Alaska

A

2

Cultural Institutions

Art shows, theater, and musical and dance groups are widespread in Alaskan communities, including Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Sitka, Haines, Kodiak, and elsewhere. The Alaska State Museum in Juneau, the Sheldon Jackson Museum in Sitka, the Anchorage Historical and Fine Arts Museum, and the museum of the University of Alaska Fairbanks have notable collections of Native artifacts and relics. In the museum in Juneau are relics of the Russian occupation, one of the pens used to sign the Alaska Statehood Act, and a facsimile of the canceled check for $7.2 million used to purchase Alaska. Anchorage and Fairbanks have symphony orchestras.

Much of the culture of Alaska’s Natives disappeared with the great epidemics prior to the 1950s. The educational system also discouraged Native arts and culture, while Alaska Natives for the most part sought to join in the economic, social, and political life of Alaska. In recent decades, however, there has been a significant revival of interest in Native culture as well as Native arts and crafts. Native languages, except in some regions, have significantly declined, but language training programs now exist. Even with the many cultural and economic impediments that have existed over the past century, very significant elements of Native life remain in Alaska, and Native cultures, although modified, remain strong and vibrant.

VI

Recreation and Places of Interest

Alaska is a state where the visitor can watch a mass migration of caribou across the arctic plains, see the tundra blossom overnight into a riot of color, and observe polar bears and walruses in their native habitat. It is the land of the midnight sun and the noontide moon. Few states offer such contrasts as the frozen ice fields and steaming volcanoes, the vast Interior and its towering peaks, the fjords of the Panhandle and the seemingly endless flatlands of the river deltas.

A

National Parks

Alaska’s national parks are home to the United States’ tallest mountains and biggest glaciers and some of its most exotic wildlife. Alaska contains a number of the country’s largest national parks, including Wrangell-Saint Elias, Gates of the Arctic, Denali, Lake Clark, Katmai, and Glacier Bay.

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Of the 20 highest mountains in the United States, 17 are in Alaska. Mount McKinley, North America’s largest mountain at 6,194 m (20,320 ft), is a defining highlight in Denali National Park and Preserve. The second tallest mountain, Mount Saint Elias (5,489 m/18,008 ft), is located in Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve, a park characterized by remote mountains, valleys, and wild rivers, all rich with wildlife.

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is just one of the areas in which visitors can find examples of active geological phenomena. Since it was first seen by British explorer George Vancouver in the 1790s, the wall of ice that shadows Glacier Bay has retreated about 100 km (about 60 mi). Harding Icefield and forested coastal fjords are the highlights of Kenai Fjords National Park. Spectacular scenery stretches across the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve from the Cook Inlet to the Chigmit Mountains, which include two active volcanoes, Mount Redoubt and Mount Iliamna. More evidence of Alaska’s natural history can be found at Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, where steam rises from a few active volcanic vents at Katmai National Park and Preserve. In the Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve, the Aniakchak River cascades through a gash 500 m (1,600 ft) long at the rim of a volcano crater.

Alaska’s national parks also preserve the state’s rich cultural history. The Bering Land Bridge National Preserve is a remnant of the land bridge that once connected Asia with North America, the route the earliest residents took to the continent. Cape Krusenstern National Monument contains archaeological sites that illustrate Eskimo communities dating back some 4,000 years. Sitka National Historical Park commemorates the Battle of Sitka, the only armed conflict between Alaska Natives and Europeans. Relics of the 1898 gold rush are preserved at the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park and the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve.

Several parks embody the state’s nickname The Last Frontier because of their remote locations. They are generally accessible only by chartered planes and recommended only to those adventurers who are confident in their outdoor survival skills. Lying entirely north of the Arctic Circle, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, the northernmost extension of the Rocky Mountains, is the second largest national park in the United States. The Great Kobuk Sand Dunes are located in the Kobuk Valley National Park. A rich array of Arctic wildlife can be found in this park and the neighboring Noatak National Preserve, including caribou, grizzly and black bear, wolf, and fox.

