On the Expedition

Observe the lives of fur seals and contribute to the conservation of the Bering Sea.

Your team will work with dedicated research staff to observe fur seals from a rookery and record data on their numbers, genders and ages. You’ll conduct these tasks for four hours at a time each day, reaching the rookery after a half-mile hike over dramatic rock-strewn tundra. When you’re finished observing and recording information, you’ll head back to upload your data and prepare your gear for the next day. You may also spend some time working with Island Sentinel, a local wildlife monitoring group, helping with observations of Steller sea lions or assisting with a reindeer census. In your recreational time, you may choose to explore the village or hike around the island.

Meals and Accommodations

You will stay with your team in a historic house in the village of St. George. The house features all modern conveniences with shared bedrooms and one bathroom. The village has a diesel generator for electricity, but there can be occasional power outages. A cook will prepare dinners of standard American fare, like pizza and chicken, as well as some local favorites, such as halibut fish pie and reindeer stir-fry. Team members will make their own breakfasts, snacks, and lunches, and pack thermoses of hot drinks to bring into the field.

About the Research Area

Earthwatch teams will work on St. George Island, the second largest of the volcanic Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea. St. George features stunning and diverse landscapes, from rugged hills to broad expanses of wet, flat tundra. Steep cliffs form much of the coastline, some dropping more than 1,000 feet into the ocean below. At the base of the cliffs, rocky shelves and boulder beaches meet the sea.

The Pribilofs are the world’s principal breeding area for red-legged kittiwakes and northern fur seals, and St. George alone supports astonishingly high concentrations of marine mammals, seabirds, fish, and invertebrates. The island’s high biodiversity and biological productivity are the result of its proximity to the continental shelf break. St. George was designated as a research reserve in 1973 with the termination of the commercial fur seal harvest and the beginning of a 19-year program of population and behavioral research.