Lake Clark National Park and Preserve is a United States national park and preserve in southwest Alaska, about 100 miles (160 km) southwest of Anchorage. The park was first named a national monument in 1978 and became a national park and preserve in 1980 through the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. The park includes many streams and lakes that are important for the Bristol Bay salmon fishery, including Lake Clark, which gives the park its name. Many different activities can be enjoyed in the park and preserve throughout the year. The park protects rainforests along the coastline of Cook Inlet, alpine tundra, glaciers, glacial lakes, major rivers where salmon live, and two volcanoes, Mount Redoubt and Mount Iliamna. Mount Redoubt is active and has erupted in 1989 and 2009. The wide range of ecosystems in the park allows visitors to see nearly all major Alaskan animals, both on land and in the ocean. Salmon, especially sockeye salmon, are important to the ecosystem and the local economy. Large numbers of brown bears are often seen feeding on spawning salmon in the Kijik River and at Silver Salmon Creek. Watching bears is a common activity in the park.
There are no roads to the park. Visitors can only reach it by boat or small aircraft, such as floatplanes. The main settlement in the park and preserve is Port Alsworth on Lake Clark. Five other settlements are near the park and are mostly inhabited by Dena'ina people. Before the park was created, many isolated cabins were scattered across the area. One well-known cabin belonged to Richard Proenneke. His films about his life at Twin Lakes were made into a movie called Alone in the Wilderness in 2003.
Lake Clark was named a national monument by President Jimmy Carter using the Antiquities Act on December 1, 1978. In 1980, Congress changed its status to a national park and preserve, and about two-thirds of the area was designated as wilderness. Both sport hunting and subsistence hunting are allowed in the national preserve, but only subsistence hunting by local residents is allowed in the national park.
Geography
Lake Clark National Park and Preserve covers about 4 million acres (1.6 million hectares) at the base of the Alaska Peninsula in southcentral Alaska, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage. Of the total area, about 2.6 million acres (1.1 million hectares) are in the park, and 1.4 million acres (570,000 hectares) are in the preserve. The park and preserve extend from Cook Inlet across the Chigmit Mountains and the Neacola Mountains, which are part of the northern end of the Aleutian Range, and into the interior of Alaska. Lake Clark is the largest lake in the park, located in the southwest corner. The preserve lands are next to the park lands on the west, allowing both subsistence and sport hunting, while the park allows only subsistence hunting by local residents. The extreme southwest section of the preserve includes lands owned by Alaskan Native corporations, which are not open to the public. Most of the park is designated as wilderness. The eastern part of the park near Cook Inlet includes two active volcanoes, Mount Redoubt and Mount Iliamna. A third volcano, Mount Spurr, is just outside the park to the east. The main river in the park is the Kvichak River. Another large river, the Tlikakila River, flows through the park from its source at Summit Lake to Lake Clark, then exits the lake and the park as the Newhalen River.
The park has no roads. Visitors can only reach the park by air taxi or by boat along the Cook Inlet coast and Lake Clark. Because much travel in the area is by air, the mountains create a major challenge for air traffic. Lake Clark Pass, which is 1,050 feet (320 meters) high, provides a low-elevation path through the mountains by air and is the main route between Anchorage and western Alaska.
The main inhabited area in the park is Port Alsworth on Lake Clark. It has a visitor center operated by the Park Service and several privately owned lodges. Air taxis regularly travel between Port Alsworth and other communities. Other private lodges are located in different parts of the park.
Geology
The park has four main physiographic regions. The upthrust granite Chigmit Mountains connect the Alaska Range to the Aleutian Range. Two stratovolcanoes, Redoubt (10,197 feet or 3,108 meters high) and Iliamna (10,016 feet or 3,053 meters high), are located slightly to the east of the main mountain range. Glaciers have shaped the mountains, creating cirques and U-shaped valleys. These valleys end suddenly on the east at steep coastal areas in deep bays or outwash flats. On the west, glaciers have carved deep valleys that formed lakes, which are blocked by terminal moraines at their downstream ends. Lake Clark, the largest lake in the park, is the sixth largest lake in Alaska. It is 860 feet (260 meters) deep and 42 miles (68 kilometers) long.
