about 55,567 persons (20,224 households); the average monthly benefit was about $120.58 per person. That year, the total benefits paid through the state for the food stamp program totaled $80.4 million.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the system of federal welfare assistance that officially replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) in 1997, was reauthorized through the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. TANF is funded through federal block grants that are divided among the states based on an equation involving the number of recipients in each state. Alaska's TANF program is called the Alaska Temporary Assistance Program (ATAP). In 2004, the state program had 14,000 recipients; state and federal expenditures on this TANF program totaled $59 million in 2003.

In December 2004, Social Security benefits were paid to 63,440 Alaskans. This number included 37,150 retired workers, 5,260 widows and widowers, 9,380 disabled workers, 2,920 spouses, and 8,730 children. Social Security beneficiaries represented 9.6% of the total state population and 92.3% of the state's population age 65 and older. Retired workers received an average monthly payment of $920; widows and widowers, $840; disabled workers, $868; and spouses, $419. Payments for children of retired workers averaged $418 per month; children of deceased workers, $605; and children of disabled workers, $231. Federal Supplemental Security Income payments in December 2004 went to 10,781 Alaska residents, averaging $387 a month. About $4.3 million of state-administered supplemental payments was distributed to 14,980 residents.

In 1979, Alaska became the first state to withdraw its government workers from the Social Security system.

HOUSING

Despite the severe winters, housing designs in Alaska do not differ notably from those in other states. Builders do usually provide thicker insulation in walls and ceilings, but the high costs of construction have not encouraged more energy-efficient adaptation to the environment. In 1980, the state legislature passed several measures to encourage energy conservation in housing and in public buildings. In native villages, traditional dwellings like the half-buried huts of the Aleuts and others have long since given way to conventional, low-standard housing. In point of fact, Alaska's Eskimos never built snow houses, as did those of Canada; in the Eskimo language, the word igloo refers to any dwelling.

In 2004, there were an estimated 271,533 housing units, of which 228,358 were occupied. Alaska had the second-smallest housing stock in the nation, (above Wyoming). The same year, about 65.5% of all occupied units were owner-occupied. About 61% of all units were single-family, detached dwellings. It was estimated that about 5,542 units statewide were without telephone service, while 6,017 lacked complete plumbing facilities and 5,489 lacked complete kitchen facilities. The average household had 2.78 members.

From 1970 to 1978, 43,009 building permits were issued, as construction boomed during the years of pipeline building. In 2004, the state authorized 3,100 new privately owned housing units. The median home value was $179,304. The median monthly cost for mortgage owners was $1,421, while the median monthly rental cost was $808. In September 2005, the state was awarded grants of $150,000 from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for rural housing and economic development programs. For 2006, HUD allocated to the state over $2.5 million in community development block grants.

The Alaska State Housing Authority acts as an agent for federal and local governments in securing financial aid for construction and management of low-rent and moderate-cost homes.

EDUCATION

As of 2004, 90.2% of the population 25 years or older had completed high school. Some 25.5% had obtained a bachelor's degree or higher.

Enrollment in public schools was 134,000 in the fall of 2002. Of these, 94,000 attended schools from kindergarten through grade eight, and 40,000 attended high school. Approximately 58.9% of the students were white, 4.7% were black, 3.9% were Hispanic, 6.5% were Asian/Pacific Islander, and 26% were American Indian/Alaskan Native. Total enrollment was estimated at 134,000 in fall 2003 and expected to be 145,000 by fall 2014, a 7.7% increase during the period 2002–14. There were 6,177 students enrolled in 75 private schools in fall 2003. Expenditures for public education in 2003/04 were estimated at $1.6 billion or $10,114 per student, the eighth-highest among the 50 states. Since 1969, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has tested public school students nationwide. The resulting report, The Nation's Report Card, stated that in 2005, eighth graders in Alaska scored 279 out of 500 in mathematics, compared with the national average of 278.

The University of Alaska is the state's leading higher-educational institution. The main campus, established in 1917, is at Fairbanks; satellite campuses are located in Anchorage and Juneau. Private institutions include Sheldon Jackson College, Alaska Bible College (a theological seminary), and Alaska Pacific University. The University of Alaska's Rural Education Division has a network of education centers. As of fall 2002, there were 29,546 students enrolled in college or graduate school; minority students comprised 24.3% of total postsecondary enrollment. As of 2005, Alaska had eight degree-granting institutions.

ARTS

The Alaska Council on the Arts (ASCA), founded in 1966, sponsors tours by performing artists, supports artists' residencies in the schools, aids local arts projects, and purchases the works of living Alaskans for display in state buildings. In 2005, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded seven grants totaling $1,077,348 to Alaska organizations. In 2005, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded 11 grants totaling $698,500 to Alaska arts organizations. Alaska is also a member state of the regional Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF).

Symphony orchestras are located in Fairbanks, Juneau, and Anchorage. The Anchorage Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1945. Anchorage also has a civic opera, incorporated in 1962. The annual Alaska Folk Festival in Juneau (est. 1975) held its 32nd festival in 2006. It is one of the largest cultural/musical festivals in the state, drawing over 10,000 people each year by providing such activities as folk music performances, dance workshops, and family concerts.

LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS

For the fiscal year ending in June 2001, Alaska had 86 public library systems, with a total of 103 libraries, of which 17 were branches. The public systems had a combined book and serial publications stock of 2,264,000 volumes and a total circulation of 3,628,000 that same year. The system also had 87,000 audio and 101,000 video items, 3,000 electronic format items (CD-ROMs, magnetic tapes, and disks), and two bookmobiles. Facilities were located in seven boroughs and in most larger towns. Anchorage had the largest public library system, with five branches and 554,686 volumes in 1998. Also notable are the State Library in Juneau and the library of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks (with 954,510 and 60,000 volumes, respectively). Total operating income for the public library system in 2001 was $23,681,000; including $787,000 in state grants.

Alaska had 44 museums in 2000. The Alaska State Museum in Juneau offers an impressive collection of native crafts and Alaskan artifacts. Sitka National Historical Park features Indian and Russian items, and the nearby Museum of Sheldon Jackson College holds important native collections. Noteworthy historical and archaeological sites include the Totem Heritage Center in Ketchikan. Anchorage has the Anchorage Museum of History and Art and the Alaska Zoo.

COMMUNICATIONS

Considering the vast distances traveled and the number of small, scattered communities, the US mail is a bargain for Alaskans. In 2004, 95.6% of the state's residences had telephones. In addition, by June of that same year there were 307,323 mobile wireless telephone subscribers. In 2003, 72.7% of Alaska households had a computer and 67.6% had Internet access. By June 2005, there were 95,763 high-speed lines in Alaska (80,556 residential and 5,207 for business). A total of 13,558 Internet domain names had been registered in Alaska as of 2000.

There were 41 major radio stations (13 AM, 28 FM) in 2005, along with 15 television stations. Prime Cable of Alaska is the state's major cable carrier.

PRESS

Alaska's most widely read newspaper, among its seven dailies and five Sunday papers, is the Anchorage Daily News. Below are the leading newspapers with their circulations.

There are about 30 publishers in Alaska, including the University of Alaska Press, Denali Press, Alaska Geographic, Rainforest Publishers, and Inside Passage Press. Alaska Business Monthly, Alaska magazine, and Alaska Outdoors are popular statewide magazines.

In 2005, there were 18 weekly publications in Alaska, 11 paid weeklies, 2 free weeklies, and 5 combined weeklies. The total circulation of paid weeklies (45,634) and free weeklies (37,949) is 83,583.

ORGANIZATIONS

In 2006, there were over 1,030 nonprofit organizations registered within the state, of which about 708 were registered as charitable, educational, or religious organizations. The largest statewide organization, the Alaska Federation of Natives, with headquarters in Anchorage, represents the state's Eskimos, Aleuts, and American Indians. The Maniilaq Association, based in Kotzebue, is another tribal organization serving native Eskimos. Alutiiq Heritage Foundation is based in Kodiak. Ketchikan Indian Community is a social services organization for Alaskan natives.

The Alaska Oil and Gas Association is one of several local professional and business associations. Environmental groups include the Alaska Conservation Alliance, the Alaska Conservation Foundation, the Alaska Geographic Society, and the Alaska Wildlife Alliance. Arts and culture are represented in part by the Alaska Historical Society. The International Association for Spiritual Consciousness, which promotes such practices as meditation and yoga, is based in Anchorage.

TOURISM, TRAVEL, AND RECREATION

With thousands of miles of unspoiled scenery and hundreds of mountains and lakes, Alaska has vast tourist potential. In fact, tourism has become the second-largest private-sector employer in the state. Alaska's tourism industry is estimated at over $1 billion per year. The industry, directly and indirectly, generates an annual average of 23,000 jobs and $640 million in payroll (not including employment on cruise ships). In 2004, some 52,000 visitors came from overseas. Alaska had the highest rate of growth in travel and tourism, a rise of 4.3%.

The Far North region of Alaska is home to many native Inuit (Eskimo) groups. The city of Nome is home to the famous Iditarod Trail Seld Dog Race. The Southwest region (Kodiak) exhibits the Russian influence, as seen in its Orthodox churches. Popular cities visited by tourists are, Juneau, Fairbanks, Ketchican, and Skagway. Tourists can travel by rail to the interior regions. There are many popular gold-mining sites, nature preserves, historic towns dating from the days of the gold rush, and glaciers.

Cruise travel along the Gulf of Alaska is one of the fastest growing sectors in the tourist trade. Sportfishing and outdoor adventure opportunities have also become popular. Millions of visitors travel to the state's national parks, preserves, historical parks, and monuments, which totaled 52.9 million acres (21.7 million hectares) in 1999. Denali State Park is home to Mt. McKinley, the highest peak in North America. Another popular tourist destination is Glacier Bay National Monument.

SPORTS

There are no major professional sports teams in Alaska, but there is a minor league hockey team in Anchorage. In addition, college hockey teams, such as the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, are involved at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I level. Sports in Alaska generally revolve around the outdoors, including skiing, fishing, hiking, mountain biking, and camping. Perhaps the biggest sporting event in the state is the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, covering 1,159 mi (1,865 km) from Anchorage to Nome. The race is held in March, and both men and women compete. With a $50,000 purse, it is the most lucrative sled dog race in the world.

Other annual sporting events include the Great Alaska Shootout, in which college basketball teams from around the country compete in Anchorage in November, and the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics in Fairbanks in July.

FAMOUS ALASKANS

Alaskan's best-known federal officeholder was Ernest Gruening (b.New York, 1887–1974), a territorial governor from 1939 to 1953 and US senator from 1959 to 1969. Alaska's other original US senator was E. L. "Bob" Bartlett (1904–68). Walter Hickel (b.Kansas, 1919), the first Alaskan to serve in the US cabinet, left the governorship in 1969 to become secretary of the interior. Among historical figures, Vitus Bering (b.Denmark, 1680–1741), a seaman in Russian service who commanded the discovery expedition in 1741, and Aleksandr Baranov (b.Russia, 1746–1819), the first governor of Russian America, are outstanding. Secretary of State William H. Seward (b.New York, 1801–72), who was instrumental in the 1867 purchase of Alaska, ranks as the state's "founding father," although he never visited the region.

Sheldon Jackson (b.New York, 1834–1909), a Presbyterian missionary, introduced the reindeer to the region and founded Alaska's first college in Sitka. Carl Ben Eielson (1897–1929), a famed bush pilot, is a folk hero. Benny Benson (1913–72), born at Chignik, designed the state flag at the age of 13.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Borneman, Walter R. Alaska: Saga of a Bold Land. New York: HarperCollins, 2003.

Council of State Governments. The Book of the States, 2006 Edition. Lexington, Ky.: Council of State Governments, 2006.

Haycox, Stephen W., and Mary Childers Mangusso (eds.). An Alaska Anthology: Interpreting the Past. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1996.

Hedin, Robert, and Gary Holthaus (eds.). The Great Land: Reflections on Alaska. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1994.

Kizzia, Tom. The Wake of the Unseen Object: Among the Native Cultures of Bush Alaska. New York: Henry Holt, 1992.

McBeath, Gerald A. Alaska Politics and Government. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994.

O'Neill, Daniel T. A Land Gone Lonesome: An Inland Voyage along the Yukon River. New York: Counterpoint, 2006.

Ripley, Kate. Best Places Alaska. 3rd ed. Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 2003.

Ryan, Alan (ed.). The Reader's Companion to Alaska. San Diego, Calif.: Harcourt Brace, 1997.

Salisbury, Gay. The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race against an Epidemic. New York: W.W. Norton, 2003.

US Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, US Census Bureau. Alaska, 2000. Summary Social, Economic, and Housing Characteristics: 2000 Census of Population and Housing. Washington, D.C.: US Government Printing Office, 2003.

Alaska

1 Location and Size

2 Topography

3 Climate

4 Plants and Animals

5 Environmental Protection

6 Population

7 Ethnic Groups

8 Languages

9 Religions

10 Transportation

11 History

12 State Government

13 Political Parties

14 Local Government

15 Judicial System

16 Migration

17 Economy

18 Income

19 Industry

20 Labor

21 Agriculture

22 Domesticated Animals

23 Fishing

24 Forestry

25 Mining

26 Energy and Power

27 Commerce

28 Public Finance

29 Taxation

30 Health

31 Housing

32 Education

33 Arts

34 Libraries and Museums

35 Communications

36 Press

37 Tourism, Travel & Recreation

38 Sports

39 Famous Alaskans

40 Bibliography

State of Alaska

ORIGIN OF STATE NAME: From the Aleut word “alyeska,” meaning “great land.”

NICKNAME : Land of the Midnight Sun; The Last Frontier.

CAPITAL: Juneau.

ENTERED UNION: 3 January 1959 (49th).

OFFICIAL SEAL: In the inner circle symbols of mining, agriculture, and commerce are depicted against a background of mountains and the northern lights. In the outer circle are a fur seal, a salmon, and the words “The Seal of the State of Alaska.”

FLAG: On a blue field, eight gold stars form the Big Dipper and the North Star.

MOTTO: North to the Future.

SONG: “Alaska’s Flag.”

FLOWER: Wild forget-me-not.

TREE: Sitka spruce.

BIRD: Willow ptarmigan.

FISH: King salmon.

GEM: Jade.

MINERAL: Gold.

SPORT: Dogteam racing (mushing).

LEGAL HOLIDAYS: New Year’s Day, 1 January; Martin Luther King Jr. Day, 3rd Monday in January; Presidents’ Day, 3rd Monday in February; Seward’s Day, last Monday in March; Memorial Day, last Monday in May; Independence Day, 4 July; Labor Day, 1st Monday in September; Alaska Day, 18 October; Veterans’ Day, 11 November; Thanksgiving Day, 4th Thursday in November; Christmas Day, 25 December.

TIME: 3 AM Alaska Standard Time, 2 AM Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time = noon GMT.

1 Location and Size

Situated at the northwest corner of the North American continent, Alaska is separated by Canadian territory from the conterminous 48 states. Alaska is the largest of the 50 states, with a total area of 591,004 square miles (1,530,699 square kilometers). Land takes up 570,833 square miles (1,478,456 square kilometers) and inland water 20,171 square miles (52,243 square kilometers). Alaska is more than twice the size of Texas, the next-largest state, and occupies 16% of the total US land area. The east-west extension is 2,261 miles (3,639 kilometers). The maximum north-south extension is 1,420 miles (2,285 kilometers).

Alaska is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean and Beaufort Sea; on the east by Canada’s Yukon Territory and province of British Columbia; on the south by the Gulf of Alaska, Pacific Ocean, and Bering Sea; and on the west by the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, Chukchi Sea, and Arctic Ocean.

