Alaska is
expansive and diverse. Its magnitude is difficult to
comprehend, but its rewards are many and apparent. For
climate and topography, "the Great Land" constitutes a
virtual subcontinent. Seventeen National Park System areas
protect representative natural, cultural, and historic
features of this immense landscape. Ten were created by the
1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
you can find out about the 15 national parks in Alaska.
Visiting Alaska requires careful planning. Alaska's
isolation and vastness can make travel to and through the
state challenging. From Wrangell-St. Elias, the largest
national park in the system, to Anarchic, one of the least
visited park sites in the nation, there's plenty to learn
about your Alaska national parks.
Two-thirds of the acreage of the entire U.S. National Park
System is in Alaska. These 16 parks protect an outstanding
and diverse collection of immense wilderness, abundant
wildlife, spectacular
scenery, and
native culture.
Each park
area in Alaska has a compendium consisting of the
compiled designations, closures, openings, permit
requirements, and
other provisions established by the Superintendent under the
discretionary authority granted in 36 CFR 1.5 and elsewhere
in
regulations. As a result of our review of part 13 and the
associated
park compendiums the following changes are being made. These
changes,
discussed below under Summary of Comments, and as noted
above,
represent the first phase of an ongoing rulemaking process
to be
conducted in conjunction with an annual review of individual
park
compendiums. Most of the revised rules replace existing
provisions in
park compendiums “Subsistence is a way that cultures. This
way of life
is not confined to the land. It stretches out to the sky
and…the waters and rivers. The creatures of the earth give
themselves to the
people, who in turn share with family and friends, shaping
relationships that celebrate life.”
The team’s service to
the Alaska parks is guided primarily by the National Park
Service Organic Act of 1916 and the Alaska National Interest
Lands Conservation Act of 1980 (ANILCA). The State of Alaska
contains 15 national parks and preserves, plus the Alagnak
Wild River and two Affiliated Areas; the Inupiat Heritage
Center and the Aleutian World War II National Historic Area.
Overall, Alaska’s parks enclose 85,000 acres of land
(219,000 square kilometers); a number that represents
two-thirds of the entire land holdings of the National Park
Service. And contrary to popular myth, humans have occupied
a prominent and integral place in the Alaskan environment
for at least 14,000 years. Successive waves of people,
beginning with the first Native Americans and ending with
the “Oil Boom” have been attracted to the rich natural
resources of Alaska. The ancient Paleo-Indians came after
the mammoth; the Russians in pursuit of fur, and the more
recent Klondikers sought the state’s wealth in gold. The
long and extensive record of the lives and doings of these
peoples over time resides in the numerous cultural resources
that dot the state’s varied landscapes.
The crown jewels of
Alaska include:
is world renowned for its wildlife viewing, and also
boasts Mt. McKinley, the highest mountain in North
America.
Glacier Bay,
the largest protected marine ecosystem in the National
Park Service (NPS), provides summer habitat for humpback
whales and the largest thriving breeding colony for harbor
seals throughout the Gulf of Alaska.
Katmai
National Park
has
the state's highest brown bear population density.
Wrangell-St.
Elias
is
the nation's largest park, six times larger than
Yellowstone, and contains the massive Malaspina Glacier,
larger than the state of Rhode Island.
A bit of
history and culture are preserved at Alaska's Sitka
National Historical Park, where Tlingit totem poles mark
the last major Tlingit Indian resistance to Russian
colonization.
Alaska's
national parks are some of the most pristine and natural
wilderness areas in the nation. But developers, snow
mobilers, and even Alaska's own Congressional delegation
are fighting to change the very nature of Alaska's crown
jewels.
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