Editing St. Paul, Alaska (section)

==Nature and wildlife==
[[File:St._Paul_Island,_Sand_dune_habitat_Pribilof_Islands.jpg|left|thumb|St. Paul Island, sand dune habitat [[Pribilof Islands]]]]
Saint Paul Island, like all of the Pribilof Islands, is part of the [[Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge]]. Its seabird cliffs were purchased in 1982 for inclusion in the refuge.<ref name="NWR">{{cite web |title=Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge: Wildlife Viewing |url=http://www.fws.gov/alaska/nwr/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140523184042/http://www.fws.gov/alaska/nwr/ |archive-date=May 23, 2014 |access-date=July 6, 2011 |publisher=U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service}}</ref> The island has also been designated as an [[Important Bird Area]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cecil |first1=John |title=Important Bird Areas Americas - Priority sites for biodiversity conservation |last2=Sanchez |first2=Connie |last3=Stenhouse |first3=Iain |last4=Hartzler |first4=Ian |publisher=BirdLife International |year=2009 |isbn=978-9942-9959-0-2 |editor1=Devenish, C. |location=Quito, Ecuador |page=374 |chapter=United States of America |access-date=July 6, 2011 |editor2=Díaz Fernández, D. F. |editor3=Clay, R. P. |editor4=Davidson, I. |editor5=Yépez Zabala, I. |chapter-url=http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/userfiles/file/IBAs/AmCntryPDFs/USA.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016034334/http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/userfiles/file/IBAs/AmCntryPDFs/USA.pdf |archive-date=October 16, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref>

It is the breeding grounds for more than 500,000 [[northern fur seal]]s and millions of [[seabird]]s, and is surrounded by one of the world's richest [[fishing]] grounds.

[[Woolly mammoth]]s survived on Saint Paul Island until around 5,600 years ago (~3,600 BC),<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Graham |first1=Russell W. |last2=Belmecheri |first2=Soumaya |last3=Choy |first3=Kyungcheol |last4=Culleton |first4=Brendan J. |last5=Davies |first5=Lauren J. |last6=Froese |first6=Duane |last7=Heintzman |first7=Peter D. |last8=Hritz |first8=Carrie |last9=Kapp |first9=Joshua D. |last10=Newsom |first10=Lee A. |last11=Rawcliffe |first11=Ruth |last12=Saulnier-Talbot |first12=Émilie |last13=Shapiro |first13=Beth |last14=Wang |first14=Yue |last15=Williams |first15=John W. |date=2016-08-16 |title=Timing and causes of mid-Holocene mammoth extinction on St. Paul Island, Alaska |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=113 |issue=33 |pages=9310–9314 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1604903113 |doi-access=free |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=4995940 |pmid=27482085|bibcode=2016PNAS..113.9310G }}</ref> which is the most recent survival of North American mammoth populations.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schirber |first=Michael |title=Surviving Extinction: Where Woolly Mammoths Endured |url=http://www.livescience.com/animals/041019_Mammoth_Island.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927010903/http://www.livescience.com/animals/041019_Mammoth_Island.html |archive-date=September 27, 2007 |access-date=July 20, 2007 |work=Live Science |publisher=[[Imaginova|Imaginova Cororporation]]}}</ref><ref>Kristine J. Crossen, "5,700-Year-Old Mammoth Remains from the Pribilof Islands, Alaska: Last Outpost of North America Megafauna", Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Volume 37, Number 7, (Geological Society of America, 2005), 463.</ref><ref>David R. Yesner, Douglas W. Veltre, Kristine J. Crossen, and Russell W. Graham, "5,700-year-old Mammoth Remains from Qagnax Cave, Pribilof Islands, Alaska", Second World of Elephants Congress, (Hot Springs: Mammoth Site, 2005), 200–203</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Guthrie |first=R. Dale |date=June 17, 2004 |title=Radiocarbon evidence of mid-Holocene mammoths stranded on an Alaskan Bering Sea island |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |publisher=[[Nature Publishing Group]] |volume=429 |issue=6993 |pages=746–749 |bibcode=2004Natur.429..746D |doi=10.1038/nature02612 |pmid=15201907 |s2cid=186242235}}</ref> It is thought that this population died out as a result of diminishing fresh water, brought on by [[Climate change (general concept)|climate change]] making the island more arid, and exacerbated by the erosion of the few freshwater lakes present on the island that the mammoths used for drinking water as a result of mammoth activity.<ref name=":0" />