Alaska’s many offshore islands include St. Lawrence, St. Matthew, Nunivak, and the Pribilof group in the Bering Sea; Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska; and the Aleutian Islands in the Pacific.

The total boundary length of Alaska is 8,187 miles (13,176 kilometers), including a general coastline of 6,640 miles (10,686 kilometers). The tidal shoreline extends 33,904 miles (54,563 kilometers). The northernmost point in the United States, Point Barrow, at 71°23′30″n, 156°28′30″w, lies within the state of Alaska, as does the westernmost point, Cape Wrangell on Attu Island in the Aleutians, at 52°55′30″n, 172°28′e. Little Diomede Island, belonging to Alaska, is less than 2 miles (3 kilometers) from Big Diomede Island, which belongs to Russia.

2 Topography

There are six distinct geographic regions of Alaska. In the southeast is a narrow coastal pan-handle region cut off from the main Alaskan landmass by the St. Elias Range. This region features numerous mountain peaks of 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) in elevation. The south-central region includes the Kenai Peninsula and Cook Inlet, a great arm of the Pacific. The southwestern region includes the Alaska Peninsula, filled with lightly wooded, rugged peaks, and the Aleutian islands, which are barren lands of volcanic origin. Western Alaska extends from Bristol Bay to the Seward Peninsula. This region includes the Yukon River (1,900 miles/3,058 kilometers) and the Kuskokwim River (680 miles/1,094 kilometers), which are the longest in the state. The

Alaska Population Profile

Population by Age Group

interior region of Alaska extends north of the Alaska Range and south of the Brooks Range. The Arctic region extends from Kotzebue, north of the Seward Peninsula, east to Canada.

The 11 highest mountains in the United States are located in Alaska, including the highest in North America, Mt. McKinley at 20,320 feet (6,194 meters). (Mt. McKinley is also known as Denali.) The state also includes half the world’s glaciers, the largest of which, Malaspina, covers more area than the entire state of Rhode Island. Ice fields cover 4% of the state. Alaska has more than three million lakes. The largest lake is Iliamna, occupying about 1,000 square miles (2,600 square kilometers).

3 Climate

Americans who called Alaska “Seward’s icebox” when it was first purchased from the Russians were unaware of the variety of climatic conditions within the state’s six topographic regions. The minimum daily winter temperatures in the Arctic region of the state and in the Brooks Range average -20°f (-29°c) and the ground at Point Barrow is frozen permanently to 1,330 feet (405 meters). However, the summer maximum daily temperatures in the Alaskan lowlands average above 60°f (16°c) and have been known to exceed 90°f (32°c). The southeastern region is moderate, ranging from a daily average of 30°f (-1°c) in January to 56°f (13°c) in July. The south-central zone has a similar summer range, but winters are somewhat harsher. The Aleutian

Alaska Population by Race

Census 2000 was the first national census in which the instructions to respondents said, “Mark one or more races.” This table shows the number of people who are of one, two, or three or more races. For those claiming two races, the number of people belonging to the various categories is listed. The U.S. government conducts a census of the population every ten years.

Islands have chilly, damp winters and rainy, foggy weather for most of the year. Western Alaska is also rainy and cool. The all-time high for the state was 100°f (38°c), recorded at Ft. Yukon on 27 June 1915. The lowest temperature in the state was registered as -79.8°f (-62°c) at Prospect Creek Camp, in the northwestern part of the state, on 23 January 1971. This was also the lowest temperature ever officially recorded in the United States.

Juneau receives an average of 55.2 inches (140 centimeters) of precipitation each year. The average annual snowfall in Juneau is 99 inches (251 centimeters).

4 Plants and Animals

Life zones in Alaska range from grasslands, mountains, and tundra to thick forests, in which Sitka spruce (the state tree), western hemlock, tamarack, white birch, and western red cedar predominate.

Mammals abound in the wilderness. Reindeer and elk inhabit coastal islands. Moose move within ranges they establish, but do not migrate seasonally or move in herds as do caribou. Kodiak, polar, black, and grizzly bears, Dall sheep, and an abundance of small mammals are also found. The sea otter and musk ox have been successfully reintroduced. Round Island, along the north shore of Bristol Bay, has the world’s

largest walrus rookery. North America’s largest population of bald eagles nests in Alaska, and whales migrate annually to the icy bays. Pristine lakes and streams are famous for trout and salmon fishing. In all, 386 species of birds, 430 fishes, 105 mammals, 7 amphibians, and 3 reptiles have been found in the state. As of April 2006, 12 species were listed as endangered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, including the Eskimo curlew, short-tailed albatross, leather-back sea turtle, Steller sea-lion, and bowhead, finback, and humpback whales. Numerous species considered endangered in the conterminous United States remain common in Alaska.

5 Environmental Protection

Alaska’s number one environmental health problem is the unsafe water and sanitation facilities in over 135 of Alaska’s communities—mostly Alaskan Native villages. The people of these communities must carry their water from streams or watering points to their homes and people must use “honey buckets” or privies for disposal of human waste.

In 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency’s database listed 86 hazardous waste sites, six of which were on the National Priorities List.

Oil development on the North Slope and in Cook Inlet, mining throughout the state, and timber harvesting largely in the southern regions continue to be areas of focus for environmental protection, as do winter violations of air quality standards for carbon monoxide in Anchorage and Fairbanks.

6 Population

In 2006, Alaska ranked 47th in United States with an estimated total of 670,053 residents. Less than 1% of Alaska’s total land area has developed settlement areas. In 2000, the population density was 1.2 persons per square mile (0.46 persons per square kilometer), making Alaska the nation’s most sparsely settled state. The Census Bureau projects a population of 732,544 people in 2015 and 820,881 by 2025.

In 2005, the median age was only 33.4 years (compared with the national median of 36.2). In 2005, about 29% of the population was under 18 years old and only 7% of all Alaskans were 65 years of age or older. Alaska is also one of the few states where men outnumber women; as of 2004, women accounted for 48.3% of Alaskan residents.

About half of Alaska’s residents live in the city of Anchorage, which had an estimated population of 275,043 in 2005. Fairbanks had an estimated 2005 population of 31,324.

7 Ethnic Groups

The population of Alaska includes the highest percentage of Native Americans that any other state. In 2005, Alaska Natives accounted for 14.2% of Alaska’s population. The primary subgroups of Native Americans are Athabaskan and Tlingit-Haida. There are also small numbers of Tsimshian. In 2000, there were about 45,919 Eskimos in the state and 11,941 Aleuts. These

Alaska Governors: 1959–2004

two groups live mostly in scattered villages to the north and northwest.

In 2000, the black population was 21,787. The Asian population, which totaled about 25,116, included 12,712 Filipinos, 1,414 Japanese, and 4,573 Koreans. Pacific Islanders numbered 3,309. About 25,852 residents were of Hispanic or Latino origin, with 13,334 of those claiming Mexican ancestry. Foreign-born persons numbered 37,170, or 5.9% of the population.

8 Languages

From the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian groups of lower Alaska, one of the only words to have influenced local language is hooch (from Tlingit hoochino). Other native words have escaped into general usage, notably the Inuit word mukluk and Aleut word parka. Native place-names abound: Skagway and Ketchikan (Tlingit), Kodiak and Katmai (Inuit), and Alaska and Akutan (Aleut).

As of 2000, 85.7% of the population five years old and older speaks only English in the home. Other major languages spoken in the home, and the number of people speaking them, include various Native American, Alaskan, and Aleut languages, 30,121; Spanish, 16,674; and Tagalog, 8,934.

9 Religions

The largest religious organization in the state is the Roman Catholic Church, which had 52,892 adherents in 2004. Southern Baptists constituted the largest Protestant denomination, with 22,959 adherents in 2000. The Orthodox Church in America—Territorial Dioceses had 20,000 adherents. Many Aleuts are Russian Orthodox. The Latter-day Saints (Mormons) had 27,600 adherents in 2006. Other major groups (with 2000 data) include: Assemblies of God, 11,638; Independent, Non-Charismatic Churches, 7,600; and Episcopalians, 6,693. There were about 3,525 Jews and 1,381 Muslims. About 65.7% of the population were not counted as members of any religious organization.

10 Transportation

Regular passenger and freight railroad service began in 1923, when the Alaska Railroad began operation. The Alaska Railroad links communities between Whittier, Seward, Anchorage, and Fairbanks. As of 2003, this railroad of 466 route miles (750 kilometers) was not connected to any other North American line.

The Alaska Highway, which extends 1,523 miles (2,451 kilometers) from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, to Fairbanks, is the only total road link with the rest of the United States. Instate roads are few and far between. In total, 14,107 miles (22,712 kilometers) of roads were in use in 2004, including more than 1,800 miles (2,896 kilometers) of roads in national parks and forests. During the same year, the state

Alaska Presidential Vote by Major Political Parties, 1960–2004

had 669,000 registered vehicles and 482,532 licensed drivers. The largest public transit system is in Anchorage.

The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) provides year-round scheduled ferry service to over 30 communities throughout southeast and southwest Alaska. This ferry system extends over 3,500 route miles (5,632 kilometers) and connects communities with each other, with regional centers, and with the continental road system.

Water transport in Alaska is dominated by Valdez. Kenai/Nikishka is the state’s second-largest freight-handling port and also has petroleum as its principal commodity. Anchorage is the state’s largest general cargo port.

Air travel is the primary means of intrastate transportation, with regional carriers serving remote communities. There were a total of 678 airports in the state in 2005, including three major international airports in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau. Anchorage International Airport (AIA) is a major refueling stop for international freight airplanes and is a freight hub for Federal Express and United Parcel Service.

11 History

At some time between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago, the ancestors of all of America’s aboriginal peoples trekked over a land bridge that connected northeastern Siberia with northwestern America. These early hunter-gatherers dispersed, eventually becoming three distinct groups: Aleut, Eskimo, and Indian.

Ages passed before overseas voyagers rediscovered Alaska. Separate Russian parties led by Aleksei Chirikov and Vitas Bering (who had sailed in 1728 through the strait that now bears his name) landed in Alaska in 1741. In 1784, the first permanent Russian settlement was established on Kodiak Island: 15 years later, the Russian American Company was granted a monopoly over the region. Its manager, Aleksandr Baranov, established Sitka as the company’s headquarters. In 1802, the Tlingit Indians captured Sitka but two years later lost the town and the war with the Russian colonizers. Increasingly, the imperial Russian government viewed the colonies as a drain on the treasury. In 1867, as a result of the persistence of Secretary of State William H. Seward, a devoted American expansionist, Russia agreed to sell its American territories to the United States for $7,200,000. From 1867 until the first Organic Act of 1884, which provided for a federally appointed governor, Alaska was administered first by the US Army, then by the US Customs Service.

The Gold Rush The pace of economic development quickened after the discovery of gold in 1880 at Juneau. But it was the major strike in Canada’s Klondike region in 1898 that sparked a mass stampede to the Yukon Valley and other regions of Alaska, including the Arctic.

Subsequent development of the fishing and timber industries increased Alaska’s prosperity and prospects, although the region suffered from a lack of transportation facilities. A significant achievement came in 1914 when construction started on the Alaska Railroad connecting Seward, a new town with an ice-free port, with Anchorage and Fairbanks. Congress granted territorial status to the region in 1912, and the first statehood bill was introduced in Congress four years later.

Mineral production declined sharply after 1914. Population declined too, and conditions remained depressed through the 1920s, although gold mining was helped by a rise in gold prices in 1934. World War II provided the next great economic impetus for Alaska; the Aleutian campaign following the Japanese invasion of the islands, though not as pivotal as the combat in other areas of the Pacific, did show American policymakers that Alaska’s geography was in itself an important resource.

Statehood The US government built the Alaska Highway and many other facilities, including docks, airfields, and an extension of the Alaska Railroad. Population soared as thousands of civilian workers and military personnel moved to the territory. The Alaska Statehood Act was adopted by Congress in June 1958 and ratified by Alaska voters that August. On 3 January 1959, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the proclamation that made Alaska the 49th state.

In 1971, the Native Claims Settlement Act provided an extensive grant to the state’s natives but also precipitated a long federal-state controversy over land allocations. A major oil field was discovered in 1968, and in 1974, over the opposition of many environmentalists, construction began on the 789-mile (1,270-kilometer) Trans-Alaska Pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez.

The state’s dependence on oil—82% of its revenue came from oil industry taxes and royalties—became a disadvantage when overproduction in the Middle East drove the price of oil down from $36 a barrel at the peak of Alaska’s oil boom in 1980–81 to $13.50 a barrel in 1988. In 1986, the state’s revenues had declined by two-thirds. Alaska lost 20,000 jobs between 1985 and 1989.

On 24 March 1989, the Exxon Valdez, a 987-foot oil tanker, hit a reef and ran aground. The tanker spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil. The oil eventually contaminated 1,285 miles of shoreline, fouling Prince William Sound and its wildlife sanctuary, the Gulf of Alaska, and the Alaska Peninsula. In the settlement of the largest environmental suit in US history brought by the state and federal governments, Exxon was fined $1.025 billion in civil and criminal penalties.

One issue of national debate has been whether or not to open the nearly 20-million acre (8.1 million hectare) Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to commercial development. Since the early 1990s, the US Senate had (until March 2006) continually voted to reject drilling in ANWR, but the US House of Representatives had voted in favor. With oil prices remaining high in the mid-2000s, the issue of opening the wildlife refuge to oil or gas drilling or other development remained hotly debated.

12 State Government

Under Alaska’s first and only constitution—adopted in 1956, effective since the time of statehood, and amended 29 times by January 2005—the house of representatives consists of 40 members elected for two-year terms; the senate has 20 members elected for staggered four-year terms. The minimum age is 21 for a representative, 25 for a senator; legislators must have resided in the state for at least three years before election and in the district at least one year.

Alaska’s executive branch, modeled after New Jersey’s, features a strong governor who appoints all cabinet officers (except the commissioner of education) and judges subject to legislative confirmation. The lieutenant governor is the only other elected executive. The governor must be at least 30 years of age and must have been a US citizen for seven years and an Alaska resident for seven years. The term of office is four years, and the governor is limited to two consecutive terms. The qualifications for the lieutenant governor are the same as for the governor. As of December 2004, the governor’s salary was $85,766.

After a bill has been passed by the legislature, it becomes law if it is: signed by the governor; left unsigned for 15 days (Sundays excluded) while the legislature is in session or for 20 days after it has adjourned; or passed by a two-thirds vote of the combined houses over a gubernatorial veto (to override a veto of an appropriations bill requires a three-fourths vote). Constitutional amendments require a two-thirds vote of the legislature and ratification by the electorate.

13 Political Parties

As of 2004, of 472,000 registered voters, approximately 16% were Democrats, while 25% were Republican, and 59% were unaffiliated or members of other parties. In presidential elections since 1968, Alaskans have voted Republican 10 consecutive times. Alaskans reelected incumbent Republican George W. Bush with 61.8% of the vote in 2004 (an increase from 59% in 2000) to Democrat John Kerry’s 35.0%.

Both US Senators and its sole US Representative are Republicans. Alaska’s state legislature consisted of 9 Democrats and 11 Republicans in the state senate, and 17 Democrats and 23 Republicans in the state house following the 2006 elections. Republican Sarah Palin won the 2006 Alaska governor’s race, with 49% of the vote. There were 11 women serving in Alaska’s legislature following the 2006 elections, or 18.3%.

14 Local Government

Alaska is divided into 149 cities, most of them governed by elected mayors and village councils. In 2005, there were 12 counties in the state, and 53 public school systems. Forty-four million acres of federal land have been returned to native Alaskan tribes, operated under The Bureau of Indian Affairs. Juneau, Sitka, and Anchorage, Alaska’s three unified municipalities, have consolidated city and borough functions.

