Organic Beef, Aleutian Islands

Free Range Cattle

Bering Pacific Ranches Ltd operates a certified organic cattle ranch at Fort Glenn, Umnak Island, Alaska in the Aleutian Island chain. This mostly uninhabited volcanic island provides cattle a vast area to roam and forage on the nutrient rich vegetation and drink volcanic spring water.  The area is so vast that Bering Pacific Ranches uses helicopters to herd the cattle.

                         Photo by: Julian Olivas

  Photo by: Julian Olivas                       

 Ranching on the island started when Russian settlers first brought over cattle in the early 18th century.  About 15,000 reindeer share the island, which is free of predators like bears and wolves. 

Ride along with Josh Stamm as he films a mustering

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp3ip58bZkI

Bering Pacific Ranches’ approximately 7,000 cattle consists of a cow base of about 2,500 breeding cows and heifers and plenty of bulls to keep them bred. The balance of the herd is made up of market cattle, both slaughter and feeder animals, ranging in age from calves and yearlings to mature cull bulls and cows. This strong herd of cattle is strengthened through natural selection and none of these animals have ever received any hormones or inoculations. They are completely isolated from husbandry propagated diseases and have never eaten the protein feeds that caused mad cow disease in other parts of the world. 

Due to the forage and water on the island, the organic beef also shows omega-3 fatty acid levels of more than six times the omega-3 of 95-percent lean beef. As a result, Alaska Organic Beef is one of the few raw meat products with USDA-approved “excellent source of” claim for several nutrients and omega-3 nutritional claims. The beef also has almost seven times the amount of calcium, 1.5 times the amount of iron and twice the amount of unsaturated fats compared with typical 95-percent lean beef. 

The product is certified organic by Oregon Tilth and is sold under the Alaska Organic Beef brand. Bering Pacific Ranches operates the island’s only certified-organic processing plant, which is used seasonally and employs an onsite USDA inspector during the October harvest. 

 Watch this space for news on livestock Auctions 

       Photo by: Julian Olivas                          

On Umnak Island, volcanoes are separated by eroded valleys, verdant grassy slopes and expansive wildflower filled meadows. Umnak is enisled by the Bering Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south.  This little known and rarely visited remote and spectacular coastline last saw volcanic activity in 2008 with the eruption of the Okmok Volcano. 

   Alaska Commerce Department Photo

The village of Nikolski is a small, traditional Aleut settlement on Umnak Island. Aleuts migrated across the Bering Land Bridge between 8,000 and 15,000 BC. The first reported settlement of Aleuts was in the area now known as Nikolski Bay which is believed to be the oldest continuously occupied community in the world. Umnak Island wаs fіrst reached by independent Russian fur traders іn 1742. From 1743 it was the site of sea otter hunting and the native red fox and in 1750 the Russians introduced the Arctic fox to Umnak.  By 1920 fox farming on Umnak was booming.  Residents were evacuated when the Japanese attacked Unalaska in June 1942, seizing Attu and Kiska and residents ultimately returned in 1944.

Fort Glenn

Decommissioned in 1950, Fort Glenn, which provided aerial defensive cover for the U.S. bases in Unalaska Bay, is the most comprehensive and intact World War II base in the Aleutian Islands. Constructed between January and April 1942, Cape Field's first runway was then the U.S. Army's most westerly airfield in the Aleutian Islands. Fighter pilots stationed at Fort Glenn led the counterattack against Japanese pilots bombing Dutch Harbor on June 3-4, 1942, Fort Glenn also served as the initial forward base to launch bombing attacks on Japanese installations at Attu and Kiska.

The Bering Pacific Ranch at Fort Glenn

 Photo of the ranch house by Julian Olivas

Bering Pacific Ranches took up a lease on 1.5 million acres of ranch land in 1993. That lease is in effect until December 31, 2031 with an option to renew. The ranch itself is at Fort Glenn, the decommissioned US forces WWII base.

Photo by Julian Olivas

Photo by Julian Olivas

Photo by Julian Olivas

Photo by Julian Olivas

Julian Olivas a Helicopter Pilot and Seasonal Ranch Hand at Bering Pacific Ranches is publishing a book of some of his incredible images and experiences on Umnak Island. You can see some of those images here: http://julianolivas.blogspot.ca/