A mass die-off of [[puffin]]s at St. Paul Island between October 2016 and January 2017 has been attributed to ecosystem changes resulting from [[climate change]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shankman |first=Sabrina |date=May 29, 2019 |title=Mass Die-Off of Puffins Raises More Fears About Arctic's Warming Climate |url=https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29052019/puffin-deaths-arctic-climate-change-alaska-wildlife-biodiversity |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190730154355/https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29052019/puffin-deaths-arctic-climate-change-alaska-wildlife-biodiversity |archive-date=July 30, 2019 |access-date=August 3, 2019 |website=InsideClimate News |language=en-US}}</ref> Climate change has also made it warm enough for rats to survive St. Paul's cold winters, and so {{as of|2024|lc=yes}} the island's harbor is equipped with a number of traps to catch any rats carried in aboard ships.<ref>{{cite news |first=Amanda |last=Holpuch  |title=A Remote Alaskan Island Is on High Alert for a Rat |date=2024-09-25 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/25/us/rat-alaska-saint-paul-island.html |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

===Birds===
No fewer than 319 species of birds have been recorded on the island. In spring (May through mid-June) and fall (August through October), many rare birds, including Siberian vagrants, may be spotted on the island. The cliffs of Saint Paul, Saint George and Otter Island support large numbers of breeding seabirds, including critical nesting habitat for the very range-restricted [[red-legged kittiwake]]. The auk family is well represented here, with [[Horned puffin|horned]] and [[tufted puffin|tufted]] puffin, [[Thick-billed murre|thick-billed]] and [[common murre|common]] murre, [[parakeet]], [[Crested auklet|crested]] and [[Least auklet|least]] auklets and [[ancient murrelet]] occurring as breeders, and several other species occurring as vagrants or seasonal visitors. Breeding ducks include [[long-tailed duck]], [[northern pintail]], and [[green-winged teal]]. Breeding shorebirds include [[semipalmated plover]], the Pribilof subspecies of [[rock sandpiper]], [[least sandpiper]] and [[red-necked phalarope]]. Breeding landbirds are few, but include insular subspecies of [[grey-crowned rosy finch|gray-crowned rosy finch]] and [[Pacific wren]], [[snow bunting]], [[Lapland longspur]], and the occasional [[hoary redpoll|hoary]] or [[common redpoll|common]] redpoll, or [[common raven]]. Saint Paul Island Tours (part of the TDX Corp.) runs a natural history tourist program to the island of Saint Paul from May through early October, offering interested visitors the chance to explore the avifauna of the island.

===Northern fur seals===
[[File:St_Paul_Island,_Alaska_05s_Ak331.JPG|thumb|St Paul Island, seal rookeries in foreground, St Paul Village in distance.]]
One of the most notable sights on the island are the [[northern fur seal]] [[rookeries]]. The Pribilof Islands support about half of the global population, with some of the individual rookeries on Saint Paul Island containing over 100,000 seals. In late May, the male seals begin to arrive and stake out their territories in preparation for the arrival of the females, who typically arrive during the third week of June. The females give birth soon after making landfall, and by mid-July there will be hundreds of young pups around the island. On June 1, the rookeries are closed and remain off limits until mid-October. During the summer these marine mammals may be viewed, by permit, from blinds at two rookeries.

===Harbor seals, sea lions, walrus, whales===
[[Harbor seal]]s breed on Otter Island, several miles southwest of St. Paul Island, but nonetheless are often seen off St. Paul shores. Occasionally, [[Steller sea lion]]s haul out on St. Paul, but usually take refuge in the rookery at Walrus Island, some {{Convert | 10 | mi | 0}} northeast of St. Paul. On extremely rare occasions, [[grey whale]]s, [[orca]]s, and [[walrus]] are observed offshore.

===Blue fox===
The Blue fox is a subspecies of the [[Arctic fox]]. Endemic to the island, the fox can be found roaming the hills and climbing the cliffs as it scavenges for food. Though clearly able to capture the occasional gull, foxes near the town prefer to scavenge garbage and explore the fishing docks and Processing Plant. Kits hide under storage containers and gobble a fisherman's offered scraps. Some kits shed their dark color much faster than their siblings and adopt a fluffy white/grey coat by mid-September. Foxes inhabiting areas farther from the human dwellings boast a more aggressive and territorial manner. Edging the fur seal rookeries, the two species cohabit easily.

===Reindeer===
A large herd of [[reindeer]] roam the island.{{Citation needed|date=May 2012}} Of domesticated Russian stock, 25 reindeer were introduced to the island in the fall of 1911, but, after a peak of 2,046 organisms in 1938, the number decreased to 8.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Scheffer |first= Victor B. |title=The Rise and Fall of a Reindeer Herd|journal=The Scientific Monthly|volume=73 |number=6|date=December 1951|pages=356–62 |url=http://faculty.jsd.claremont.edu/dmcfarlane/bio146mcfarlane/papers/Reindeer%20_Pribilovs.pdf |access-date=May 1, 2012|bibcode= 1951SciMo..73..356S}}</ref>

===Wildflowers===
In spring, with the greening of the island, wildflowers begin to decorate the maritime tundra landscape. There are more than 100 species of wildflowers, from the Arctic [[lupin]]e, with its bluish-purple blossoms, to the glowing yellow [[Papaver radicatum|Alaska poppy]], that can be viewed.