B

National Forests

Alaska’s Tongass and Chugach National Forests are America’s first and second largest national forests, respectively. While both parks share public services such as easy access, camping, trails, interpretive centers, and hunting and fishing, each has a unique flavor determined by its landscape and wildlife.

The Tongass National Forest, covering Alaska’s Panhandle region, has nearly quadrupled in size since it was established in 1902. Because of its size, the Tongass is divided into three areas: the Ketchikan area, from Prince of Wales and the outer islands to Misty Fjord and north to the Cleveland Peninsula; the Stikine area, from the islands north of Prince of Wales and south of Admiralty Island and the mainland north to Cape Fanshaw; and the Chatham area, which covers the northern portion of the panhandle.

Designated wilderness areas are scattered throughout the Tongass National Forest. These undeveloped lands have been set aside to protect their ecological diversity. The Kootznoowoo Wilderness area, or “fortress of the bears” as it is called by local Tlingit, covers nearly all of Admiralty Island National Monument. Misty Fjords National Monument, in the southern part of southeast Alaska, is known for its narrow, steep-walled canyons.

Prince of Wales Island, part of the Alexander Archipelago in the southernmost portion of the Alaska Panhandle, is the third largest island in the United States. The island is dominated by steep, forested mountains and deep U-shaped valleys, streams, lakes, saltwater straits, and bays that were carved by glacial ice.

On the eastern boundary of the Chugach National Forest is Kayak Island where more than 250 years ago George Wilhelm Steller, a naturalist traveling with Danish navigator Vitus Bering, became the first European to set foot in what is now Alaska. One-third of the Chugach National Forest is rock and moving ice. The rest is a diverse tapestry of land, water, plants, and animals. This national forest boasts numerous trails to the wooded mountains and crystal waters of the Kenai Peninsula, the islands and glaciers of Prince William Sound, and the wetlands and birds of the Copper River Delta. The delta is a unique wetlands ecosystem where tens of millions of birds spend all or part of their lives.

C

State Parks

Alaska’s state parks include trail systems, recreation areas, camping facilities, boat launches, and highway waysides. Many include historic sites relating to Native, Russian, and American phases in Alaska’s history.

Parks in the interior portion of the state have average summer temperatures in the mid-20°s C (70°s F), but can fall below -20°C (below 0°F) during the winter. Summer activities include boating, fishing, climbing, and hiking. Wintertime activities include dog mushing, snowmobiling, trapping, and cross-country skiing. Denali State Park, adjacent to Denali National Park and Preserve, has interpretive centers and a view of Mount McKinley. The lowland spruce forests of the Chena River State Recreation Area are east of Fairbanks. Quartz Lake State Recreation Area is known for its excellent sport fishing. Fielding Lake State Recreation Area, also known for sport fishing, is nestled among tundra-covered hills within the Alaska Range.

Surrounding the southern and eastern sides of the Anchorage bowl, a region of milder temperatures, is Chugach State Park. Lakes, glaciers, and mountains make this park a popular destination all year long. Lakes, streams, and swamps cover just over half of Nancy Lake State Recreation Area. Parks in the southwest region, such as Kachemak Bay State Park and Caines Head State Recreation Area, are host to king and pink salmon, seals, porpoise, puffins and other waterfowl, and eagles. At nearby Halibut Cove Lagoon visitors enjoy berry picking, clam digging, and fishing for Dungeness crab and shrimp. Shuyak Island State Park is at the northern tip of the Kodiak Archipelago and is subject to the severe and unpredictable weather common along the North Pacific Ocean. Afognak Island State Park is just south of Shuyak Island.

There is access from Point Bridget State Park (near Juneau) to several recreation sites popular for their beachcombing, wildlife viewing, fishing, and boating opportunities. The Grindall Island State Marine Park, located near Ketchikan, is forested with hemlock, cedar, and spruce. Seymour Canal, at Oliver Inlet State Marine Park, has the greatest known concentration of nesting bald eagles in the world. Seals, sea lions, and whales use the canal throughout the year.

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