By admin 
A century ago, a Norwegian-born mariner nicknamed “Herring Pete” and his Austrian-born wife operated a fox farm on a scenic, remote and mountainous Kenai Peninsula island.
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Now that 24-acre island parcel is part of 400,000-acre Kachemak Bay State Park.
The Conservation Fund, a private nonprofit that protects vulnerable lands and habitat, has purchased the site on Nuka Island known as Herring Pete’s Cove and donated it to the state.
Nuka Island, which comprises about 15,300 acres, is adjacent to Nuka Passage, a well-traveled, safe and sheltered route used by boaters sailing between Seward and Homer. The region is a in itself for wildlife watchers. It has salmon, seabird colonies, marine mammals and land mammals.
“It is a wild and fascinating, beautiful place,” said Chris Little, Alaska field representative at The Conservation Fund. It is rich with fish and wildlife, and “the scenery is absolutely breathtaking.”
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With the purchase of Herring Pete’s Cove, all of Nuka Island is now folded into Kachemak Bay State Park. The Conservation Fund’s 2023 acquisition of a site called Mike’s Bay added 22.5 acres.
“Now the entire island is public, which is really cool,” Little said.
The Conservation Fund previously added acreage elsewhere to the park to ensure public access to a site called Saddle Trail. That purchase, comprising 5 acres, was completed in 2022, and the parcel was officially added to the park in early 2023.
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