Does the Refuge have any experience at restoring island habitat?
The refuge has more than 50 years of experience restoring island habitats by removing introduced species. Introduced foxes have been removed from over 40 refuge islands restoring over one million acres of habitat. Seabirds on some of these islands have increased four- and five-fold since foxes were removed. Waterfowl, including loons and eiders, have increased dramatically on many of these islands. The Aleutian cackling goose was saved from near extinction; whiskered auklets which were once rare are now locally common; and the Evermann’s rock ptarmigan has been successfully reintroduced to fox-free habitat. The refuge plans to repeat this success with rat eradication. Refuge partners in the project, Island Conservation and The Nature Conservancy, have had extensive experience with restoring island habitats by removing introduced predators including rat eradications on other islands in the U.S. and internationally. The refuge and its partners have also cooperatively conducted pilot stud
