Alaska real estate, AK - America Real Estate Directory

Alaska Real Estate

Welcome to the America Real Estate Directory

Alaska is the northernmost and westernmost state of the United States, and the largest state of the Union. It occupies the extreme northwestern region of the North American continent and is separated from Asia by the 51 mi wide Bering Strait. Alaska has belonged to the United States since 1867, when it was bought from Russia by Secretary of State William H. Seward. The United States paid Russia $7.2 million for the rights of the Russian American Company in Alaska. Beginning in the late 1970s, the economy of Alaska underwent a fundamental, and rapid, change as the state’s enormous oil deposits, discovered in the 1960s, were exploited. A 2006 real estate survey has estimated the population of Alaska at 670,000.

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Alyeska/Girdwood

Dave Bauer

E-mail: alaskadave@gci.net

Web Site

Anchorage click here

Anchorage is located in southern Alaska and a seaport on the Knik and Turnagain arms of Cook Inlet, at the base of the Chugach Mountains. Anchorage is the largest city in the state and serves as the transportation, commercial, and communications center for much of central and western Alaska.

Chugiak-Eagle River click here

Chugiak-Eagle River is located near Cook Inlet to the north of Anchorage. It is part of the Anchorage Metro Area.

Fairbanks

Audrey J. Foldoe

E-mail: audrey@pobox.alaska.net

Juneau click here

Juneau is located in at the base of Mount Roberts and of Mount Juneau, in southeastern Alaska. It is the commercial and distribution center for the Panhandle region. Industries include government activities, fishing and fish processing, lumbering, mining, and tourism.

More about Alaska

Farming in Alaska is generally confined to the Matanuska and Tanana river valleys, to part of the Kenai Peninsula, and to the area around Fairbanks. Greenhouse and nursery products are Alaska’s chief farm commodity, by value. Other commodities include milk and cream, potatoes, crops used for silage, hay, cattle and calves, barley, eggs, vegetables, and hogs.

Alaska is the leading fishing state, ranking first in both quantity and value of the annual catch. In the 1990s Alaska experienced record harvests of salmon and other fish. Most of the salmon are taken in the waters of southern Alaska. In addition, herring and halibut are caught in the Alaska Panhandle. Shellfish are also an important fishery product in Alaska. Most of the shellfish caught are shrimp and Dungeness crab.

Although 35 percent of the total land area of Alaska is classified as forest, much of that is sparse, open woodland, semimuskeg, and scrubland. In addition, most of the potentially productive forestland is inaccessible. Nevertheless, about 1.6 million hectares (about 4 million acres) of forests along the coast and another similarly sized tract in the Interior region are accessible and may have commercial value. The most valuable timber, consisting of dense stands of hemlock and spruce, is in the Tongass National Forest and in the Chugach National Forest along the coast. Nearly all of this timber lies within a few miles of available water transportation.

Alaska accounts for one quarter of all the petroleum produced in the United States and ranks second in production among the states after Texas. However, oil production declined steadily, falling from a peak of 2 million barrels a day to 1.3 million by 1997 as the Prudhoe Bay fields neared depletion. The Kenai Peninsula and Upper Cook Inlet have been producing modest amounts of petroleum and natural gas since the late 1950s. The natural gas is used for heating and electricity generation in Kenai and Anchorage, while some is processed into fertilizer and exported. Alaska also produces significant quantities of gold, zinc, silver, and lead, and modest amounts of antimony, platinum, mercury, tin, and other metals.

Manufacturing in Alaska is generally limited to the processing of local raw materials, and the state still has to import most of the manufactured goods it needs. However, manufacturing does play an important role in the economic life of the state, providing goods for shipment to other states and foreign countries. Alaska’s chief manufactures are foodstuffs; gasoline and petrochemicals; and some consumer goods. Canned and frozen fish products account for most of Alaska’s output of foodstuffs. Fish processing is carried on at numerous centers, including Ketchikan, Petersburg, Sitka, Cordova, and especially Kodiak, Dutch Harbor-Unalaska, Dillingham, and numerous other places on the Alaska Peninsula and Bristol Bay. The first oil refinery in Alaska opened near Kenai in 1963. In 1969 a major petrochemical complex was established in the same area.

Southeastern and much of south central Alaska obtain electricity from small hydroelectric facilities, particularly near Juneau, Sitka, Kodiak, Valdez, and Homer (Bradley Lakes). Anchorage obtains some electricity from a dam at Eklutna, but most of its power and heat is generated from natural gas. The Interior relies on coal-fired plants, including a new environmentally sound plant at Healy. Most of the remainder of Alaska relies on oil or diesel power generation, except for a massive installation at Prudhoe Bay, which uses natural gas to power the oil extraction complex.

Early in the 1950s Alaskans recognized tourism as a major source of income and tourists discovered Alaska as a vacationland. The development and advertising of national parks has contributed to a dramatic increase in Alaskan tourism during the past decade. Tourists come in organized groups on tour ships, buses, or airplanes; as motor home caravans; and as individuals enjoying a wilderness experience. International tourism has also shown a dramatic increase in the 1990s.

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