The park contains a variety of rock types. The core of the Chigmit Mountains is a granite pluton that was pushed upward by the collision of the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate. Rocks in coastal areas are sedimentary and contain many fossils. Volcanic rocks are found intruding through these native rocks.
Redoubt is the park’s active volcano. It is 10,197 feet (3,108 meters) high, about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) wide, and has a volume of about 30 to 35 cubic kilometers. The stratovolcano rises through the Chigmit batholith and has a summit crater 1.8 kilometers (1.1 miles) wide. The Drift Glacier begins at the summit and flows through a gap in the mountain’s rim. Redoubt’s most recent active phase started on December 14, 1989, with ash eruptions. The ash clouds disrupted air travel, causing all four engines of KLM Flight 867 to fail when the plane flew through the ash at 25,000 feet (7,600 meters). The 747 safely returned to Anchorage. Four other planes were damaged in the same event, raising awareness of the dangers of high-altitude volcanic ash. Redoubt remained quiet after 1990 until March and April 2009, when it erupted with pyroclastic flows that melted ice, creating lahars on the Drift River. These lahars threatened the Drift River Terminal Facility near the park.
Iliamna has not been active recently. Like Redoubt, it sits on Jurassic granite basement rock but has been significantly shaped by glaciers, which have eroded the southern and eastern slopes. The mountain occasionally experiences seismic activity, causing alert levels to rise during earthquake events. The peak has active fumaroles that sometimes produce visible vapor plumes.
Climate
According to the Köppen climate classification system, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve has a Subarctic climate (Dfc) with cool summers and rainfall throughout the year. Dfc climates are characterized by a coldest month with an average temperature below 0°C (32°F), 1–3 months with average temperatures above 10°C (50°F), all months with average temperatures below 22°C (72°F), and similar amounts of rain or snow in all seasons. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the Plant Hardiness zone at Dick Proenneke's Cabin on Twin Lakes, located at an elevation of 1,988 feet (606 m), is 2b. This zone has an average annual extreme minimum temperature of −43.0°F (−41.7°C).
Activities
The park and preserve have many different activities, such as kayaking, rafting, fishing, bird-watching, hiking, and camping. Large Alaskan animals, including brown bears, live in the park and can be seen there. Fishing is allowed in both the park and preserve, but sport hunting is only allowed in the preserve. In the winter, ice fishing is also available.
Ecology
Lake Clark National Park protects many different types of Alaskan landscapes and ecosystems, which are divided into four main regions. The coastal areas along the Cook Inlet, from Tuxedni Bay to Chinitna Bay, include coastline and marine environments. The second region consists of the mountains in the Alaska, Aleutian, and Chigmit Ranges, which are covered with glaciers. On both sides of these mountains, valleys, lakes, and foothills form landscapes shaped by glaciers. Boreal forests, which are made up mostly of white and black spruce trees, cover the lower areas in the southwest part of the park. White spruce trees have been harmed by spruce bark beetles and outbreaks of spruce needle rust, which have caused orange-colored spores to cover the surface of Lake Clark. In the northern and western parts of the park, tundra regions exist mainly because of high elevation. These tundra areas support caribou and ptarmigans.
Salt marshes along the Cook Inlet are among the most productive ecosystems in the park. Although they cover less than 1% of the park’s area, they provide food for brown and black bears in early summer. Lake Clark’s coastal areas are considered some of the best places in the world to view bears, along with the coast of Katmai National Park. Most bears gather at Chinitna Bay or Silver Salmon Creek during fish spawning season. Chinitna Bay is often listed as one of the top bear viewing spots in Alaska. Tuxedni Bay, located north of Chinitna Bay, also offers excellent bear viewing opportunities. Up to 20 brown bears have been seen feeding on clams and sedges at one time. Fewer visitors go to Tuxedni Bay, making it easier to observe bears without disturbance. Inland areas of the park also provide bear viewing. Crescent Lake is a popular spot for seeing bears during June, July, and August. Both grizzly and black bears live there, but grizzly bears are more commonly seen because black bears are more timid and often avoid grizzly bears. On the opposite side of the park, the Kvichak River is the world’s most productive area for sockeye salmon. The young fish from this river make up 33% of the total sockeye salmon catch in the United States and 16% of the world’s total. Salmon are so abundant that a wolf pack at Lake Clark has been recorded as the only group of wolves that rely entirely on salmon for food.
