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Non-Continental: Alaska, Hawaii

provide up to six million adult salmon to the Bristol Bay fishery. Aleknagik Lake in southwestern Alaska is about 20 miles (32 km) long and 16 miles (26 km) wide. Its name is believed to come from the Yupik word meaning “wrong way home.” Lake Clark is about 42 miles (68 km) long and eight miles (13 km) wide and is located in southern Alaska. Lake Minchumina is about nine miles long and six miles wide. The lake’s location at almost the exact cen- ter of Alaska made it an important midway point for sled trail mail trans- portation in the 1920s and 1930s. It

each year from mid-May through September. The Copper River Delta spans 700,000 acres. Alaska also has many lakes. The largest is Iliamna Lake, which is 80 miles (129 km) long and 25 miles (40 km) wide. Iliamna Lake is the second- largest lake that lies completely within the borders of the United States, behind only Lake Michigan. Becharof Lake is 27 miles (44 km) long and 15 miles (24 km) wide and is the second-largest lake in Alaska. The lake serves as a nursery for the world’s second-largest sockeye salmon run. Each year, the lake and its tributaries

A polar bear walks along the Beaufort Sea coastline of Alaska. This area is part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), a pristine region in northeastern Alaska that covers 19.2 million acres. ANWR has been protected from develop- ment since 1960, although in recent years some have pushed for oil exploration in this vast region.