15 Judicial System

The supreme court, consisting of a chief justice and four associate justices, hears appeals for civil matters from the 15 superior courts, whose 40 judges are organized among the four state judicial districts, and for criminal matters from the three-member court of appeals. The superior court has original jurisdiction in all civil and criminal matters, and it hears appeals from the district court. The lowest court is the district court, of which there are 56 in four districts.

All judges are appointed by the governor from nominations made by the Judicial Council, but are thereafter subject to voter approval; supreme court justices serve terms of 10 years; court of appeals and superior court judges, eight years; and district judges, four years. In 2004, the violent crime rate was 634.5 crimes per 100,000 population; crimes against property in that same year totaled 3,382.8 incidents per 100,000 people. Alaska has no capital punishment statute. There were 4,554 inmates in state and federal prisons as of 31 December 2004.

16 Migration

The earliest immigrants to North America, more than 10,000 years ago, likely came to Alaska via a land bridge across what is now the Bering Strait. The Russian fur traders who arrived during the 1700s found Aleuts, Eskimos, and Indians already established there. Despite more than a century of Russian sovereignty over the area, however, few Russians came, and those that did returned to the mother country with the purchase of Alaska by the United States in 1867.

Virtually all other migration to Alaska has been from the continental US—first during the gold rush of the late 19th century, and most recently during the oil boom of the 1970s.

Between 2000 and 2006, the population increased 6.9%.

17 Economy

When Alaska gained statehood in 1959, its economy was almost totally dependent on the US government. Fisheries, limited mining (mostly gold and gravel), and some lumber production made up the balance. That all changed with development of the petroleum industry during the 1970s. Construction of the Trans–Alaska Pipeline brought a massive infusion of money and people into the state. The collapse of oil prices in the mid-1980s hit Alaska hard. But by 1990, a recovery was underway. By 2000, oil revenues accounted for 85% of total state revenues. As of 2006, rising oil prices were expected to benefit the Alaskan economy.

Commercial fishing is one of the foundations of the Alaska economy. Alaska’s fishery accounts for 50% of the total annual US catch. Alaska groundfish catches are especially important.

The value of Alaska’s forest products grew substantially during the late 1980s and into the 1990s, but they began to drop after that, as the supply of timber shrank.

Tourism, attracting 1.1 million visitors in 2000, is the second largest primary employer in the state. Tourism brings in more than $1 billion to the state each year.

In 2005, Alaska had the lowest personal bankruptcy rate in the United States.

18 Income

In 2005, Alaska had a gross state product (GSP) of $40 billion. In 2004, Alaska has the 17th highest per capita (per person) income in the United States at $34,000. The median household income in 2004 was $54,627, compared to the national average of $44,473. For the period 2002–04, a total of 9.2% of all Alaskans were living below the federal poverty level, compared to 12.4% nationwide.

19 Industry

Alaska’s small but growing manufacturing sector is centered on petroleum refining and the processing of lumber and food products, especially seafood.

In 2004, a total of 10,262 people in Alaska were employed in the state’s manufacturing sector. Of that total, 8,696 were actual production workers. In the food manufacturing industry, there were 7,289 production workers, of which 6,486 were actually involved in the production process. In 2004, Alaska’s manufacturing sector paid $351.5 million in wages. Of that amount, the food-manufacturing sector accounted for $207.2 million.

20 Labor

In April 2006, the civilian labor force in Alaska numbered 342,300, with approximately 24,000 workers unemployed, yielding an unemployment rate of 7%, compared to the national average of 4.7% for the same period. It was estimated that as of April 2006, 6.1% of the labor force was employed in construction; 20.4% in trade, transportation, and public utilities; 4.7% in finance; 7.5% in professional and business services; 11.4% in education and health services; 9.9% in leisure and hospitality services; and 26% in government. Data for manufacturing was unavailable.

In 2005, 63,000 of Alaska’s 275,000 employed wage and salary workers were members of unions. This represented 22.8% of those so employed. The national average is 12%. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is especially strong in the state, covering a range of workers from truck drivers to school administrators.

21 Agriculture

A short but intense growing season provides good potential for the Alaskan commercial agriculture, although the expense of getting agricultural products to market is a limiting factor. International export opportunities are being developed. Alaska’s 620 farms covered 900,000 acres (364,000 hectares) in 2004. Hay, potatoes, lettuce, cabbage, carrots, beef, pork, dairy products, and greenhouse and nursery items are common commodities produced. In 2004, hay production was 28,000 tons, valued at$6.44 million. Other crops included potatoes, 177,000 hundredweight (8 million kilograms), and barley for grain, 145,000 tons. The leading farming regions of Alaska are the Matanuska Valley, northeast of Anchorage, and Delta Junction, north of Fairbanks.

22 Domesticated Animals

Dairy and livestock products account for about 55% of Alaska’s agricultural receipts. In 2003, an estimated 16.7 million pounds (7.6 million kilograms) of milk were produced. Milk cows numbered 1,300 in 2003. Meat and poultry production is negligible by national standards.

23 Fishing

In 2005, Alaska was the leading commercial fishing state in terms of volume and value. The total catch was over 5.3 billion pounds (2.4 billion kilograms) valued at over $1.7 billion dollars. Landings at the port of Dutch Harbor-Unalaska had the highest volume of all US domestic ports (886.4 million pounds/402.9 million kilograms) and the second highest catch in terms of value ($155 million). The Kodiak port ranked fourth in the nation in volume (312.6 million pounds/142 million kilograms) and fourth in value ($91 million).

According to 2004 figures, the salmon catch amounted to 697.8 million pounds (317.1 million kilograms), valued at $225.3 million and representing 94% of total US salmon landings. Landings of pollock and the pacific cod are also significant. The Alaskan catch of sea herring accounted for 94% of the Pacific coast catch. Alaska had the third largest catch of dungeness crab in the nation, a major export item for the state.

As of 2003, Alaska had 306 processing and wholesale plants with an average of about 8,077 employees. In 2002, the commercial fishing fleet had 14,035 boats and vessels.

Anglers are also attracted by Alaska’s abundant stocks of salmon and trout. There were about 468,735 sport anglers licensed in Alaska in 2004.

24 Forestry

In 2004, Alaska’s forested area was 127,380,000 acres (51,550,000 hectares), far more than any other state. However, the area of harvestable timberland was only 11,865,000 acres (4,801,000 hectares). Some 35,875,000 acres (14,519,000 hectares) of forestland were privately held in 2004. Alaska contains the nation’s largest national forests, Tongass in the southeast (17.4 million acres/7 million hectares) and Chugach along the Gulf Coast (6.9 million acres/2.8 million hectares).

Timber companies harvest logs from the two national forests with the majority from the Tongass National Forest. The timber is made available for harvest through a competitive bidding process.

25 Mining

The US Geological Survey estimated the 2004 value for Alaska nonfuel mineral production at $1.32 billion. Metallic minerals accounted for 94% of Alaska’s total nonfuel mineral production in 2004, including zinc, lead, and silver produced at the Red Dog Mine in the northwestern part of the state and gold produced at Fort Knox Mine near Fairbanks. Red Dog is among the largest producers of zinc in the world.

According to preliminary figures, in 2004 Alaska produced 2.8 million metric tons of crushed stone, and 10.2 million metric tons of sand and gravel. In 2002 (the latest year for which data was available) gold production totaled 37,258 pounds (16,900 kilograms) and silver production totaled 1,232,384 pounds (559,000 kilograms).

26 Energy and Power

As of 2004, the Alaskan production of crude oil was 17% of the nation’s total. At 908,000 barrels per day, the state was second only to Texas in the amount of crude oil produced. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline runs 789 miles (1,270 kilometers) from the North Slope oil fields to the port of Valdez on the southern coast. Most of Alaska’s energy products are produced and refined locally. The state’s six refineries had a combined crude distillation capacity of 374,000 barrels per day in 2005. Proven reserves as of 2004 totaled 4.33 billion barrels, or 20% of all US reserves.

Marketed natural gas production in 2004 was 471.9 billion cubic feet (13.4 billion cubic meters). As of 31 December 2004, proven reserves were 8.4 trillion cubic feet (238.7 billion cubic meters). Total electric power production (utility and nonutility) was 6.39 billion kilowatt hours in 2003. The total installed capacity was 1.89 million kilowatts. Almost all generating facilities were government owned. Alaska has no nuclear power plants. Production of coal in 2004 was 1,512,000 tons, from a single mine at Healy. In 2000, Alaska ranked first among the states in per capita energy consumption, with a total of 944 million Btu (237.9 million kilocalories).

27 Commerce

Sales from wholesale trade in 2002 amounted to $3.6 billion and retail sales totaled $7.4 billion that year. Most retail sales were in the Anchorage metropolitan area. The leading types of retail businesses by number of establishments were: miscellaneous store retailers (458); food and beverage stores (384); motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts dealers (302); clothing and clothing accessories stores (259); and sporting goods, hobby, book, and music stores (247). In terms of sales, general-merchandise stores accounted for the largest share of retail sales at $1.8 billion, followed by motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts dealers at $1.7 billion, and food and beverage stores at $1.2 billion.

Exports of goods made in Alaska came to nearly $3.5 billion in 2005. One-third of Alaska’s manufactured goods are exported to other countries, the highest ratio of all the states, with paper and food products the leading items. Alaska is the leading fish-exporting state and the largest exporter of salmon. By federal law, Alaskan petroleum cannot be exported to foreign countries.

28 Public Finance

Alaska’s annual budget is prepared by the Division of Budget and Management, within the Office of the Governor, and submitted by the governor to the legislature for amendment and approval. The fiscal year runs from 1 July through 30 June.

In 2004, Alaska’s total revenues amounted to more than $8.8 billion, and total expenditures amounted to about $8.09 billion. The largest general expenditures were for education ($1.7 billion), public welfare ($1.47 billion), and highways ($828 million). As of 2004, the outstanding debt of Alaska was over $5.7 billion. At about $8,708 per capita (per person), Alaska’s ratio of state government debt per person was one of the highest in the nation.

29 Taxation

The huge sums generated by the sale of oil leases and by oil and gas royalties make Alaska’s tax structure highly unusual. There are no state sales or personal income taxes, but some localities impose a sales tax, as well as a property tax. The corporate tax rate in 2005 ranged from 1% to 9.4% depending on the tax bracket.

Selective sales taxes (excises) are imposed on tobacco products, motor fuels, insurance premiums, alcoholic beverages, public utilities and amusements. Other taxes include various license and franchise fees, but there is no fee for vehicle operating licenses. Each Alaskan resident also receives a dividend from the state’s oil earnings. In 1999, the dividend was $1,770.

In 2004, Alaska citizens received $1.87 in federal spending, which ranked the state second-highest nationally.

30 Health

In 2005, Alaska’s infant mortality rate was 5.8 per 1,000 live births. Alaska’s death rate was 4.9 deaths per 1,000 population in 2003. The death rate from accidents (53.7 per 100,000) was one of the highest in the United States. The suicide rate in Alaska is the second-highest in the country, after Wyoming, with 20.5 per 100,000 residents. The commercial fishing industry has one of the highest occupational fatality rates in Alaska. During the early 1990s the annual occupational fatality rate for the fishing industry was 200 per 100,000 workers. The fatality rate for the shellfish industry was 530 per 100,000 in that period. The other major causes of death in 2002 were heart disease, cancer, cerebrovascular diseases, chronic lower respiratory diseases, and diabetes. The death rates for heart disease and diabetes represent the lowest in the nation.

Among Alaskan adults age 18 and older, 24.7% were smokers in 2004. The reported AIDS case rate in 2004 was 8.4 per 100,000 people.

In 2003, Alaska had 19 hospitals with about 1,500 beds. Alaska had 217 physicians per 100,000 population in 2004 and 761 nurses per 100,000 population in 2005. In 2004, there was a total of 490 dentists in the state.

In 2004, 18% of the Alaskan adult population was uninsured. Alaska’s Pioneer Homes, operated by the state’s Department of Administration, are residential facilities for Alaskans over 65 (with at least one year of residency in the state) that offer five levels of care from independent living to full medical care, including Alzheimer’s units.

31 Housing

Despite the severe winters, housing designs in Alaska do not differ notably from those in other states. Builders do usually provide thicker insulation in walls and ceilings, but the high costs of construction have not encouraged more energy-efficient adaptation to the environment. In native villages, traditional dwellings like the half-buried huts of the Aleuts have long since given way to conventional, low-standard housing. In point of fact, Alaska’s Eskimos never built snow houses, as did those of Canada. In the Eskimo language, the word igloo refers to any dwelling.

In 2004, there were an estimated 271,533 housing units, of which 228,358 were owner-occupied. About 61% of all units were single-family, detached dwellings. It was estimated that about 5,542 units statewide lacked telephone service while 6,017 lacked complete plumbing facilities and 5,489 lacked complete kitchen facilities.

In 2004, the state authorized 3,100 new privately owned housing units. The median home value was $179,304. The median monthly cost for mortgage owners was $1,421 while the median monthly rental cost was $808.

32 Education

As of 2004, 90.2% of the population over 25 years of age had completed high school. Some 25.5% had obtained a bachelor’s degree.

Total enrollment in public schools was 134,000 in the fall of 2002. Private school enrollment was 6,177 in fall 2003. Expenditures for public education in 2003/04 were estimated at $1.6 billion, or $10,114 per student, the eighth-highest among the 50 states.

As of 2005, Alaska had eight degree-granting institutions. The University of Alaska is the state’s leading higher-educational institution. The main campus, established in 1917, is at Fairbanks; satellite campuses are located in Anchorage and Juneau. Private institutions include Sheldon Jackson College, Alaska Bible College (a theological seminary), and Alaska Pacific University. The University of Alaska’s Rural Education Division has a network of education centers. As of fall 2002, there were 29,546 students enrolled in college or graduate school.

33 Arts

The Council on the Arts (founded in 1966) sponsors tours by performing artists, supports artists’ residencies in the schools, aids local arts projects, and purchases the works of living Alaskans for display in state buildings. In 2003, there were nearly 90,000 artists who contributed to Alaska’s art programs. Alaska is a member state of the regional Western States Arts Federation.

Fairbanks, Juneau, and Anchorage have symphony orchestras and Anchorage has a civic opera. The Alaska Repertory Theater tours the state. The annual Alaska Folk Festival in Juneau (est. 1975) is one of the largest cultural/musical festivals in the state, drawing over 10,000 people each year.

34 Libraries and Museums

Alaskan public libraries had an estimated combined book stock of 2,264,000 and a circulation of 3,628,000 in 2001; facilities are located in seven boroughs and in most larger towns. Anchorage had the largest public library system, with five branches and 554,686 volumes in 1998. Also notable are the State Library in Juneau and the library of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.

Alaska had 44 museums in 2000. The Alaska State Museum in Juneau offers an impressive collection of native crafts and Alaskan artifacts. Sitka National Historical Park features Indian and Russian items and the nearby Museum of Sheldon Jackson College holds important native collections. Noteworthy historical and archaeological sites include the Totem Heritage Center in Ketchikan. Anchorage has the Anchorage Museum of History and Art and the Alaska Zoo.

35 Communications

Considering the vast distances traveled and the number of small, scattered communities, the US mail is a bargain for Alaskans. In 2004, 95.6% of the state’s residences had telephones. In addition, by June of that year, there were 307,323 mobile telephone subscribers. There were 41 major radio stations in 2005, along with 15 television stations. Prime Cable of Alaska is the state’s major cable carrier. A total of 13,558 Internet domain names had been registered in Alaska by the year 2000. In 2003, 72.7% of Alaska households had a computer and 67.6% had Internet access.

