Park includes many streams and lakes vital to the Bristol Bay salmon fishery, including its namesake Lake Clark, and protects rainforests along the coastline of Cook Inlet, alpine tundra, glaciers, glacial lakes, and two volcanoes

How to Get There

Overview

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve is a national park in southwest Alaska, about 100 miles (160 km) southwest of Anchorage. The park was first proclaimed a national monument in 1978, then established as a national park and preserve in 1980. The park includes many streams and lakes vital to the Bristol Bay salmon fishery, including its namesake Lake Clark. A wide variety of recreational activities may be pursued in the park and preserve year-round. The park protects rainforests along the coastline of Cook Inlet, alpine tundra, glaciers, glacial lakes, major salmon-bearing rivers, and two volcanoes, Mount Redoubt and Mount Iliamna. Mount Redoubt is active, erupting in 1989 and 2009. The wide variety of ecosystems in the park mean that virtually all major Alaskan animals, terrestrial and marine, may be seen in and around the park. Salmon, particularly sockeye salmon, play a major role in the ecosystem and the local economy. Large populations of brown bears are attracted to feed on the spawning salmon in the Kijik River and at Silver Salmon Creek. Bear watching is a common activity in the park.

No roads lead to the park which can only be reached by boat or small aircraft, typically floatplanes. The major settled area in the park and preserve is Port Alsworth on Lake Clark. Five other settlements are near the park, populated mainly by Dena'ina natives. Prior to the park's establishment, isolated cabins were scattered around the region, the most well-known belonging to Richard Proenneke, whose films documenting his solitary life at Twin Lakes were made into Alone in the Wilderness in 2003.

Lake Clark was proclaimed a national monument by President Jimmy Carter using the Antiquities Act on December 1, 1978. Lake Clark's status was changed to national park and preserve in 1980 by Congress, and about two-thirds was designated wilderness. While both sport and subsistence hunting are permitted in the national preserve lands, only subsistence hunting by local residents is permitted within the national park.

Geography

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve covers 4,030,015 acres (1,630,889 ha) at the base of the Alaska Peninsula in southcentral Alaska, about 100 miles (160 km) southwest of Anchorage. Of the total area, about 2,637,000 acres (1,067,000 ha) lie in the park and 1,400,000 acres (570,000 ha) in the preserve. The park and associated national preserve extend from the Cook Inlet across the Chigmit Mountains and the Neacola Mountains, on the northern end of the Aleutian Range, and on into the Alaska interior. Lake Clark is the largest lake in the park, on the southwest corner of the park. The national preserve lands adjoin park lands on the west, offering both subsistence and sport hunting, in contrast to parklands, where only subsistence hunting by local residents is allowed. The extreme southwest section of the preserve includes Alaskan Native corporation lands, which are not open to the public. Most of the park section is designated as wilderness. The eastern part of the park near the Cook Inlet includes two active volcanoes, Mount Redoubt and Mount Iliamna. A third, Mount Spurr, is just outside the park to the east. The chief river in the park is the Kvichak River. Another large river, the Tlikakila River, runs across the park from its source at Summit Lake to Lake Clark, emerging from the lake and the park as the Newhalen River.

Geology

The park has four main physiographic regions. The upthrust granite Chigmit Mountains connect the Alaska Range to the Aleutian Range. Superimposed on these mountains and little to the east of the main range are the two stratovolcanoes, Redoubt 10,197 feet (3,108 m) high, and Iliamna at 10,016 feet (3,053 m). Glaciers have altered the mountains, carving cirques and U-shaped valleys into the range, which end abruptly on the east at the steep coast in deep bays or in outwash flats. On the west the glaciers have cut deeply enough to create lakes, dammed by terminal moraines at their downstream ends. Lake Clark, the largest, is the sixth largest lake in Alaska, 860 feet (260 m) deep and 42 miles (68 km) long.

The park includes a variety of unrelated rocks. The core of the Chigmit Mountains is a granite pluton forced upwards by the collision of the Pacific plate and the North American plate. Rocks in coastal areas are sedimentary in origin, and contain abundant fossils. Volcanic rocks intrude through these native rocks.

Activities

The park and preserve offer a variety of activities, including kayaking, rafting, fishing, hiking and camping. Most of the large Alaskan animals, and in particular brown bears, are present and viewable in the park. Fishing is allowed in both the park and preserve, while sport hunting is permitted in the preserve.

The 2,619,550-acre (1,060,090 ha) Jay S. Hammond Wilderness covers much of the park's area, excluding preserve lands and the Cook Inlet coast. The area includes three Wild and Scenic Rivers: the Chilikadrotna River, the Mulchatna River and the Tlikakila River. It was renamed after the former Alaska governor in 2018.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Lake Clark National Park and Preserve", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0