Izembek and Gary Titus

Cold Bay is home of management headquarters for Izembek Refuge. This refuge was the first site in the US to be designated a Wetland of International Importance, due to the numbers and diversity of its shorebirds and waterfowl: Pacific black brant, Emperor geese, Taverner's Canada geese, ducks, Stellar's elders, Tundra swans, ptarmigan, bald eagles, snow buntings, gray-crowned rosy finches, Lapland longspurs, and others. There are also bear, wolves, caribou, red fox, river otter, mink, and wolverine; sockeye, chum, coho, and pink salmon. 

We went to a talk put on by the Refuge this weekend, with Gary Titus speaking. Gary is an experienced Refuge Officer for Fish & Wildlife from the Kenai, who told us stories from his earlier career as a game warden, including a grizzly attack in which he almost lost his life just yards from his remote cabin in Lake Clark National Park (where his only neighbor was Dick Proenneke, famous author of the journals published in One Man's Wilderness, and subject of the PBS documentary Alone In The Wilderness). Gary is author of Alaska's No. 1 Guide (recounting the history of Andrew Berg, the first licensed hunting guide in the state). He also rents his remote cabin (and two others he built). With a small crowd present, we were able to ask him as many questions as we wanted, and we sat a few feet away from him relishing every second of it.