36 Press

As of 2005, Alaska had seven daily newspapers and five Sunday newspapers. The leading paper in 2005 was the Anchorage Daily News, with a daily circulation of 76,231 and a Sunday circulation of 82,179. The Tundra Times, also published in Anchorage, is a statewide weekly devoted to native concerns. There are about 30 publishers in Alaska, including the University of Alaska Press, Denali Press, Alaska Geographic, Rainforest Publishers, and Inside Passage Press. Alaska Business Monthly, Alaska magazine, and Alaska Outdoors are popular statewide magazines.

37 Tourism, Travel & Recreation

With thousands of miles of unspoiled scenery and hundreds of mountains and lakes, Alaska has vast tourist potential. Alaska’s tourism industry is estimated at over $1 billion per year. In 2004, about 52,000 visitors came from overseas.

Cruise travel along the Gulf of Alaska is one of the fastest growing sectors in the tourist trade. Sportfishing and outdoor adventure opportunities have also become popular. Millions of visitors travel to the state’s national parks, preserves, historical parks, and monuments, which totaled 52.9 million acres (21.7 million hectares) in 1999. Denali State Park is home to Mt. McKinley, the highest peak in North America. One of the most popular tourist destinations is Glacier Bay National Monument.

38 Sports

There are no major league professional sports teams in Alaska, but there is a minor league hockey team in Anchorage. In addition, college hockey teams, such as University of Alaska-Fairbanks, are involved at the NCAA Division I level. Sports in Alaska generally revolve around the outdoors, including skiing, fishing, hiking, mountain biking, and camping. Perhaps the biggest sporting event in the state is the Iditarod

Trail Sled Dog Race, covering 1,159 miles (1,865 kilometers) from Anchorage to Nome. The race is held in March and both men and women compete. With a $50,000 purse, it is the most lucrative sled dog race in the world.

Other annual sporting events include the Great Alaska Shootout, in which college basketball teams from around the country compete in Anchorage in November, and the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics in Fairbanks in July.

39 Famous Alaskans

Alaskan’s best-known officeholder was Ernest Gruening (b.New York, 1887–1974), a territorial governor from 1939 to 1953 and US senator from 1959 to 1969. Outstanding historical figures include Vitus Bering (b.Denmark, 1680–1741), a seaman in Russian service who commanded the discovery expedition in 1741, and Aleksandr Baranov (b.Russia, 1746–1819), the first governor of Russian America. Secretary of State William H. Seward (b.New York, 1801–1872), who was instrumental in the 1867 purchase of Alaska, ranks as the state’s “founding father,” although he never visited the region. Sheldon Jackson (b.New York, 1834–1909), a Presbyterian missionary, introduced the reindeer to the region and founded Alaska’s first college in Sitka. Benny Benson (1913–1972), born at Chignik, designed the state flag at the age of 13.

40 Bibliography

BOOKS

Bristow, M. J. State Songs of America. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000.

Dubois, Muriel. Alaska Facts and Symbols. Rev. ed. Mankato, MN: Hilltop Books, 2003.

McNamara, Katharine. Narrow Road to the Deep North: A Journey into the Interior of Alaska. San Francisco, CA: Mercury House, 2001.

Murray, Julie. Alaska. Edina, MN: Abdo Publishing, 2006.

Stefoff, Rebecca. Alaska. 2nd ed. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2006.

Strudwick, Leslie. Alaska. Mankato, MN: Weigl, 2001.

Thomas, William. Alaska. Milwaukee, WI: Gareth Stevens, 2007.

WEB SITES

Alaska Travel Industry Association. Alaska. www.travelalaska.com/homepage.html (accessed March 1, 2007).

State of Alaska. Alaska Kids. www.state.ak.us/kids (accessed March 1, 2007).

Alaska

■ ALASKA BIBLE COLLEGE

Box 289
Glennallen, AK 99588-0289
Tel: (907)822-3201
Free: 800-478-7884
Fax: (907)822-5027
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.akbible.edu/

Description:

Independent nondenominational, 4-year, coed. Awards associate and bachelor's degrees. Founded 1966. Setting: 80-acre rural campus. Endowment: $45,000. Total enrollment: 48. Student-undergrad faculty ratio is 7:1. 13 applied, 92% were admitted. Full-time: 37 students, 19% women, 81% men. Part-time: 11 students, 64% women, 36% men. Students come from 18 states and territories, 62% from out-of-state, 2% Native American, 2% Hispanic, 2% black, 7% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 0% international, 30% 25 or older, 82% live on campus, 10% transferred in. Retention: 75% of full-time freshmen returned the following year. Academic area with the most degrees conferred: theology and religious vocations. Core. Calendar: semesters. Academic remediation for entering students, advanced placement, self-designed majors, double major, part-time degree program, internships.

Entrance Requirements:

Option: deferred admission. Required: essay, high school transcript, minimum 2.0 high school GPA, 2 recommendations, interview, SAT or ACT. Entrance: minimally difficult. Application deadline: 7/1. Notification: 7/15.

Costs Per Year:

Application fee: $35. Comprehensive fee: $10,700 includes full-time tuition ($5950) and college room and board ($4750). Part-time tuition: $260 per credit hour.

Collegiate Environment:

Orientation program. Major annual events: Christmas Banquet, Graduation Banquet, Winter Retreat. Student services: health clinic. Campus security: 24-hour emergency response devices. 45 undergraduates lived in college housing during 2003-04. Freshmen guaranteed college housing. On-campus residence required through sophomore year. Options: men-only, women-only housing available. Alaska Bible College Library Center with 29,888 books, 116 serials, and 341 audiovisual materials. Operations spending for 2004 fiscal year: $18,040. 10 computers available on campus for general student use. A campuswide network can be accessed. Staffed computer lab on campus.

Community Environment:

Glennallen is a rural community that has developed on the crossroads between Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Valdez. The original impetus for the community's growth was the construction of the Alcan Highway for communication during the war years. The climate of Glennallen area runs to extremes with the temperature falling to 50 degrees or more below zero for short periods in midwinter, and rising to 70 degrees or more above zero by the close of the school year in May. Sports such as hunting, fishing, hiking, rafting, and cross country skiing are common recreational activities.

■ ALASKA PACIFIC UNIVERSITY H-9

4101 University Dr.
Anchorage, AK 99508-4672
Tel: (907)561-1266
Free: 800-252-7528
Admissions: (907)564-8248
Fax: (907)564-8317
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.alaskapacific.edu/

Description:

Independent, comprehensive, coed. Awards associate, bachelor's, and master's degrees. Founded 1959. Setting: 170-acre suburban campus. Endowment: $32.5 million. Research spending for 2004 fiscal year: $55,440. Educational spending for 2005 fiscal year: $8735 per student. Total enrollment: 800. Faculty: 80 (40 full-time, 40 part-time). Student-undergrad faculty ratio is 8:1. 122 applied, 44% were admitted. 11% from top 10% of their high school class, 50% from top quarter, 68% from top half. Full-time: 336 students, 63% women, 38% men. Part-time: 244 students, 80% women, 20% men. Students come from 38 states and territories, 3 other countries, 31% from out-of-state, 16% Native American, 4% Hispanic, 6% black, 4% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 0.4% international, 55% 25 or older, 22% live on campus, 12% transferred in. Retention: 53% of full-time freshmen returned the following year. Academic areas with the most degrees conferred: parks and recreation; education; natural resources/environmental science. Core. Calendar: semesters. Academic remediation for entering students, services for LD students, advanced placement, accelerated degree program, self-designed majors, independent study, distance learning, double major, summer session for credit, part-time degree program, adult/continuing education programs, internships, graduate courses open to undergrads. Study abroad program.

Entrance Requirements:

Options: Peterson's Universal Application, electronic application, early decision, deferred admission, international baccalaureate accepted. Required: essay, high school transcript, minimum 2.5 high school GPA, 2 recommendations, SAT or ACT. Required for some: interview. Entrance: moderately difficult. Application deadlines: 2/1, 1/1 for early decision. Notification: 3/15, 1/15 for early decision.

Costs Per Year:

Application fee: $25. Comprehensive fee: $26,410 includes full-time tuition ($19,500), mandatory fees ($110), and college room and board ($6800). Part-time tuition: $812 per semester hour. Part-time mandatory fees: $55 per term.

Collegiate Environment:

Orientation program. Drama-theater group, choral group, student-run newspaper. Social organizations: 20 open to all. Most popular organizations: Environmental Club, Student Government Association, Psychology Club, Student Organization of Native Americans, Students for Free Enterprise. Major annual events: Earth Day Celebration, Christmas dance, Honors Assembly. Student services: personal-psychological counseling. Campus security: 24-hour emergency response devices, controlled dormitory access. 120 college housing spaces available; 92 were occupied in 2003-04. Freshmen guaranteed college housing. On-campus residence required in freshman year. Option: coed housing available. Consortium Library with 788,708 books, 591,624 microform titles, 3,434 serials, an OPAC, and a Web page. Operations spending for 2004 fiscal year: $95,000. 40 computers available on campus for general student use. A campuswide network can be accessed from student residence rooms. Staffed computer lab on campus.

Community Environment:

Alaska Pacific University is located in Anchorage, a modern, dynamic city with half the population of Alaska. To the west is Cook Inlet, named for the famous English explorer, while mountains rise to the south, east, and north, creating a mild climate. The drive south leads to the ski resort at Alyeska, the glacier at Portage and the famous fishing of the Kenai. To the north lie the Alaska Range and Mount McKinley. Anchorage is a young city on the move. Anchorage's per capita income is twice the national average. Anchorage is lively. Dog teams race down Fourth Avenue during the winter Fur Rendezvous while opera, symphony, theater and a steady stream of rock stars, dance troupes, and artists provide cultural events for every taste. Winters are moderated by the warm Japanese current while summers are blessed with a sun that never sets. Daily intercontinental flights link Anchorage to Hawaii, Tokyo, Beijing, Moscow, Stockholm, London, and New York.

■ CHARTER COLLEGE H-9

2221 East Northern Lights Blvd., Ste. 120
Anchorage, AK 99508-4140
Tel: (907)277-1000
Fax: (907)274-3342
Web Site: http://www.chartercollege.org/

Description:

Proprietary, primarily 2-year, coed. Awards certificates, transfer associate, terminal associate, and bachelor's degrees. Founded 1985. Setting: urban campus. Total enrollment: 416. Summer session for credit, part-time degree program, adult/continuing education programs, internships.

Entrance Requirements:

Open admission. Required: high school transcript, interview. Entrance: noncompetitive. Application deadline: Rolling. Notification: continuous.

Collegiate Environment:

Orientation program. Most popular organization: Student Support Committee. Major annual events: faculty/student/staff picnic, Quarterly Pizza Fest. Campus security: 24-hour emergency response devices. College housing not available. Charter College Library with 1,000 books, 50 serials, and a Web page. 85 computers available on campus for general student use. A campuswide network can be accessed. Staffed computer lab on campus.

■ ILISAGVIK COLLEGE A-7

UIC/Narl
Barrow, AK 99723
Tel: (907)852-3333
Admissions: (907)852-1820
Fax: (907)852-2729
Web Site: http://www.ilisagvik.cc/

Description:

State-supported, 2-year, coed. Awards certificates, diplomas, and transfer associate degrees. Founded 1995. Endowment: $155,880. Educational spending for 2005 fiscal year: $9868 per student. Total enrollment: 263. Student-undergrad faculty ratio is 10:1. 214 applied, 100% were admitted. Full-time: 49 students, 61% women, 39% men. Part-time: 214 students, 43% women, 57% men. 0% from out-of-state, 90% Native American, 1% Hispanic, 0.4% black, 3% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 0% international. Calendar: semesters.

Entrance Requirements:

Required: essay, high school transcript, minimum 2.0. high school GPA, ACT ASSET. Application deadline: 8/1.

Costs Per Year:

Application fee: $0. Area resident tuition: $1440 full-time, $60 per credit hour part-time. State resident tuition: $2880 full-time, $120 per credit hour part-time. Nonresident tuition: $2880 full-time, $120 per credit hour part-time. Mandatory fees: $100 full-time, $50 per term part-time. College room only: $4000.

Collegiate Environment:

Student services: women's center.

■ SHELDON JACKSON COLLEGE K-15

801 Lincoln St.
Sitka, AK 99835-7699
Tel: (907)747-5222
Free: 800-478-4556
Admissions: (907)747-5208
Fax: (907)747-5212
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.sj-alaska.edu/

Description:

Independent, 4-year, coed, affiliated with Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Awards associate and bachelor's degrees. Founded 1878. Setting: 320-acre small town campus. Endowment: $1.4 million. Educational spending for 2005 fiscal year: $7319 per student. Total enrollment: 274. 198 applied, 71% were admitted. Full-time: 135 students, 70% women, 30% men. Part-time: 139 students, 65% women, 35% men. Students come from 26 states and territories, 49% from out-of-state, 26% Native American, 5% Hispanic, 5% black, 0% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 0% international, 24% 25 or older, 80% live on campus, 8% transferred in. Retention: 60% of full-time freshmen returned the following year. Core. Calendar: semesters. Academic remediation for entering students, services for LD students, advanced placement, self-designed majors, independent study, double major, part-time degree program, co-op programs and internships. Study abroad program.

Entrance Requirements:

Open admission. Options: Peterson's Universal Application, Common Application, electronic application, deferred admission. Required: high school transcript. Recommended: essay, minimum 2.0 high school GPA. Entrance: noncompetitive. Application deadline: Rolling. Notification: continuous. Preference given to Alaska natives.

Costs Per Year:

Application fee: $25. Comprehensive fee: $18,500 includes full-time tuition ($10,600), mandatory fees ($600), and college room and board ($7300). College room only: $3700. Room and board charges vary according to board plan and housing facility. Part-time tuition: $355 per credit. Part-time mandatory fees: $355 per credit. Part-time tuition and fees vary according to course load and degree level.

Collegiate Environment:

Orientation program. Choral group. Social organizations: 5 open to all. Most popular organizations: Fly Fishing Club, basketball, American Sign Language, American Fisheries Society, Student Ethnic Association. Major annual events: Fall Talent Show, Founders' Day, Spring Expo. Student services: personal-psychological counseling. Campus security: 24-hour patrols, controlled dormitory access. 180 college housing spaces available; 72 were occupied in 2003-04. No special consideration for freshman housing applicants. On-campus residence required through sophomore year. Options: coed, men-only, women-only housing available. Stratton Library with 46,000 books, 3 microform titles, 150 serials, an OPAC, and a Web page. Operations spending for 2004 fiscal year: $104,181. 60 computers available on campus for general student use. A campuswide network can be accessed from student residence rooms and from off campus. Staffed computer lab on campus.

Community Environment:

Campus is located in Sitka on Baranof Island, Part of Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska. A mild marine climate keeps Sitka cool in summer and warm in the winter. Rainfall is slightly less than 100 inches per year. Sitka is Alaska's fifth largest city with a population of about 9,000 people. It supports a sizable business community including clothing stores, sporting goods, record stores, movie theater, convention center, museums, radio stations, local TV station, and a number of excellent restaurants. Access is by jet, plane, or ferry.

■ UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE H-9

3211 Providence Dr.
Anchorage, AK 99508-8060
Tel: (907)786-1800
Admissions: (907)786-1558
Fax: (907)786-4888
Web Site: http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/

Description:

State-supported, comprehensive, coed. Part of University of Alaska System. Awards associate, bachelor's, and master's degrees. Founded 1954. Setting: 428-acre urban campus. Endowment: $7.3 million. Research spending for 2004 fiscal year: $4.5 million. Total enrollment: 16,261. 2,564 applied, 81% were admitted. 12% from top 10% of their high school class, 32% from top quarter, 60% from top half. Full-time: 6,906 students, 58% women, 42% men. Part-time: 8,575 students, 64% women, 36% men. Students come from 50 states and territories, 41 other countries, 6% from out-of-state, 10% Native American, 4% Hispanic, 4% black, 6% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 2% international, 46% 25 or older, 6% live on campus, 3% transferred in. Core. Calendar: semesters. Academic remediation for entering students, ESL program, services for LD students, advanced placement, accelerated degree program, self-designed majors, honors program, independent study, distance learning, double major, summer session for credit, part-time degree program, adult/continuing education programs, co-op programs and internships, graduate courses open to undergrads. Off campus study at members of the National Student Exchange, Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, Western Undergraduate Exchange. Study abroad program. ROTC: Air Force.

