Bristol Bay Borough, in Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zones 4a-4b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Bristol Bay Borough holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Bristol Bay Borough, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. Enter your address and we'll score 1,085 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Bristol Bay Borough — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your parcel report in seconds — read in full free for your first 14 days
Bristol Bay Borough — the short answer
Bristol Bay Borough, Alaska: USDA zones 4a-4b, about 135 days between hard freezes, across 308K acres.
- USDA zones
- 4a-4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 13
- KING SALMON AIRPORT station, 66 ft — 20 km away, 30 yr record
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 25
- KING SALMON AIRPORT station, 66 ft — 20 km away, 30 yr record
- Days between freezes
- ~135
- KING SALMON AIRPORT station, 66 ft — 20 km away, 30 yr record
- County area
- 308K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zones 4A–4B
Zones in Bristol Bay Borough. Alaska and Hawaii zones come from USDA's separate 2023 AK/HI maps; the national thumbnail map covers the lower 48 only, so the range is shown as text here.
Zone 4a-4b is Bristol Bay Borough's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bristol Bay Borough's 135-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil in Bristol Bay County
Detailed USDA soil-survey (SSURGO) mapping is limited across Bristol Bay County, so there isn't a reliable county-wide soil summary to show here yet — a gap in the national survey, not in the ground itself.
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bristol Bay Borough
Each reading below is measured for Bristol Bay Borough itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBristol Bay Borough runs about 135 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredBristol Bay Borough sits in USDA hardiness zones 4a-4b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
What Grows in Bristol Bay Borough
We scored all 1,085 plants against Bristol Bay Borough's own USDA zone 4a-4b and its own 135-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Alaska profile.
More to grow in Alaska
Alaska has a growing page for many more plants than fit above — a rotating sample of the rest of the shelf.
Is it too late to plant in Bristol Bay Borough?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 25 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Bristol Bay County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Bristol Bay County — 58 documented sites across 5 of the 8 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Bristol Bay County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 8 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Bristol Bay Borough
Closest first, across Bristol Bay County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Camai ClinicUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Bristol Bay BoroughUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Red Salmon PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Pen Air NaknekUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Naknek HWY ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Naknek Engine SalesUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Lift Station #3Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Lift Station #2Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Lift Station #1Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- City MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- TRIDENT SEAFOODS - NAKNEKToxics Release Inventory · 0.5 mi
- TRIDENT SEAFOODS - NAKNEKBrownfields · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius.
Measured from Bristol Bay Borough's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Browse the full contamination data for this area
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Bristol Bay Borough.
Total Sites
58
across Bristol Bay County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Bristol Bay County
Severity Distribution
across Bristol Bay County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bristol Bay Borough, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 20 sites across Bristol Bay County. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Bristol Bay Borough
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,085 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bristol Bay Borough average
Your land is one point inside Bristol Bay Borough
Everything above resolves to Bristol Bay Borough as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 308K acres. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at county scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better county average.
Your Lot vs the Bristol Bay Borough Average
Bristol Bay Borough Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a-4b, averaged across Bristol Bay Borough
- ●One soil character for all of Bristol Bay Borough
- ●Frost dates read at Bristol Bay Borough's scale: May 13 to Sep 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bristol Bay Borough's 4a-4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Bristol Bay Borough
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bristol Bay Borough, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bristol Bay Borough averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bristol Bay Borough — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bristol Bay Borough average
How we know this about Bristol Bay Borough
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Bristol Bay Borough carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Bristol Bay Borough
When does frost risk typically end in Bristol Bay Borough?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bristol Bay Borough typically lands around May 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Jun 3.
How long is the growing season in Bristol Bay Borough?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bristol Bay Borough sees about 135 frost-free days — roughly May 13 through Sep 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 3 to Sep 11, about 100 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bristol Bay Borough?
The federal record around Bristol Bay Borough is a meaningful one — 58 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (25), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Bristol Bay Borough?
With about 135 frost-free days between hard freezes, Bristol Bay Borough rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 163 to 191 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 13 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Bristol Bay Borough's scale — its 4a-4b band and its 135-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bristol Bay Borough's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Alaska's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Bristol Bay Borough’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Bristol Bay Borough's own scale — its own ~135-day span between 28°F freezes and 58 documented sites inside its boundary; 2 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bristol Bay Borough's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4a-4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bristol Bay Borough's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~135-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 58 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Bristol Bay Borough's boundary and the 308,084 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,085 plants clear zones 4a-4b and a ~135-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
Inherited from a wider read
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Bristol Bay Borough — the ~135 days above is one reading at its centre; the 24 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bristol Bay Borough's 308,084 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 58 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Bristol Bay Boroughread your own land →