Important birds of prey and land mammals in the park include bald eagles, golden eagles, Dall’s sheep, moose, caribou, peregrine falcons, and timber wolves. Smaller mammals include coyotes, martens, Arctic and red foxes, wolverines, river otters, beavers, and Canadian lynx. Marine mammals such as sea lions, beluga whales, harbor seals, and porpoises also live in the park. Both black and brown bears are found in the park. Black bears live in all areas except the highest elevations, while brown bears are most common along the coast. A recent study found that about 219 bears spend time in salt marshes during summer in coastal areas. Caribou populations have recently dropped from 200,000 to 30,000 due to an unknown cause.
Weather in the park changes often. Moist air from the Pacific Ocean mixes with drier air from the continent. Average summer temperatures range from 50 to 65°F (10 to 18°C), with highs near 68°F (20°C). Winter temperatures often drop to 1°F (−17°C). Snow can fall at any time of the year.
History
The first people known to live in the Lake Clark area were near Bristol Bay. People from the Paleo-Arctic tradition lived there from about 10,000 years before the present to 7,500 years before the present. Later, the northern Archaic tradition lived there from 6,000 to 4,000 years before the present. Two sites from this time have been found in the park. The Arctic Small Tool tradition followed from about 5,000 to 3,000 years before the present. The Norton tradition lived in the area from 2,200 to 1,000 years before the present, mostly near Bristol Bay. The Thule tradition began around 2,000 years before the present and continued until modern times. Today, the northern Athabaskan Dena'ina people live in the area. Kijik village was a major archaeological site in the park, where Dena'ina people lived until the early 1900s. Other settlements have also been found near Chinitna Bay.
British explorer Captain James Cook mapped the Cook Inlet in 1778. In the following decades, Russian traders settled in the region. During the 1800s, the main settlement was Kijik, with a population of a few hundred people. By the 1890s, American traders arrived, finding a native population that had been greatly reduced by diseases brought from other places. Kijik is now a National Historic Landmark.
In 1930, the first floatplane landed on Lake Clark. In 1942, the first air taxi service to Lake Clark began, operated by Leon "Babe" Alsworth Sr. to Port Alsworth. Other nearby communities include Lime Village, Nondalton, Iliamna, Newhalen, and Pedro Bay. Most people living in these areas are Dena'ina.
In the 20th century, the area that would become the park had few people who preferred living alone. One example was Richard Proenneke, who moved to Alaska from Iowa in 1949. He lived in a cabin he built himself near Twin Lakes from 1968 to 1999. He survived by hunting and using meat from animals left by sport hunters. A book based on his journals was published in 1973. Some of his movie footage was later used in a documentary called Alone in the Wilderness. The documentary became popular on public television. Proenneke’s cabin is now owned by the park service and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Lake Clark was declared a national monument on December 1, 1978, by President Jimmy Carter using the Antiquities Act. In 1980, Congress passed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which created the park and preserve.
In 2007, a large open-pit mine called Pebble Mine was proposed near the park’s western edge. The mine would extract molybdenum, gold, and copper from an open pit about 2 miles wide and thousands of feet deep. Another area would be mined underground. Waste from the mine would be stored behind dams, and roads and a deepwater port would be built. Concerns include dust pollution and harm to the sockeye salmon population.
The Jay S. Hammond Wilderness covers most of the park, except for preserve lands and the Cook Inlet coast. It includes three Wild and Scenic Rivers: the Chilikadrotna River, the Mulchatna River, and the Tlikakila River. The area was renamed in 2018 after a former Alaska governor.
In September 2021, archaeologists found a 54-inch-long curved hunting bow buried under 2 feet of water. Radiocarbon dating showed it was about 460 years old, with origins between 1506 and 1660. The bow has features similar to those of the Yup'ik or Alutiq people, even though it was found in Dena'ina land.