Entrance Requirements:

Option: deferred admission. Required: minimum 2.0 high school GPA, SAT or ACT. Required for some: high school transcript. Entrance: noncompetitive. Application deadline: 7/1.

Costs Per Year:

Application fee: $40. State resident tuition: $2952 full-time, $116 per credit hour part-time. Nonresident tuition: $9048 full-time, $370 per credit hour part-time. Mandatory fees: $513 full-time. Full-time tuition and fees vary according to course level. Part-time tuition varies according to course level. College room and board: $7810. College room only: $4710. Room and board charges vary according to board plan and housing facility.

Collegiate Environment:

Orientation program. Drama-theater group, choral group, student-run newspaper, radio station. Social organizations: 80 open to all. Most popular organizations: Accounting Club, African-American Students Association, Association of Latin-American Spanish Students, Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, Student Nurses Association. Major annual events: UAA orientation programs, Great Alaska Shootout Basketball Tournament. Student services: health clinic, personal-psychological counseling, women's center. Campus security: 24-hour emergency response devices and patrols, student patrols, late night transport-escort service, controlled dormitory access. Option: coed housing available. Consortium Library with 894,080 books, 579,920 microform titles, 3,833 serials, and 9,006 audiovisual materials. 500 computers available on campus for general student use. A campuswide network can be accessed from student residence rooms and from off campus. Staffed computer lab on campus.

Community Environment:

Anchorage, population 250,000, is a friendly, modern progressive city and the largest in Alaska. Summertime temperatures range between 60 and 70 degrees. The winters are less severe in Anchorage than in many U.S. cities. Anchorage is the major stopover point for most international transpolar flights. Living costs are higher than in the continental U.S., with an average living cost (plus tuition) of approximately $11,000 to $14,000 per year. The city bustles with growth and activity; cultural interests are wide range and include a symphony orchestra, museums, a theater group and a dance company. Recreation facilities include theaters, golf courses, bowling alleys, swimming pools, public beaches, skating rinks, ball parks, and several excellent ski areas. Hunting and fishing are easily accessible. There are several hospitals within the city which is near Ft. Richardson Army Post and Elmendorf AFB.

■ UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE, KENAI PENINSULA COLLEGE I-9

34820 College Dr.
Soldotna, AK 99669-9798
Tel: (907)262-0300
Fax: (907)262-0322
Web Site: http://www.kpc.alaska.edu/

Description:

State-supported, 2-year, coed. Part of University of Alaska System. Awards certificates, transfer associate, and terminal associate degrees. Founded 1964. Setting: 360-acre rural campus. Endowment: $950,000. Educational spending for 2005 fiscal year: $4700 per student. Total enrollment: 1,923. 91 applied, 100% were admitted. 82% 25 or older. Core. Calendar: semesters. Academic remediation for entering students, ESL program, services for LD students, advanced placement, part-time degree program, adult/continuing education programs.

Entrance Requirements:

Open admission. Option: Common Application. Required: high school transcript. Required for some: interview. Placement: ACT ASSET required. Entrance: noncompetitive. Application deadline: Rolling.

Collegiate Environment:

Orientation program. Drama-theater group, student-run newspaper. Student services: personal-psychological counseling. Campus security: 24-hour emergency response devices. College housing not available. Kenai Peninsula College Library with 25,000 books and 95 serials. Operations spending for 2004 fiscal year: $130,200. 45 computers available on campus for general student use. A campuswide network can be accessed. Staffed computer lab on campus.

Community Environment:

Soldotna, population 15,760, is located on the coast and enjoys a cool climate during the spring and summer months. Public transportation in and out of Kenai is mainly by air and highway with some bus service available. The city has a library, museum, many churches, and a full-service hospital. Recreation includes hunting, fishing, boating, water sports, and clam digging. Annual Kenai days around the middle of July is a traditional event. Part-time employment is available.

■ UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE, KODIAK COLLEGE K-8

117 Benny Benson Dr.
Kodiak, AK 99615-6643
Tel: (907)486-4161
Admissions: (907)486-1235
Fax: (907)486-1257
Web Site: http://www.koc.alaska.edu/

Description:

State-supported, 2-year, coed. Part of University of Alaska System. Awards certificates, transfer associate, and terminal associate degrees. Founded 1968. Setting: 68-acre rural campus. Total enrollment: 786. 64 applied, 100% were admitted. 10% Native American, 4% Hispanic, 2% black, 6% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 0% international, 72% 25 or older. Core. Calendar: semesters. Academic remediation for entering students, advanced placement, double major, part-time degree program, adult/continuing education programs.

Entrance Requirements:

Open admission. Recommended: high school transcript. Placement: ACT ASSET required. Entrance: noncompetitive. Application deadline: Rolling.

Collegiate Environment:

College housing not available. Carolyn Floyd Library with 21,000 books, 30 microform titles, 39 serials, 2,400 audiovisual materials, an OPAC, and a Web page. 40 computers available on campus for general student use. A campuswide network can be accessed. Staffed computer lab on campus.

Community Environment:

Population 8,200. Kodiak, located in the Gulf of Alaska on Kodiak Island, was once a Russian settlement. It has always looked to the sea for its livelihood and in 1968 became the largest fishing port in dollar volume in the United States. Transportation to Kodiak is an interesting trip by automobile. The Alaska Marine Highway ferry, Tustumena, serves Kodiak regularly. There is direct flight service from Anchorage. The city of Kodiak is the largest town in the Kodiak Island group and is the oldest permanent settlement in Alaska. The city is situated on the northeastern corner of Kodiak Island nestled at the foot of the 1,400 foot Pillar Mountain, overlooking the island-studded harbor of St. Paul. This northerly section of the City of Kodiak was rebuilt following the Good Friday earthquake and tidal wave of 1964. The average temperature in January is 30 degrees and in August, 55 degrees. The annual rainfall is 60 inches spread throughout the year. A number of churches, and service organizations are found in the city.

■ UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE, MATANUSKA-SUSITNA COLLEGE A-14

PO Box 2889
Palmer, AK 99645-2889
Tel: (907)745-9774
Admissions: (907)745-9712
Fax: (907)745-9747
Web Site: http://www.matsu.alaska.edu/

Description:

State-supported, 2-year, coed. Part of University of Alaska System. Awards certificates, transfer associate, and terminal associate degrees. Founded 1958. Setting: 950-acre small town campus with easy access to Anchorage. Total enrollment: 1,326. Student-undergrad faculty ratio is 14:1. Full-time: 384 students, 57% women, 43% men. Part-time: 942 students, 73% women, 27% men. Students come from 51 states and territories, 18 other countries, 4% Native American, 3% Hispanic, 2% black, 1% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 0.2% international, 82% 25 or older. Retention: 67% of full-time freshmen returned the following year. Core. Calendar: semesters. Academic remediation for entering students, advanced placement, independent study, distance learning, double major, summer session for credit, part-time degree program, adult/continuing education programs, co-op programs and internships. Off campus study at Alaska Pacific University, University of Alaska Anchorage.

Entrance Requirements:

Open admission. Required: high school transcript. Entrance: noncompetitive. Application deadline: 11/1. Notification: 12/1.

Costs Per Year:

Application fee: $40. State resident tuition: $2880 full-time. Nonresident tuition: $9576 full-time. Mandatory fees: $250 full-time.

Collegiate Environment:

Orientation program. Choral group, student-run newspaper. Most popular organizations: student government, Math Club. Major annual events: Christmas Ball, Spring BBQ. Campus security: 24-hour patrols. College housing not available. Al Okeson Library with 50,000 books, 292 microform titles, 280 serials, 1,840 audiovisual materials, an OPAC, and a Web page. 207 computers available on campus for general student use. Computer purchase/lease plans available. from off-campusStaffed computer lab on campus.

Community Environment:

Population 47,000, Palmer is a rural town with subarctic climate. A branch of the Alaska Railroad and bus service to Anchorage serve this area. There are churches, a library, museum, hospital, and a health center in the town. Recreational activities include fishing, boating, ice skating and some swimming. There are good shopping facilities available. Palmer has the usual civic organizations found in most U.S. cities. The Alaska State Fair is the fourth weekend of August through Labor Day weekend each year.

■ UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS F-10

PO Box 757500
Fairbanks, AK 99775-7520
Tel: (907)474-7211
Free: 800-478-1823
Admissions: (907)474-7500
Fax: (907)474-5379
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.uaf.edu/

Description:

State-supported, university, coed. Part of University of Alaska System. Awards associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. Founded 1917. Setting: 2,250-acre small town campus. Research spending for 2004 fiscal year: $108.9 million. Educational spending for 2005 fiscal year: $10,462 per student. Total enrollment: 8,230. Faculty: 295 (288 full-time, 7 part-time). Student-undergrad faculty ratio is 16:1. 1,777 applied, 78% were admitted. 15% from top 10% of their high school class, 34% from top quarter, 61% from top half. Full-time: 3,462 students, 51% women, 49% men. Part-time: 3,674 students, 66% women, 34% men. Students come from 55 states and territories, 36 other countries, 13% from out-of-state, 19% Native American, 3% Hispanic, 3% black, 3% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 3% international, 35% 25 or older, 42% live on campus, 6% transferred in. Retention: 68% of full-time freshmen returned the following year. Academic areas with the most degrees conferred: engineering; business/marketing; biological/life sciences; communications/journalism. Core. Calendar: semesters. Academic remediation for entering students, ESL program, services for LD students, advanced placement, accelerated degree program, self-designed majors, honors program, independent study, distance learning, double major, summer session for credit, part-time degree program, external degree program, co-op programs and internships, graduate courses open to undergrads. Off campus study at National Student Exchange. Study abroad program. ROTC: Army.

Entrance Requirements:

Options: electronic application, early admission, deferred admission, international baccalaureate accepted. Required: high school transcript, minimum 2.0 high school GPA, SAT or ACT. Placement: SAT or ACT required. Entrance: minimally difficult. Application deadline: 8/1.

Costs Per Year:

Application fee: $40. State resident tuition: $3825 full-time, $128 per credit part-time. Nonresident tuition: $12,195 full-time, $407 per credit part-time. Mandatory fees: $693 full-time. College room and board: $5580. College room only: $2990.

Collegiate Environment:

Orientation program. Drama-theater group, choral group, student-run newspaper, radio station. Social organizations: 78 open to all; national fraternities, national sororities; 1% of eligible men and 1% of eligible women are members. Most popular organizations: United Campus Ministry, Northern Star Chinese Student Association, Golden Key National Honor Society, UAF Good Time Swing Dance Club, University Women's Association. Major annual events: Starvation Gulch, Melt Down, Winter Carnival. Student services: legal services, health clinic, personal-psychological counseling, women's center. Campus security: 24-hour emergency response devices and patrols, student patrols, late night transport-escort service, controlled dormitory access, ID check at door of residence halls, crime prevention and safety workshops. 1,580 college housing spaces available; 1,310 were occupied in 2003-04. Freshmen given priority for college housing. Option: coed housing available. Rasmuson Library plus 2 others with 616,456 books, 1.2 million microform titles, 1,457 serials, 8,377 audiovisual materials, an OPAC, and a Web page. Operations spending for 2004 fiscal year: $7.8 million. 56 computers available on campus for general student use. Computer purchase/lease plans available. A campuswide network can be accessed from student residence rooms and from off campus. Staffed computer lab on campus.

Community Environment:

The campus overlooks the Tanana Valley and the city of Fairbanks. Offering the amenities of larger communities, Fairbanks maintains the atmosphere of smaller, more personal towns. One hundred miles south is Denali National Park, home to North America's tallest mountain--Mt. McKinley. Closer lay the vast wilderness that makes up the Great Interior of Alaska. Adventure is unlimited here--hiking, biking, climbing, canoeing, skiing, dog mushing, and other recreational activities abound. Winters are cold, with an annual snowfall of 70 inches. Summers bring temperatures in the 80s and 24 hours of daylight, perfect weather for the activities Alaska has to offer.

■ UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA, PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND COMMUNITY COLLEGE H-10

PO Box 97
Valdez, AK 99686-0097
Tel: (907)834-1600
Admissions: (907)834-1632
Fax: (907)834-1661
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.pwscc.edu/

Description:

State-supported, 2-year, coed. Part of University of Alaska System. Awards certificates, diplomas, transfer associate, and terminal associate degrees. Founded 1978. Setting: small town campus. Endowment: $62,630. Research spending for 2004 fiscal year: $5000. Total enrollment: 2,308. 46 applied. Students come from 1 other country, 4% from out-of-state, 76% 25 or older, 2% live on campus. Core. Calendar: semesters. Academic remediation for entering students, ESL program, advanced placement, independent study, distance learning, double major, summer session for credit, adult/continuing education programs, co-op programs and internships.

Entrance Requirements:

Open admission. Option: early admission. Placement: ACT ASSET required. Entrance: noncompetitive. Application deadline: Rolling.

Collegiate Environment:

Student services: personal-psychological counseling. Campus security: student patrols, housing manager supervision. Option: coed housing available. Valdez Consortium Library with 40,870 books, 137 serials, an OPAC, and a Web page. Operations spending for 2004 fiscal year: $40,000. 25 computers available on campus for general student use. Staffed computer lab on campus.

■ UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA SOUTHEAST J-15

11120 Glacier Hwy.
Juneau, AK 99801
Tel: (907)796-6457; 877-796-4827
Admissions: (907)796-6294
Fax: (907)796-6365
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.uas.alaska.edu/

Description:

State-supported, comprehensive, coed. Part of University of Alaska System. Awards associate, bachelor's, and master's degrees. Founded 1972. Setting: 198-acre small town campus. Endowment: $3.3 million. Research spending for 2004 fiscal year: $892,900. Educational spending for 2005 fiscal year: $9339 per student. Total enrollment: 3,126. Faculty: 229 (101 full-time, 128 part-time). Student-undergrad faculty ratio is 12:1. 383 applied, 63% were admitted. 7% from top 10% of their high school class, 24% from top quarter, 51% from top half. Full-time: 866 students, 58% women, 42% men. Part-time: 2,048 students, 67% women, 33% men. Students come from 44 states and territories, 5 other countries, 16% from out-of-state, 18% Native American, 3% Hispanic, 1% black, 5% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 1% international, 47% 25 or older, 5% transferred in. Retention: 63% of full-time freshmen returned the following year. Academic areas with the most degrees conferred: business/marketing; liberal arts/general studies; biological/life sciences. Core. Calendar: semesters. Academic remediation for entering students, services for LD students, advanced placement, self-designed majors, independent study, distance learning, summer session for credit, part-time degree program, adult/continuing education programs, co-op programs and internships, graduate courses open to undergrads. Off campus study at National Student Exchange. Study abroad program.

Entrance Requirements:

Open admission. Options: Peterson's Universal Application, early admission, deferred admission. Required: high school transcript, minimum 2.0 high school GPA, SAT or ACT. Required for some: essay. Entrance: noncompetitive. Application deadline: Rolling.

Costs Per Year:

Application fee: $40. State resident tuition: $3060 full-time, $135 per credit hour part-time. Nonresident tuition: $9756 full-time, $414 per credit hour part-time. Mandatory fees: $796 full-time. College room and board: $6714. College room only: $4177.

