Carry Inlet is an embayment approximately 0.5 miles (0.9 km) wide and extends 3 miles (5 km) into the northwest coast of Shuyak Island in the Kodiak Archipelago, about 81 miles (130 km) south-southwest of Homer and 56 miles (90 km) north of Kodiak, Alaska. Shuyak Island, roughly 11 miles (18 km) across, is separated from Afognak Island by the narrow Shuyak Strait. The Stevenson Entrance to Cook Inlet separates Shuyak from the Barren Islands. The name Shuyak, from the Alaska Koniag people, was reported in 1785 by Grigory I. Shelikhov. It may be the same island labeled “Isla de Bonilla” on a 1791 map by Spaniard Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra. Carry Inlet is presumably named for a small boat portage at its entrance, connecting Shangin Bay to the east and Shelikof Strait to the west. The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey first published the name in 1911. The Border Ranges Fault aligns with the axis of Shangin Bay, parallel to Carry Inlet. It separates the partially metamorphosed sedimentary rocks of the McHugh Complex to the east from the Afognak pluton, an igneous intrusion to the west, situated between the western shore of Shangin Bay and the eastern shore of Carry Inlet. The western shore of Carry Inlet is characterized by the Shuyak Formation, which consists mainly of volcanic rocks such as greenstone, breccia, tuff, and argillite. The Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone, a convergent plate boundary, runs for 2,100 miles (3,400 km) along Alaska’s southern coastline and the Aleutian Islands. A portion of the trench lies just offshore, east of the Kodiak Archipelago, where the Pacific Plate is subducting beneath the North American Plate at a rate of about 3 inches (7.5 cm) per year. Subduction zone earthquakes are frequent, and sediment cores from four marshes on Shuyak Island record megathrust earthquakes from 1964, 1788, and approximately 400, 850, and 1,500 years ago. The cores also show evidence of the Novarupta volcanic eruption on the Katmai coast in 1912.

The Kodiak Archipelago lies about 19 miles (30 km) off the Alaska Peninsula in the Gulf of Alaska. This island group was home to the Alutiiq people, a Pacific Eskimo group also known as the Koniags. At the time of European contact in the 18th century, they numbered nearly 10,000, although larger estimates have been suggested based on archaeological sur­veys of large house pit sites along the Karluk and Ayakulik rivers. The Alutiiq people of the Kodiak Islands represent a cultural history spanning at least 7,000 years. They were preceded by a series of prehistoric cultures. The earliest was the Ocean Bay tradition, which evolved into the Kachemak tradition about 3,500 years ago. Although distinct, the Kachemak tradition appears to have developed locally from Ocean Bay. In the first centuries of the second millennium AD, influenced by an external culture, the Kachemak tradition transformed into the Koniag tradition, which is considered ancestral to the modern Alutiiq people. In 1784, a Russian settlement was established at Three Saints Bay on the eastern shore of Kodiak Island, although Russian fur hunters had previously set up temporary shore stations. The site suffered subsidence and likely a tsunami following an earthquake in 1788. In 1791, Alexander Baranov began relocating the settlement to what is now Kodiak. Shuyak Island was likely first explored by Russian and Alutiiq sea otter hunters. Initially, the convoluted shoreline of Carry Inlet was thought to be part of a large islet belonging to the Perevalnie Islands, located off Shuyak Island’s northern coast. In 1849, the Russian-American Company published charts naming the inlet “Ostrov Perevalny,” meaning “Island of Perevalny.” Marcus Baker of the U.S. Geological Survey later transliterated this to “Perevalnie Islets” in the first Geographic Dictionary of Alaska in 1900. It was eventually discovered that Carry Inlet is actually part of Shuyak Island.

The long-term protection of threatened habitats was one of the earliest goals of the Exxon Valdez Trustee Council, which was charged with restoring the environment damaged by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Habitat protection is a common restoration strategy in natural resource management. The Trustee Council provided funds to acquire titles or conservation easements from willing sellers of land deemed important for protecting valuable species. In December 1995, the Trustee Council approved $42 million to purchase a 26,665-acre (10,790-hectare) parcel on Shuyak Island from the Kodiak Island Borough. Shuyak Island features an irregular, rocky coastline and rolling terrain thickly forested with Sitka spruce, and a dense understory of alder, willow, devil’s club, blueberries, ferns, mosses, and lichens. The purchased parcel was bordered by Shuyak Island State Park to the west and the proposed Aleksandre Baranov State Game Refuge to the east. It supports a rich diversity of wildlife habitats, including seabird colonies, bald eagle nests, and harbor seal haulouts. Pink, coho, and chum salmon populate the streams, while Steller sea lions, sea otters, porpoises, and whales inhabit the nearshore waters. The rich intertidal zone supports harlequin ducks, black oystercatchers, marbled murrelets, and pigeon guillemots. Mature spruce forests provide probable nesting sites for marbled murrelets. The area offers high potential benefits for river otters, sea otters, and harbor seals that feed, breed, and haul out along the shoreline. Additionally, the region holds scenic value and supports wilderness-based recreation activities such as hunting, fishing, sea kayaking, and camping. Lands acquired on Shuyak Island are managed by the State of Alaska as part of Shuyak Island State Park, which includes four public-use cabins accessible only by air taxi or boats from Homer or Kodiak. Read more here and here. Explore more of Carry Inlet and Shuyak Island here: