The modern city of Kodiak is just one settlement on Kodiak Island, a lush landscape known as Alaska’s Emerald Isle. To locals, it is affectionately known as “the rock.”

Kodiak was the first capital of Russian Alaska, before it was moved to Sitka. During the Russian period, overharvesting of the sea otter for its precious fur led to its near extinction. The indigenous culture, the Suqpiaq (“the real people”), more commonly known as Alutiiq, was also at risk. Because of the influence of the Russian Orthodox church, the people and their traditional ways were protected. Today, St. Herman’s, a Russian Orthodox seminary, is located in Kodiak.

Kodiak is a community with tremendous cultural diversity, largely due to the fishing industry. The largest U.S. Coast Guard station is located here, fulfilling its mission not only to homeland security, but also patrolling Alaska’s extensive coastline for illegal foreign fishing, and performing life-saving search and rescue operations in some of the most dangerous fishing grounds in the world. While much of Kodiak’s past and present is tied to the sea, a recent focus of the economic diversification of the community has had residents looking toward space. A commercial launch complex was constructed here, bringing high-tech jobs and dollars to this area.

Nature has had a tremendous influence on Kodiak as well. Traces of the 1912 eruption of Novarupta volcano can be still be found in soils on the island, and the entire city had to be reconstructed after the 1964 Good Friday earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

The coastal environment supports not only one of the most productive fisheries in the U.S., but also one of the biggest populations of LARGE brown bears. These magnificent creatures own the shoreline, and feast on nutrient rich salmon. They are considered the same species of brown bear that you will find in interior Alaska, but are often 500 pounds heavier.