Collegiate Environment:

Orientation program. Student-run newspaper. Most popular organization: Native Student Club. Major annual events: Orientation Week, Winterfest. Student services: health clinic, personal-psychological counseling. Campus security: 24-hour emergency response devices and patrols, late night transport-escort service, controlled dormitory access. 213 college housing spaces available; 18 were occupied in 2003-04. Freshmen given priority for college housing. Option: coed housing available. Egan Memorial Library plus 1 other with 176,312 books, 501,202 microform titles, 438 serials, 4,181 audiovisual materials, an OPAC, and a Web page. Operations spending for 2004 fiscal year: $1.6 million. 75 computers available on campus for general student use. A campuswide network can be accessed from student residence rooms and from off campus. Staffed computer lab on campus.

Community Environment:

Situated on the shores of scenic Auke Lake, with the famous Mendenhall Glacier in clear sight, the main campus is only a few miles from the heart of downtown Juneau, the capital of Alaska. Nestled between 4,000-foot snow-capped peaks on one side and the sparkling water of Gastineau Channel on the other, Juneau was the first Alaskan city founded after the American purchase of Alaska in 1867. The city is centrally located in the Tongass National Forest, the nation's largest. The combined city and borough encompass 3,108 square miles of land, ranging from tundra, to moss-draped forests, to wind-blown mountain peaks. Juneau's population is approximately 30,000 and provides numerous cultural, academic, and professional opportunities.

■ UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA SOUTHEAST, KETCHIKAN CAMPUS L-17

2600 7th Ave.
Ketchikan, AK 99901-5798
Tel: (907)225-6177
Admissions: (907)228-4508
Fax: (907)225-3624
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.ketch.alaska.edu/

Description:

State and locally supported, 2-year, coed. Part of University of Alaska System. Awards transfer associate and terminal associate degrees. Founded 1954. Setting: 51-acre small town campus. Endowment: $2.6 million. Research spending for 2004 fiscal year: $92,750. Educational spending for 2005 fiscal year: $2800 per student. Total enrollment: 692. Students come from 5 states and territories, 2 other countries, 46% 25 or older. Core. Calendar: semesters. Academic remediation for entering students, ESL program, services for LD students, self-designed majors, independent study, distance learning, part-time degree program, adult/continuing education programs, internships. Off campus study at University of Alaska Southeast, Sheldon Jackson College.

Entrance Requirements:

Open admission. Option: early admission. Required: high school transcript. Required for some: essay. Placement: SAT or ACT recommended; ACT ASSET required for some. Entrance: noncompetitive. Application deadline: Rolling.

Costs Per Year:

Application fee: $35. State resident tuition: $2784 full-time. Mandatory fees: $796 full-time. Full-time tuition and fees vary according to course level and course load. College room and board: $6714. College room only: $4177.

Collegiate Environment:

Orientation program. Most popular organization: student council. Student services: personal-psychological counseling. Campus security: 24-hour emergency response devices. Ketchikan Campus Library with 54,000 books, 175 serials, and an OPAC. Operations spending for 2004 fiscal year: $146,272. 40 computers available on campus for general student use. Staffed computer lab on campus.

Community Environment:

Population 14,000. Located on the Revillagigedo Island 600 miles northwest of Seattle; climate is very wet - 13 feet of rain per year. Airlines and water transportation serves the area. Extensive access to the Tongass National Forest and intercoastal waterways.

■ UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA SOUTHEAST, SITKA CAMPUS K-15

1332 Seward Ave.
Sitka, AK 99835-9418
Tel: (907)747-6653
Admissions: (907)747-7703
Fax: (907)747-7747
Web Site: http://www.uas.alaska.edu/

Description:

State-supported, 2-year, coed. Part of University of Alaska System. Awards certificates, diplomas, transfer associate, and terminal associate degrees. Founded 1962. Setting: small town campus. Total enrollment: 1,552. Students come from 10 states and territories, 2 other countries, 65% 25 or older. Core. Calendar: semesters. Academic remediation for entering students, ESL program, summer session for credit, part-time degree program, adult/continuing education programs, co-op programs and internships. Off campus study at Sheldon Jackson College, University of Alaska Southeast.

Entrance Requirements:

Open admission. Options: Common Application, early admission. Required: high school transcript, minimum 2.0 high school GPA. Required for some: essay. Entrance: noncompetitive. Application deadline: Rolling. Notification: continuous.

Collegiate Environment:

Social organizations: 2 open to all. Most popular organizations: Student Government Association, Tai Chi Club. Major annual events: campus-wide picnic, Christmas tree lighting, bi-annual stress fair. Campus security: 24-hour emergency response devices. College housing not available. Stratton Library with 80,050 books, 306 serials, an OPAC, and a Web page. Operations spending for 2004 fiscal year: $76,000. 45 computers available on campus for general student use. A campuswide network can be accessed from student residence rooms and from off campus. Staffed computer lab on campus.

Community Environment:

Population 8,300. Sitka is the original capital of Russian-America and was the site of the transfer of Alaska from Russia to the United States in 1867. Many historic sites and museums convey these historic origins, as well as the strong Northwest Coast Native heritage of the region. The rainy climate is mild and comparable to that of Seattle or Portland. Located on Baranof Island, adjacent to the mainland coast of the Southeast Alaskan panhandle, Sitka is surrounded by the heavily forested mountains of the Tongass National Forest. It is served by daily jet service, as well as small regional air carriers. The Alaska Marine Highway System provides weekly passenger and vehicle transportation from the southern terminal of Bellingham, Washington, and the northern terminal of Haines, Alaska. A regional center for health services, business, and education, Sitka has two hospitals, several small but important museums, two colleges, and a State-operated boarding high school.

ALASKA

STATE EDUCATION OFFICE

Meggin Clancy, Admissions Officer
Alaska Vocational Technical Center
P.O. Box 889
809 Second Avenue
Seward, AK 99664
(907)224-4140

STATE REGULATORY INFORMATION

In 1976 the Alaska State Legislature enacted statutes concerning the regulation of all postsecondary educational institutions and programs in Alaska. The overall purpose of that legislation is consumer protection and it specifically prohibits any person from operating a postsecondary educational institution, offering educational services or credentials or use the term "university or college" without express authority to do so granted by the State. The statute and pertinent regulations provide for an orderly and rigorous application process for all institutions seeking authority to operate and for all persons wishing to operate as institutional agents. Implementation and administrative authority for the statute is vested in the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education.

ANCHORAGE

Aero Tech Flight Service, Inc.

1100 Merrill Field Dr., Anchorage, AK 99501. Flight and Ground. Founded 1956. Contact: Richard Ardaiz, (907)279-6558, Fax: (907)279-2818, E-mail: [email protected], Web Site: http://www.aerotechalaska.com. Private. Coed. HS diploma not required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing not available. Term: Varies with Program. Tuition: Varies. Enrollment: men 95, women 25. Degrees awarded: Certificate. Accreditation: FAA. Financial aid available. Placement service not available. Handicapped facilities not available. Curriculum: Aircraft Flight Instruction, Advanced Ground; Aircraft Flight Instruction, Airline Transport Pilot; Aircraft Flight Instruction, Basic Ground; Aircraft Flight Instruction, Commercial Flying; Aircraft Flight Instruction, Flight Instructor; Aircraft Flight Instruction, Flight Instructor Additional Rating; Aircraft Flight Instruction, Instrument Flying; Aircraft Flight Instruction, Multi-Engine Rating - Airplane; Aircraft Flight Instruction, Primary Flying; Aircraft Flight Instruction, Seaplane Rating

Alaska Job Corps Center

4300 B St., Ste. 100, Anchorage, AK 99503. Trade and Technical. Founded 1994. Contact: Krystal C. Kompkoff, (907)562-6200, 800-478-0531, E-mail: [email protected], Web Site: http://www.alaskajobcorps.com. Public. Coed. HS diploma not required. Out-of-state students not accepted. Housing available. Term: Varies with Program. Tuition: None. Enrollment: Total 250. Degrees awarded: Certificate. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Placement service available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Accounting, Clerical; Carpentry; Clerical, General; Computer Repair; Culinary Arts; Early Childhood Specialist; Electricity, Apprenticeship; Health Occupations; Heavy Equipment; Maintenance, Building; Water & Waste Water Pollution Technology

Alaska Marine Education

13700 Arne Erickson Circle, Anchorage, AK 99515. Trade and Technical. Contact: Lawrence H. Walter, (907)345-0198. Private. Tuition: Varies. Curriculum: Coast Guard; Marine Technology; Seaman

Career Academy

1415 E. Tudor Rd., Anchorage, AK 99507-1033. Trade and Technical. Founded 1985. Contact: Linda Sture, Dir., (907)563-7575, Fax: (907)563-8330, E-mail: [email protected]. Private. Coed. HS diploma required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing not available. Term: Varies with Program. Tuition: Varies with program. Accreditation: ACCSCT. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Placement service available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Airline Operations; Airport Management; Business Automation; Medical Assistant; Medical Technology Phlebotomy; Travel Agents; Travel & Transportation Management

Charter College

2221 E. Northern Lights Blvd., Ste. 120, Anchorage, AK 99508. Two-Year College. Founded 1985. Contact: Caren Ailleo, Admissions, (907)277-1000, 800-279-1008, Fax: (907)274-3342, E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], Web Site: http://www.chartercollege.edu. Private. Coed. HS diploma required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing not available. Term: Quarter. Tuition: $10,800 per program. Enrollment: Total 890. Degrees awarded: Associate. Accreditation: ACICS. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Placement service available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Accounting, General (2 Yr); Business Applications (2 Yr); Business Management (2 Yr); Computer Aided Design (7 Mo); Computer Aided Drafting (7 Mo); Computer Networking (2 Yr); Engineering Technology (20 Mo); Finance (5 Mo); Information Sciences Technology (4 Yr); Medical Office Management (2 Yr); Office, General (5 Mo)

Community and Technical College, University of Alaska

3211 Providence Dr., Anchorage, AK 99508. Other. Founded 1954. Contact: Mr. Michael Burnes, Associate Dean, (907)786-1800, (907)786-1480, E-mail: [email protected], Web Site: http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/ctc/. Public. Coed. HS diploma required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing available. Term: Semester. Tuition: $99-220 per credit hour-resident; $330-453 per credit hour non resident. Enrollment: Total 14,220. Degrees awarded: Certificate, Associate, Diploma. Accreditation: ADA; CAAHEP; FAA; NWCCU. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Placement service available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration (2 Yr); Aircraft Flight Instruction, External Load Operator - Rotocraft (2-4 Yr); Air Traffic Control (2-4 Yr); Architectural Technology (2 Yr); Automotive Technology (2 Yr); Aviation Administration (2 Yr); Aviation Maintenance Technology (2 Yr); Aviation Management (2-4 Yr); Civil Engineering Technology (2 Sm); Culinary Arts (2-4 Yr); Dental Assisting (2 Yr); Dental Hygiene (2 Yr); Diesel Technology (1 Yr); Dietician Training (2 Sm); Drafting, Architectural (2 Sm); Drafting, Electro-Mechanical (2 Sm); Drafting, Structural (2 Sm); Electronics Technology (2 Yr); Emergency Medical Technology (1 Sm); Engineering Technology (2 Yr); Health Aide (1 Sm); Medical Assistant (2 Yr); Medical Laboratory Technology (2-4 Yr); Medical Technology (2-4 Yr); Nondestructive Testing Technology (2 Sm); Petroleum Technology (2 Yr); Welding Technology (2 Yr)

A Head of Time Hair Design

3801 Old Seward Hwy., Anchorage, AK 99503-6023. Cosmetology. Contact: Rosyln White, Dir., (907)562-2372. Private. Coed. Term: Hour. Tuition: Varies. Enrollment: Total 25. Curriculum: Cosmetology; Cosmetology Instructor; Hair Styling

Take Flight Alaska

1740 E. 5th Ave., Anchorage, AK 99501. Flight and Ground. Founded 1964. Contact: John A. Miller, President, (907)274-9943, Fax: (907)272-3486, E-mail: [email protected], Web Site: http://www.takeflightalaska.com. Private. Coed. HS diploma not required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing not available. Term: Varies with Program. Tuition: Varies with program. Enrollment: Total 210. Degrees awarded: Certificate. Accreditation: FAA. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Placement service available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Aircraft Flight Instruction

Testing Institute of Alaska

2114 Railroad Ave., Anchorage, AK 99501. Trade and Technical. Founded 1976. Contact: D. Lockman, (907)276-3440, Fax: (907)279-7093, E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], Web Site: http://www.tialaska.com. Private. Coed. HS diploma not required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing not available. Term: Varies with Program. Tuition: Varies. Enrollment: men 38, women 1. Degrees awarded: Certificate. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Placement service not available. Handicapped facilities not available. Curriculum: Welding, Aircraft; Welding, Arc & Gas; Welding, MIG; Welding, Oxy-Acetylene; Welding Technology; Welding, TIG

University of Alaska Anchorage, Aviation Technology Division

2811 Merrill Field Dr., Anchorage, AK 99501. Other. Founded 1973. Contact: Ronald W. Haney, Dir., (907)264-7400, Fax: (907)264-7444, E-mail: [email protected], Web Site: http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/aviation. Public. Coed. HS diploma required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing available. Term: Semester. Tuition: Varies. Enrollment: Total 430. Degrees awarded: Certificate, Associate, Diploma. Accreditation: FAA; NWCCU. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Placement service available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Aircraft Flight Instruction, Commercial Flying (2-4 Yr); Airframe Mechanics (1500 Hr); Air Traffic Control (2 Yr or 4); Aviation Management (2 Yr or 4); Power Plant Mechanics (1500 Hr)

BARROW

Ilisagvik College

PO Box 749, Barrow, AK 99723. Two-Year College. Contact: Beverly Patkotak Grinage, Pres., (907)852-3333, (907)852-1818, 800-478-7337, Fax: (907)852-2729, Web Site: http://ilisagvik.cc. Public. Coed. Housing available. Term: Semester. Tuition: 600 in-state; 600out-of-state. Degrees awarded: Certificate, Associate.

