I finally got around to studing the Aleutian Islands the other day, for no other reason than that I like to Know About Stuff.
The Aleutians, from a geological perspective, are a chain of islands formed largely by Pacific Rim volcanism (they belong to the "Pacific Ring Of Fire"). There are several active and recently active volcanoes in the chain.
The islands are lush and green, but alas, the good news mostly stops there. Their maritime location south of the Bering Sea means that they are amongst the most windy places on earth, which makes trees a rare commodity on the islands. This photo of the Adak National Forest is not a joke...that is the only clump of trees on that island. The furthest West point on the chain (The Commander Islands) is actually a small group of islands belonging to Russia, and the most Westerly island in the chain belonging to the USA is over 1500 miles from Anchorage, Alaska. The islands lie north of 50 degrees latitude, and their climate is a cool, moderated maritime climate, with non-stop winds, rain and fog. Aircraft operations in the Aleutians are impeded by the poor weather conditions; numerous stories exist of white-knuckle rides even on large planes. Airports are few and far between, seaplane harbors are almost non-existent, and the only fuel generally available for small planes is Mogas. If you have to have 100LL, operating in the Western Aleutians is certainly not for you.
The Aleutians became a strategically important archipelago in World War II when Japan invaded and briefly occupied 2 of the islands before being ejected by the USA. After World War II, the islands became an outpost for the Cold War, with the USA extending its military presence at Shemya and Adak and flying radar surveillance missions into the 1980's. The USA also tested nuclear devices underground on Amchitka Island in the 1960's and 1970's. In recent years the military has pulled back from both Shemya and Adak. Today Shemya is still operational, but occupied by a much smaller number of civilian contractors, with occasional military inspections.
Because the Aleutians are not exactly appealing tourist destinations, most of the informative web data about the Western Aleutians is from websites maintained by military veterans. Here is a photo site from a person stationed at Adak.
Some idea of the beauty and remoteness of the islands can be viewed in this photo album by a military veteran who recently visited Adak Island. He encountered a mixture of remoteness, lush unspoiled scenery, and former military buildings and facilities busy being reclaimed by nature.
The economy of the Aleutians is somewhat precarious. The reduction of military activity in the last 15 years (the military facilities on Adak and Shemya islands have both closed since 1990) has led to a big loss of revenue and population. Most recently, the economic plight of Adak led to its fuel supply being cut off.The fuel supply appears to have been restored via some sort of emergency agreement - for the time being.
Adak's plight could be ameliorated if the island stopped having to rely on fossil fuels for much of its basic energy needs. A study as long ago as 1979 compared the cost of JP-5 fuel against geothermal energy sources, at a time when geothermal heat generation engineering was much more primitive than it is today. The extraordinary winds on the Aleutian Islands could easily be harnessed to generate electricity, and the islands are of recent volcanic origin, which means that there is almost certainly a high geothermal gradient which can be tapped to provide hot water and/or steam supplies. A handful of large wind turbines installed in the hills close to Adak would probably suffice to provide electricity for the current size of the community for example.
The more Easterly island of Unalaska is currently exploring options for geothermal energy extraction; however, Unalaska has a much larger population than Adak, which since the departure of the US military bases, has collapsed to a community of only about 100 people.
As far as economic activity is concerned, the fishing industry in the Aleutians appears to be suffering via a combination of foreign factory ship competition and quotas, so other sources of revenues need to be found to avoid the islands becoming totally depopulated. Eco-tourism looks to be an obvious source of revenue; the islands are rich in flora, fauna (particularly seabirds) and are mostly unspoiled. The flora and fauna of the islands are currently being helped by special projects to depopulate some islands of rats and predators (mostly foxes) that were imported in the last 200 years. However, the overall climate is not exactly inviting, and the distances involved to travel to the islands, in common with most other archipelagoes, are great. The sole "local" airline, Reeve Aleutian Airways, ceased operations in November 2000. The Aleutians are not Hawaii or the Seychelles; visitors cannot sip Mai Tais under palm trees. On a bad day you may struggle to stand upright while facing into the wind, and shorts are out of the question for all but a few days each year...