An adult female bear peers through a dense thicket of cow parsnip. During the summer months, Kodiak turns a lush, vibrant green as thick vegetation carpets the island. Kodiak bears balance their diet with a variety of plants, including grass. Photo by Lisa Hupp.
With 1.9-million acres to wander and no portion more than 15 miles from the Pacific, Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge includes some of the most diverse habitat on the planet, covering the southern two-thirds of Kodiak Island, all of Ban and Uganik islands, and a section of Afognak Island. Though notorious for its famed denizen, the Kodiak brown bear, a genetically distinct subspecies of browns/grizzlies, the refuge protects more than just big bruins. Consider that among the lush fjords, valleys, wetlands, and 4,000-foot peaks, more than 1,000 pairs of nesting bald eagles claim the area as their home, along with 250 species of migrating or breeding fish, birds, and mammals. Salmon nourish the eagles, along with approximately 3,000 bears, as the fish wriggle and spawn in more than 100 streams within the refuge’s ecosystem.
In 1941, President Roosevelt proclaimed the area a refuge in order to protect Kodiak bears; however, other species thrived from the designation. Today, Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge remains one of the largest intact and pure island environs on the planet. – introduction by Michelle Theall
Bald eagles get their distinctive snowy white heads when they become adults at the age of four or five. Fish are an important part of their diet, so an island ecosystem with ice-free waters year-round makes an idyllic home. 
A bird of the Alaskan and Canadian boreal forests, the northern hawk owl hunts mostly by daylight—delighting bird watchers and photographers. Look for their distinctive silhouette with long tail perched in solitary trees. As they hunt, their appearance and behavior are hawk-like; they quickly dive and swoop across meadows and then rise to perch again on branches with their caught prey.
During winter months, Kodiak is one of the few places in the world to see flocks of emperor geese. Truly an Alaskan bird, most of the global population nests on the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge and migrates south to the Alaska Peninsula, Aleutian Islands, and Kodiak Archipelago. 
A red fox in its scruffy summer coat stalks through the grass. Red foxes are one of just a few land mammals considered native to the island. They often look for leftover salmon scraps when bears are fishing, and will also hunt tundra voles and small birds. 
A sockeye salmon with the blue and silver scales that show it is still ocean-bright and has yet to change into the freshwater spawning colors of green and red. Kodiak Refuge conserves a landscape that runs with more than 100 salmon-bearing streams, supporting all five species of Pacific salmon. Salmon form the lifeblood of the refuge, nourishing the land, people, and wildlife. Salmon have long been a vital resource for the Alutiiq people, who have lived on the Archipelago for at least 7,500 years. From the ancient archaeological remains of fish camps to the current subsistence, commercial, and sport fisheries, salmon harvest is a way of life here.
Bear cubs stay close to their mothers during their first summer, following wherever she goes. The sign and wooden steps are no longer there.
