Site Name: Kasegaluk Lagoon
Status: Recognized State: Alaska
Priority: Global Country: US
Criteria Proposed: A1, A4ii, A4iv
Criteria Confirmed: A4i, B1, D3 		County:
North Slope
 
Latitude: 70.13333
Longitude: -162.5
 Area (ha): 873202.0 Elevation (m):
Min 0.0  Max 10.0  Avg 0.0
 
Bird Conservation Region:
Arctic Plains and Mountains 		Endemic Bird Area:
 
Site Description:
Kasegaluk Lagoon is one of the longest lagoon-barrier island systems in the world. It extends along the coast of northwest Alaska for over 170 km and has a maximum width of about 10 km.

Maximum depth is less than 4 m, with much of the area only 1-2 m deep. The lagoon is protected from the Chukchi Sea by a series of barrier islands and is fed by five major rivers.

 
Ornithological Significance:
Over 25,000 shorebirds, including 19 different species, have been recorded at this site. Red Phalaropes were the most numerous shorebird recorded (46%), followed by Dunlin (20%), Red-necked Phalaropes (5%), Pectoral Sandpipers (5%), and Semipalmated Sandpipers (3%). Peak single day counts in August show up to 2,500 birds, mostly Red Phalaropes.

Waterfowl use a wider area on and offshore. The northern portion of the Kasegaluk Lagoon (north of Icy Cape) is a primary feeding/staging area of Black Brant, with up to 40,000 birds present there in late summer.

There is also an Aleutian tern colony in the southern portion of the lagoon (south of Point Lay).

 
Criteria:
 
Species Data and Criteria :
Common Name Date Seasonal/ Daily Season # Observed Density (#/km2) Units Proposed Criteria Confirmed Criteria
Snow Goose 2001 breeding  100    Unknown     
Brant 2001 breeding  40000    Unknown  A4ii - >1% global pop. seabirds/terrestrial sp. simultaneously; 5% over season
A4iv - >5% NA pop migr waterbrds; >5% globl pop migr seabrds/terrstral sp in season
 A4i - >1% N.A waterbird pop. simultaneously; 5% over season
B1 - Continental Species of Conservation Concern
Greater Scaup 2001 passage  100    Unknown     
Common Eider 2001 breeding  1000    Unknown     
Spectacled Eider 2001 passage  100    Unknown  A1 - Global Species of Conservation Concern
  
Long-tailed Duck 2001 passage  1000    Unknown     
Surf Scoter 2001 passage  100    Unknown     
Dunlin 1700 unknown  0    Unset     
Red Phalarope 1700 unknown  1    Unknown     
 
Ownership
This site has been the object of two major studies, one ground-based in 1981 (Lehnhausen and Quinlan, 1981) and the other using aerial surveys between 1989 and 1991 (Johnson et al. 1992).

Suggested Protection measures: -Transportation of petroleum products in the seasons not important for eiders and other waterbirds. -Provide adequate spill response equipment to local population and on vessels tranporting oil products.

% of IBA Ownership

 
Habitat
Intertidal mud/sandflats, barrier islands, gravel shoreline, unvegetated intertidal.

Shoreline: 948 km Barrier beach/spit: 44 km2 Unvegetated intertidal: 108 km2

% of IBA Habitat
  Wetlands / Emergent Herbaceous Wetlands / Other 

 
Land Use
hunting; fishing; urban industrial transport.
% of Total Use of IBA Land Use
  fisheries/aquaculture 
  hunting 
  urban/industrial/transport 

 
Conservation Issues
There is risk of pollution associated with the present transportation of petroleum products.

There is potential for oil development in the Chukchi Sea, with the risk of oil pollution from increasing vessel traffic. If global warming removes ice and opens shipping routes in the Arctic Ocean, the increase in large vessel traffic through the Bering Strait would also increase the threat of oil pollution.

Level Threat
  Unknown 

Citation: National Audubon Society 2009. Important Bird Areas in the U.S.
Available at http://www.audubon.org/bird/iba 11/2009