BETHEL

Kuskokwim Community College

201 Akiak Dr., PO Box 368, Bethel, AK 99559. Two-Year College. Founded 1972. Contact: J. Park, (907)543-4500, (907)543-4589, 800-478-5822, Fax: (907)543-4527, E-mail: [email protected], Web Site: http://www.bethel.uaf.edu. Public. Coed. HS diploma not required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing available. Term: Semester. Tuition: Varies. Enrollment: Total 645. Degrees awarded: Certificate, Diploma, Associate. Accreditation: NWCCU. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Placement service available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Early Childhood Specialist (1 or 2 Yr); Human Services (1 or 2 Yr); Industrial Technology (1 or 2 Yr); Tribal Management (1 or 2 Yr)

Yukon Kusokwim Health Corp., EMS/Accident & Injury Control

PO Box 528, Bethel, AK 99559. Allied Medical. Founded 1969. Contact: Jack Crow, (907)543-6142, 800-478-3321, Fax: (907)543-6079. Private. Coed. HS diploma not required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing not available. Term: Varies with Program. Enrollment: Total 12. Degrees awarded: Certificate. Financial aid not available. Placement service not available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Emergency Medical Technology (2 Yr)

FAIRBANKS

Asbestos Academy of Alaska

3049 Davis Rd., Fairbanks, AK 99709-5234. Trade and Technical. Contact: John Abrams, (907)451-8550, Fax: (907)452-6374, E-mail: [email protected]. Private. Coed. HS diploma not required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing not available. Term: Day. Tuition: $625. Enrollment: Total 150. Degrees awarded: Certificate. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid not available. Placement service not available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Hazardous Waste Technology (40 Hr)

Center for Distance Education, Univ. of Alaska

PO Box 756700, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6700. Correspondence. Founded 1917. Contact: Kim Runnion, Registrar, (907)474-5353, 800-277-8060, Fax: (907)474-5402, E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], Web Site: http://www.distance.uaf.edu. Public. Coed. HS diploma required. Out-of-state students accepted. Term: Year. Tuition: $99-222 per credit hour(varies depending on course). Enrollment: Total 6,000. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Curriculum: Aircraft Powerplant Maintenance; Airframe Mechanics; Aviation Technology; Broadcasting, Nontechnical; Business; Business Administration; Computer Information Science; Drafting Technology; Health Occupations; Journalism

Interior Region EMS Council

3522 Industrial Ave., Fairbanks, AK 99701. Trade and Technical. Contact: David Rockney, Training Coordinator, (907)456-3978, Fax: (907)456-3970, E-mail: [email protected], Web Site: http://iremsc.org. Public. Coed. HS diploma not required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing not available. Term: Varies with Program. Tuition: Varies. Degrees awarded: Certificate. Financial aid not available. Placement service not available. Handicapped facilities not available. Curriculum: Emergency Medical Technology (120 Hr)

School of Integrating Shiatsu

PO Box 84212, Fairbanks, AK 99708. Other, Correspondence, Trade and Technical. Founded 1992. Contact: Tarika Lea, Dir., (907)479-3820, Fax: (907)457-7463, Web Site: http://www.leamethod.com. Private. Coed. HS diploma not required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing not available. Term: Varies with Program. Tuition: Varies. Enrollment: Total 16. Degrees awarded: Certificate. Financial aid available. Placement service not available. Handicapped facilities not available. Curriculum: Essential Oils; Massage Therapy

Tanana Valley Campus

604 Barnette St., Fairbanks, AK 99701. Trade and Technical, Two-Year College. Contact: Rick Caulfield, Dir., (907)455-2800, Web Site: http://www.tvc.uaf.edu. Public. Coed. HS diploma not required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing available. Term: Varies with Program. Tuition: $109/credit 100-200 level; $123/credit 300-400 level; $244/credit 600 level; $254 additional per credit for non-resident. Enrollment: Total 3,200. Degrees awarded: Certificate, Associate. Accreditation: NWCCU. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Placement service available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Accounting Technology; Allied Health Occupations; Automotive Technology; Aviation Maintenance Technology; Aviation Technology; Business; Culinary Arts; Dental Assisting; Drafting Technology; Early Childhood Education; Emergency Medical Technology; Fire Science; Heavy Equipment; Human Services; Microcomputers; Nursing, R.N.; Office Management; Office Technology; Paralegal; Small Business Management

University of Alaska Emergency Services Program

Tanana Valley Campus, PO Box 758120, Fairbanks, AK 99775-8120. Other. Founded 1917. Contact: Michael G. McGowan, Associate Professor, (907)455-2879, Fax: (907)455-2813, E-mail: [email protected], Web Site: http://www.tvc.uaf.edu/programs/fire/. Public. Coed. HS diploma not required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing available. Term: Semester. Tuition: $77 per credit hour, resident; $241 per credit hour, nonresident. Enrollment: Total 100. Degrees awarded: Certificate, Associate, Diploma. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Placement service available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Fire Fighting; Law Enforcement; Paramedic

GLENNALLEN

Alaska Bible College

PO Box 289, Glennallen, AK 99588. Other. Founded 1966. Contact: Dr. Gary J. Ridley, Interim Pres., (907)822-3201, 800-478-7884, E-mail: [email protected], Web Site: http://www.akbible.edu. Private. Coed. HS diploma required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing available. Term: Semester. Tuition: $2,860/semester; $2,285 room and board/semester; plus additional fees. Enrollment: men 31, women 13. Degrees awarded: Certificate, Associate. Accreditation: ABHE. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Placement service not available. Handicapped facilities not available. Curriculum: Bible Study (1-4 Yr)

HOMER

Alaska Bible Institute

PO Box 975, Homer, AK 99603. Other. Founded 1965. Contact: Ray Arno, (907)235-8648, Fax: (907)235-2116, E-mail: [email protected], Web Site:http://www.alaskabible.org. Private. Coed. HS diploma not required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing available. Term: Year. Tuition: $2,880/six months (includes room/board); $2685 to $3360 for married couples for six months. Enrollment: Total 40. Degrees awarded: Certificate. Financial aid not available. Placement service available. Handicapped facilities not available. Curriculum: Bible Study (6 Mo); Minister (6 Mo)

JUNEAU

Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska

320 W. Willoughby Ave., Ste. 300, Juneau, AK 99801. Trade and Technical. Founded 1995. Contact: Donna James, Employment and Training Technician, (907)586-1432, (907)463-7196, 800-344-1432, Fax: (907)463-7312, E-mail: [email protected], Web Site: http://www.ccthita.org. Private. Coed. HS diploma required. Out-of-state students not accepted. Housing not available. Term: Week. Tuition: None. Enrollment: Total 333. Degrees awarded: Certificate. Financial aid available. Placement service available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Child Care & Guidance (8 Days); Computer Operations (2.5 Wk); Small Business Management (2.5 Wk)

University of Alaska Southeast (Juneau)

11120 Glacier Hwy., Juneau, AK 99801. Other. Founded 1956. Contact: Deema Ferguson, Admissions, (907)796-6000, (907)796-6100, 877-465-4827, E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], Web Site: http://www.uas.alaska.edu. Public. Coed. HS diploma required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing available. Term: Semester. Tuition: $109/credit resident; $363/credit non-resident. Enrollment: Total 716. Degrees awarded: Certificate, Associate, Diploma. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Placement service available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Accounting, Advanced (2 Yr); Automotive Technology (2 Yr); Business Administration (2 Yr); Business Automation (2 Yr); Construction Technology (2 Yr); Early Childhood Education (2 Yr); Hospitality (2 Yr); Marine Technology (2 Yr); Paralegal (2 Yr); Power Lineman (2 Yr); Travel & Tourism (2 Yr); Welding Technology (2 Yr)

KENAI

Alaska Flying Network

403 N. Willow, No. 1, Kenai, AK 99611. Flight and Ground. Founded 1984. Contact: Charles Versaw, Owner/Instructor, (907)283-5700, Fax: (907)283-5799, E-mail: [email protected], Web Site: http://alaskaflyingnetwork.com. Private. Coed. HS diploma not required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing not available. Term: Varies with Program. Tuition: Varies. Enrollment: men 17, women 4. Degrees awarded: Certificate. Accreditation: FAA. Financial aid not available. Placement service not available. Handicapped facilities not available. Curriculum: Aircraft Flight Instruction

KETCHIKAN

University of Alaska Southeast, Ketchikan Campus

2600 7th Ave., Ketchikan, AK 99901. Two-Year College. Founded 1954. Contact: Karen Pitcher, Admission and Records, (907)225-6177, (907)228-4511, 888-550-6177, E-mail: [email protected], Web Site: http://www.ketch.alaska.edu. Public. Coed. HS diploma required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing not available. Term: Semester. Tuition: $2,784. Enrollment: men 350, women 548. Degrees awarded: Certificate, Associate. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Placement service not available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Accounting, General (1 Yr); Business Administration (1 Yr or 2); Computer Business Systems Technology (2 Yr); Welding Technology (22 Cr)

KOTZEBUE

Kotzebue Technical Center

Box 51, Kotzebue, AK 99752. Trade and Technical. Founded 1981. Contact: Cheryl Edenshaw, (907)442-3733, 800-478-3733, Fax: (907)442-2764, Web Site: http://otz.nwabsd.schoolaccess.net/atc/index.htm. Public. Coed. HS diploma not required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing available. Tuition: Varies. Enrollment: Total 200. Degrees awarded: Certificate. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Placement service available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Accounting, Clerical (31 Wk); Building Maintenance (31 Wk); Cabinet & Mill Work (26 Wk); Clerk, Typist (24 Wk); Computer Technology; Food Preparation & Service (14 Wk); Industrial Technology (31 Wk); Mining Machinery Mechanics (31 Wk); Secretarial, General (31 Wk)

NOME

University of Alaska at Fairbanks, Northwest Campus

Pouch 400, Nome, AK 99762. Two-Year College. Founded 1975. Contact: Nancy Dix, Dir., (907)443-2201, (907)474-7500, 800-478-2202, Fax: (907)443-5602, Web Site: http://www.nwc.uaf.edu. Public. Coed. HS diploma not required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing not available. Term: Semester. Tuition: $109/credit for lower division; $123 for 300-400 level; $244/credit for graduate; add $254/credit for non-resident. Enrollment: Total 3,522. Degrees awarded: Certificate, Associate, Diploma. Accreditation: ABA; ABET; ACEJMC; NWCCU; SAF. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Placement service available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Business Occupations (14 Wk); Computer Technology; Health Occupations (14 Wk); Human Services; Office Management; Secretarial, General

PALMER

Matanuska-Susitna College, University of Alaska Anchorage

PO Box 2889, Palmer, AK 99645. Two-Year College. Founded 1958. Contact: Dennis Clark, Interim College Dir., (907)745-9774, Fax: (907)745-9711, E-mail: [email protected], Web Site: http://www.matsu.alaska.edu. Public. Coed. HS diploma not required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing not available. Term: Semester. Tuition: $99 to $220/credit resident; $330 to $453/credit non-resident. Enrollment: Total 371. Degrees awarded: Certificate, Associate, Diploma. Accreditation: NWCCU. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Placement service not available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Accounting, General (2 Yr); Electronics Technology (1-2 Yr); Fire Protection Technology (2 Yr); Human Services (2 Yr); Microcomputers (1-2 Yr); Office Technology (1-2 Yr); Secretarial, General (2 Yr); Small Business Management (2 Yr)

SEWARD

Alaska Vocational Technical Center

809 2nd Ave., PO Box 889, Seward, AK 99664. Trade and Technical. Founded 1970. Contact: Meggin Clancy, Admissions Lead, (907)224-4141, 800-478-5389, Fax: (907)224-4143, E-mail: [email protected], Web Site: http://www.avtec.alaska.edu. Public. Coed. HS diploma not required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing available. Term: Varies with Program. Tuition: $1,200 to $2,500 per program. Enrollment: Total 1,800. Degrees awarded: Certificate. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Placement service available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Accounting, General (35 Wk); Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration (38 Wk); Automotive Technology (39 Wk); Baking (24 Wk); Building Maintenance (38 Wk); Culinary Arts (40 Wk); Diesel Technology (38 Wk); Electricity, Industrial (10 Mo); Emergency Medical Technology (3 Wk); Mechanics, Heavy Equipment (38 Wk); Navigation; Office, General (35 Wk); Power Plant Mechanics (8 Wk); Welding Technology (20 Wk)

SITKA

University of Alaska Southeast, Sitka Campus

1332 Seward Ave., Sitka, AK 99835. Two-Year College. Founded 1962. Contact: Deema Ferguson, Admissions, (907)747-6653, 800-478-6653, E-mail: [email protected], Web Site: http://www.uas.alaska.edu/sitka. Public. Coed. HS diploma required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing available. Term: Semester. Tuition: $948 in-state, full-time; $948 nonresident, in-state, full -time per semester. Enrollment: men 500, women 933. Degrees awarded: Certificate, Associate. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Accounting, Specialist (1 Yr); Computer Business Systems Technology (2 Yr); Law Enforcement; Medical Record Technology (2 Yr); Welding Technology (1 Yr)

SOLDOTNA

Kenai Peninsula College, University of Alaska

34820 College Dr., Soldotna, AK 99669. Two-Year College. Founded 1964. Contact: Bill Howell, Student Services Dir., (907)262-0300, (907)262-0314, 877-262-0330, E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], Web Site: http://www.kpc.alaska.edu. Public. Coed. HS diploma not required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing not available. Term: Semester. Tuition: Varies. Enrollment: men 658, women 1,169. Degrees awarded: Certificate, Diploma, Associate. Accreditation: NWCCU. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Placement service available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Art (2 Yr); Business Administration (2 Yr); Computer Information Systems (2 Yr); Electronics & Computer Technology (2 Yr); Instrumentation Technology (2 Yr); Mechanical Technology (1 Yr); Millwright (1 Yr); Nursing (2 Yr); Paramedic (2 Yr); Process Plant Technology (2 Yr); Small Business Management (2 Yr); Welding Technology (1 Yr)

Shear Allusions 2000

The Blazy Mall, 44539 Sterling Hwy., Soldotna, AK 99669. Cosmetology. Founded 1992. Contact: Patricia Town, Dir., (907)262-6525, Fax: (907)262-6166, E-mail: [email protected]. Public. Coed. HS diploma required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing not available. Term: Varies with Program. Tuition: $5,225; $2,710 for manicurist. Enrollment: men 1, women 7. Degrees awarded: Certificate. Accreditation: NACCAS. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Placement service not available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Hair Styling; Hair Styling, Advanced; Manicurist

TOK

University of Alaska Fairbanks - Interior/Aleutians Campus Tok

PO Box 464, Tok, AK 99780. Other. Founded 1976. Contact: Crystal Wilson, (907)883-5613, (907)883-5807, 800-478-2773, Fax: (907)883-4327, E-mail: [email protected], Web Site: http://www.uaf.edu/iac/. Public. Coed. HS diploma required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing not available. Term: Semester. Tuition: $109 per credit hour for 100-200 level courses and $2 per credit network fee. Enrollment: men 34, women 66. Degrees awarded: Diploma, Associate. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid not available. Placement service available. Handicapped facilities available.

VALDEZ

Prince William Sound Community College (Valdez)

PO Box 97, Valdez, AK 99686. Two-Year College. Founded 1978. Contact: Angela Corcoran, Admissions & Records Coordinator, (907)834-1600, 800-478-8800, Fax: (907)834-1627, E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], Web Site: http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/pwscc. Public. Coed. HS diploma not required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing available. Term: Semester. Tuition: $82/credit ($102/credit for 300-400 level courses). Enrollment: men 1,200, women 850. Degrees awarded: Certificate, Associate, Diploma. Accreditation: NWCCU. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Placement service available. Handicapped facilities available. Curriculum: Broadcasting Technology (1 Yr); Human Services (2 Yr); Office Technology (2 Yr); Power Plant Mechanics (1 Yr); Safety Technology (1-2 Yr)

WASILLA

His and Hers School of Hairdressing

PO Box 876705, Wasilla, AK 99687. Cosmetology. Founded 1997. Contact: Barbara Vaughn, (907)373-1058, (907)373-1059, Fax: (907)357-1059, E-mail: [email protected]. Public. Coed. HS diploma not required. Out-of-state students accepted. Housing not available. Term: Year. Tuition: $4,700. Degrees awarded: Diploma. Approved: Vet. Admin. Financial aid available. Placement service available. Handicapped facilities not available. Curriculum: Barbering (10 Mo); Beauty (350 Hr); Cosmetology (3 Mo); Hair Styling (10 Mo); Manicurist (12 Hr); Skin Care (3 Mo)

ALASKA

ALASKA. For most of its history as a U.S. possession, Alaska was known as the "last frontier," the last part of the country where would-be pioneers could go to live out the American dream of freedom and self-sufficiency through hard work and ingenuity. But with the rise of environmental consciousness in the 1960s and 1970s, that notion subsided. Alaska became America's "last wilderness," the last place in America with vast stretches of undeveloped, unpopulated land. In 1980 Congress designated 50 million acres of the state as wilderness, doubling the size of the national wilderness system.

Few Americans knew much about the region when the United States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867. Newspaper cartoons ridiculed the purchase as "Seward's Folly," "Icebergia," and "Walrussia." But informed Americans emphasized Alaska's resource potential in furbearers and minerals, and the U.S. Senate approved Secretary of State William H. Seward's purchase treaty in the summer of 1867 by a vote of 37–2.

At that time about thirty thousand indigenous people lived in the region, pursuing traditional subsistence. These people included the Inuit (northern Eskimos) who are culturally related to all Arctic indigenes; Yupik speakers (southern Eskimos) of the Yukon River and Kuskokwim River delta area; Aleut people living in the Aleutian Islands who are related to Alutiq-speaking people on the south shore of the Alaska Peninsula and on Kodiak Island; Dene-speaking Athabaskan Indians who live along the interior rivers; and the Dene-speaking Tlingit and Haida people (Pacific Northwest Coast Indians) of the Southeast Alaska Panhandle (Alexander Archipelago) who are related culturally to the coastal Indians of British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon.

Russian Interest

The Russians were the first outsiders to establish sustained contact with Alaska Native peoples, initially in the Aleutian Islands and later in the southeastern coastal islands. In 1725 Peter the Great commissioned an expedition to search east of Siberia for lands with economic resources useful to the Russian state. The expedition commander Vitus Bering failed to find America on his first attempt in 1728, but returning in 1741 he made a landfall on the Alaskan coast near Cape Suckling. Bering shipwrecked on a North Pacific island on his return voyage and died there on 8 December.

Bering's voyages did not provide a comprehensive picture of the geography of Northwest North America. That would await the third round-the-world voyage of Captain James Cook in 1778. But more than half of Bering's crew survived the shipwreck and returned to Kamchatka bringing pelts of various furbearers, including sea otter. Siberian fur trappers recognized the sea otter as the most valuable pelt in the world at the time, setting off a rush to the Aleutian Islands. Over the next half century, Russian trappers made one hundred individual voyages to the American islands to hunt sea otters, fur seals, and walrus, drawing Alaska's indigenous population into the world mercantilist economy.

American furs and walrus ivory were profitable for private investors who financed the voyages and for the Russian tsarist government, which took 10 percent of each voyage's profit. But the exploitation was costly to Alaska Natives. The Russians relied on Aleut Natives to hunt furbearers and held women and children hostage in the villages while Russian overseers traveled with the hunters. The entire Aleut population was brutalized and decimated by this practice, and new diseases the Russians introduced reduced the Aleut population from twenty thousand to two thousand by 1800.

Ranging relentlessly eastward, Russian trappers in 1759 discovered the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island. In 1784 Grigory Shelekhov established the first permanent Russian post in North America on Kodiak Island. Returning to Russia, Shelekhov attempted to persuade Empress Catherine II to invest in the exploitation of North America, but concerned about Spanish and English interest in the region, she declined.

In 1799, however, Paul III chartered a government sponsored private monopoly, the Russian American Company. Over the next sixty years the company systematically exploited Alaska's resources, primarily furs, returning handsome profits to the stockholders and the government. During the company's first twenty-year charter, Aleksandr Baranov extended Russian activities into the Alexander Archipelago, and in 1824 and 1825 the United States and Britain signed treaties formalizing Russia's occupation there but claiming the area to the south, the Oregon Country, as their own. The 1825 treaty established permanent boundaries for Alaska. In 1812 Baranov also established a Russian agricultural post on the California coast, eighty miles north of San Francisco, but failed in an attempt to establish a similar post in Hawaii in 1815.

Russia did not attempt to establish a new society in North America. The largest number of Russians ever in the colony at one time was 823. They sought only the efficient exploitation of the easily accessible resources. Yet despite the participation of the Russian navy, the company and the government could not keep the enterprise adequately supplied. By midcentury the colony depended on the fiercely independent Tlingit Indians for food. When the Crimean War (1854–1856) demonstrated that Russian America could not be defended, critics began to advocate relinquishing the colony, the profitability of which was becoming a problem.

American Interest

Sale to the United States was the only alternative, as England was Russia's principal European antagonist. In the aftermath of the American Civil War, negotiations proceeded quickly. The United States purchased the colony for $7.2 million. The formal transfer was conducted at Sitka on 18 October 1867, which became a state holiday in Alaska.

Secretary Seward wanted Alaska primarily as a gateway to new markets in Asia for American agricultural and manufactured products. Others recognized Alaska's resource potential. But until those resources were actually discovered and developed, Americans showed little interest in the region. The 1880 census revealed 30,000 Natives and a mere 435 non-Natives. Congress waited to implement legislation organizing the territory until it was warranted by the immigration of more pioneer settlers.

These settlers arrived quickly after 1880, when gold was discovered and investors began development of the Treadwell Mines at Juneau to exploit large lode deposits. By 1884 Treadwell boasted the largest gold stamp mill in North America, prompting Congress to pass the first organic legislation for the region that authorized the appointment of a governor, a judge, and other civil officials. Sitka was named the capital. The act provided for acculturation of Alaska Natives at the direction of a "general agent of education" who was to establish schools in Native villages and in the few white towns.

At the same time the U.S. Army began a systematic reconnaissance of Alaska's interior, which was largely unmapped. Explorations by Henry Allen, William Abercrombie, John Cantwell, George Stoney, J. C. Castner, Edwin Fitch Glenn, and others produced a comprehensive understanding of Alaska's geography and physiography by the end of the century.

By 1890 the census counted over five thousand non-Natives, most in Juneau, Sitka, and Wrangell in the southeastern panhandle. A few hundred non-Native prospector-traders worked along the interior rivers, trapping and trading furs among the Athabaskan Indians. Two hundred ships annually worked the lucrative Bering Sea and Arctic whale fishery and traded with the coastal Inuit.

Prospectors discovered gold on the Forty mile River near the Canadian border in 1886 and on Birch Creek near Fort Yukon in 1891, generating increasing interest in Alaska's mineral prospects. In 1896 George Carmacks and his Indian companions discovered placer deposits of unprecedented extent on tributaries of the Klondike River in the Yukon Territory, setting off the gold rush of 1897–1898. Forty thousand argonauts crossed the mountain passes from the tidewater to the upper Yukon River en route to the gold fields. The rush was short-lived but intense. Four thousand people found gold, but only four hundred found it in quantities that might be considered a "fortune."

Many gold trekkers continued into Alaska and searched virtually every river system for minerals. Gold was found in the creeks of the Seward Peninsula in the fall of 1898, sparking a major rush there and the founding of Nome. Another find in the Tanana River drainage in 1902 led to the founding of Fairbanks. Other discoveries generated minor rushes in a score of places, but most played out quickly. New settlers established a large number of small communities, however, and the 1900 census showed thirty thousand non-Natives in the territory, a figure that stayed virtually the same until 1940.

Although Alaskan gold production peaked in 1906, the federal government adopted substantial legislation in response to the gold rush to nurture economic development and to sustain new settlement, including construction of a telegraph line that connected the territory to Seattle, a system of license fees to generate territorial government revenue, civil and criminal legal codes, and a federally owned and operated railroad, the last a unique feature of government support of western settlement. In 1906 Congress authorized the biennial election of a nonvoting territorial delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives and in 1914 a bicameral territorial legislature. At the same time Progressive Era conservation consciousness led to a number of federal conservation withdrawals, including the Tongass National Forest in 1905, the Chugach National Forest in 1907, Mount McKinley National Park in 1917, Katmai National Park in 1918, and Glacier Bay National Park in 1925.

The gold rush and government support also attracted corporate investors interested in developing Alaska's natural resources. By 1890 thirty-seven Pacific salmon canneries operated in Alaska, and by the end of the century more than twice that number operated. The invention of the fish trap, a system of surface to seafloor netting that led fish to a central enclosure, made fishing extremely efficient and produced high profits. By the 1920s moderate taxation of the salmon industry supplied three-fourths of territorial revenue.

The Guggenheim mining family also became interested in Alaska and early in the twentieth century developed a plan to coordinate development of gold, copper, coal, and oil deposits. Drawing the financier J. P. Morgan into a partnership, they created the Alaska Syndicate, which owned the Alaska Steamship Company; built, owned, and operated the Copper River and Northwestern Railway from Cordova at the tidewater to the Wrangell Mountains; owned the Kennecott Copper Mines; and developed oil deposits at Katalla. Their plans to develop coal deposits near Katalla were stopped when President Theodore Roosevelt closed access to Alaska coal lands in 1906 as a strategic measure. Deprived of the cheap, local source of coal, the syndicate scrapped plans to build their railroad to the Yukon River to link it to the internal river system. Having extracted $300 million worth of copper by 1939, the syndicate attempted to sell the railway to the federal government, but when negotiations collapsed, the partners dismantled the road and transferred the rails and rolling stock to operations in Arizona and Utah.

Aviation had a significant impact on Alaska and from the formation of the first companies in the mid-1920s developed rapidly. Perhaps more than in any other part of the country, the airplane in roadless Alaska permitted access to otherwise inaccessible areas, provided hope in times of medical emergency, and greatly speeded mail delivery. Bush pilots quickly became genuine heroes wherever in the territory they flew.

Federal aid helped Alaska weather the Great Depression. Public Works Administration (PWA) and the Civil Works Administration (CWA) loans for heavy public construction projects provided jobs, as did Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps in every section of the territory. Also Native leaders worked with the federal government to extend the Indian Reorganization Act to Alaska in 1936 and to authorize a broad land claims suit by the Tlingit and Haida Indians in 1935. In an unusual rural rehabilitation project, two hundred families from the upper Midwest were transported to the Matanuska Valley near Anchorage in 1935 to start farms. But the experiment failed, for construction jobs created by the remilitarization of Alaska beginning in 1940 promised faster economic advance for the new settlers.

World War II transformed Alaska economically as the government invested $3 billion in three hundred new military installations in the territory. The military personnel in the territory numbered 300,000, five times the 1940 population. Attempting to divert American Pacific forces away from Midway Island in June 1942, Japanese forces captured two Aleutian Islands. In a dramatic battle on American soil in May 1943, a combined American and Canadian force of fourteen thousand retook Attu Island, suffering five hundred killed and nine hundred wounded. The Japanese abandoned Kiska before the American invasion there.

Alaska gained population quickly during World War II. Afterward Cold War strategic defenses in the territory included airfields for long-range bombers and the Distant Early Warning radar net across the Arctic. The Atomic Energy Commission used Amchitka Island in the Aleutians for large-scale nuclear tests and contemplated using nuclear explosions to create a new harbor on Alaska's Arctic coast. Federal spending became the basis of the regional economy that supported a still-expanding population.

Statehood

Shortly after the war territorial leaders began a campaign to achieve statehood for Alaska. They were opposed by the canned salmon industry, which feared additional regulation and taxation. In addition the U.S. military was unenthusiastic because of the increased bureaucracy. But territorial leaders conducted an aggressive, national campaign based on the moral right of all American citizens to have all the rights of other citizens, and following a convention in 1955–1956, they presented Congress with a progressive, uncomplicated state constitution. When polls showed Americans overwhelmingly in support of

Alaskan statehood in 1958, Congress passed the enabling act. Statehood became official on 3 January 1959.

The statehood act entitled the new state to select 104 million acres of unoccupied, unreserved land from Alaska's 375 million acres. Federal reserves already claimed 54 million acres. But the act also prohibited the state from selecting any land that might be subject to Native title. The United States had never executed any Native treaties in Alaska, and the question of Native land title had not been settled. When the state began to select its land, Native groups protested the selections. By 1965, despite Native protests, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had transferred 12 million acres to the state, including, fortuitously as it developed, land at Prudhoe Bay on the North (Arctic) Slope. By then, however, Native claims blanketed the entire state. Secretary of the Interior Steward Udall halted all further transfers to the state until Native land claims could be sorted out.

That process had just begun when, in December 1967, Richfield Oil Company discovered North America's largest oil field at Prudhoe Bay. A 789–mile hot oil pipeline would be necessary to transport the oil from the Arctic Coast to Prince William Sound, crossing many miles of land that eventually was titled to Natives. Natives worked with state and industry leaders and the U.S. Congress to craft the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971. By that act Natives obtained title to 44 million acres of traditionally utilized land, and the United States paid $962.5 million in compensation for extinguishments of Native title to Alaska's remaining 331 million acres. In an unprecedented provision, the money was used to capitalize profit-making Native regional and village economic development corporations. All Alaska Natives became stockholders in one or another of the corporations. Natives would thereby earn stock dividends from their corporations in perpetuity.

The act transformed the status of Alaska Natives, making their corporations an immediate major economic factor in Alaska. Despite early difficulties, most corporations were able to pay stock dividends by the 1990s. Natives adapted well to the roles of corporation leaders and stockholders, though lack of economic sustainability threatened the future of many of the remote villages. Of 100,000 Alaska Natives in a state population of 620,000 in 2000, 30,000 were permanent urban residents.

ANCSA did not guarantee construction of the Alaska pipeline, however, because national environmental groups sued to halt the project to preserve Alaska wilderness. When OPEC placed an embargo on oil exports to the United States following the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, Congress passed the Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act, and construction began.

The state established a comprehensive tax structure for oil production, and by the 1980s oil taxes produced 85 percent of public state revenue. By the 1990s most public sector material infrastructure in the state had been paid for by oil taxation. So dependent was the state on oil money that a contraction of the price per barrel from $40 in 1981 to $15 in 1986 eliminated thousands of jobs and led to the outmigration of 600,000 residents from the state in 1985 and 1986.

In 1976 Alaska voters approved the creation of a publicly owned state investment fund, the Alaska Permanent Fund, made up of 10 percent of all state oil revenue. In 1982 the state legislature mandated that about half of the earnings on the fund be paid per capita annually to all state residents. In 2000 the dividend payment was near $2,000 for each Alaska citizen.

Reflecting the raised environmental consciousness in the United States, ANCSA also included a provision for Congress to establish new federal conservation units in Alaska within eight years. Fearing the loss of opportunities for economic development, state leaders and residents opposed the provision, but Congress proceeded. The battle over the Alaska lands act was bitter and protracted, but in 1980 Congress passed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), which reserved 104 additional Alaska acres in new conservation units, half of which were designated wilderness. Natives were guaranteed access to traditional subsistence resources across the new conservation areas. Mount McKinley Park was renamed Denali National Park.

Americans' new embrace of wilderness values generated both horror and anger when the fully loaded oil tanker Exxon Valdez went aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound in March 1989, spilling 10.8 million gallons of oil in an area considered pristine wilderness. Thousands of seabirds and uncounted fish died, along with lesser numbers of seals, sea otters, and other bird and animal species, including killer whales. Native villagers in the sound feared the contamination of subsistence resources. Exxon Corporation spent three summers cleaning up the spill at a cost of $2 billion, and the corporation was fined $1 billion by the state and federal governments.

Alaska mirrors a long-standing debate in the United States over the proper balance between natural resource extraction and resource preservation. The coastal plain of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is presumed to contain significant oil deposits, which most Alaskans wish to see developed. But the area is considered wilderness by most Americans. The future of the refuge rests with Congress, where at the twentieth century's end vigorous debate continued.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gibson, James R. Otter Skins, Boston Ships, and China Goods: The Maritime Fur Trade of the Northwest Coast, 1785–1841. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1992.

Haycox, Stephen. Alaska—An American Colony. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002.

———. Frigid Embrace: Politics, Economics and Environment in Alaska. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2002.

———, and Mary Mangusso, eds. An Alaska Anthology: Interpreting the Past. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1996.

Kollin, Susan. Nature's State: Imagining Alaska as the Last Frontier. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

Mitchell, Donald Craig. Sold American: The Story of Alaska Natives and Their Land, 1867–1959. Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1997; Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2000.

Sherwood, Morgan. Exploration of Alaska, 1865–1900. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1965; Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 1992.

StephenHaycox

See alsoExplorations and Expeditions: Russian ; Fur Trade and Trapping ; Klondike Rush ; Oil Fields ; Petroleum Industry ; Russia, Relations with ; Tribes: Alaskan ; Yukon Region .