Lake Clark National Park and Preserve

Park Information

• Date Established: December 2, 1980
• Location: Alaska
• Area: 4,045,000 acres

Overview

Visitors who make the necessary plane or boat trip to reach Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, or who backpack into the area, can experience a compact version of all the ecosystems that can be found across other areas of Alaska. The park’s more than four million acres amount to less than 1 percent of the total area of the state, but the park contains nearly all the geological and environmental features for which Alaska is known. This includes tundra, forests, glaciers, clear cold rivers, mountains, and volcanoes.

Despite its remote location, the Lake Clark area has been inhabited for centuries. Native populations, including the contemporary Dena’ina people, have lived in the area for at least ten thousand years. Their ancestors may have traveled across a long-gone land bridge to reach what is now Alaska from Asia in prehistoric times, and they continue to live in the area of the park. The park is also home to many of the species of wildlife associated with Alaska, including several species of bears, caribou, moose, seals, and eagles. The park’s namesake lake, a 110-square-mile (285-square-kilometer) body of turquoise-colored water, is part of one of the largest salmon fishing areas on Earth.

History

The area around Lake Clark was formed millennia ago by glaciers and other upheavals of the earth. Archeological evidence shows that it has been inhabited for many thousands of years by hunters who followed large game such as bears, caribou, and moose into the area. The original name of the lake, Qiz’jeh Vena, was given to it by the native Dena'ina people. The Dena’ina are part of the Athabascan, or indigenous Alaskan people. Their name for what is now Lake Clark meant “a place where people gathered.”

Russian explorers reached the area via what is known in contemporary times as Cook Inlet. The inlet was named after Captain James Cook, who explored the area in 1778. After the Russians sold Alaska to America for three cents per acre in 1867, Europeans began to explore and trade in the area. In 1891, one of these expeditions included a representative of the Alaska Commercial Company named John W. Clark. Other members of this expedition renamed the lake in Clark’s honor. Apparently as an acknowledgement that they were changing the existing native name to Lake Clark, the expedition also renamed another smaller nearby lake and connected river. They called it Kijik, which is the anglicized version of Qiz’jeh, the original Dena’ina name for Lake Clark.

More people moved into the area to hunt, trap, trade, and mine. Their presence and activities began to alter the landscape somewhat. They also brought with them diseases that sickened and killed many native residents, who had no immunity to the illnesses. These effects of human activity on the area began to increase during the 1960s and 1970s, when many people began to use leisure time to explore and enjoy wilderness areas. To protect the land, it was made a national park on December 2, 1980.

In September 2021, a National Park employee found a carved wooden bow in an inland lake within Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. The bow was transported to the National Park Service's Alaska Regional Curatorial Center in Anchorage. Studies showed that the bow was approximately 460 years old. Early research showed that the bow resembled a Yup'ik or Alutiiq style bow, which was most common in Western Alaska or the Alaska Peninsula.

Geology and Ecology

The park includes a wide variety of environments and ecosystems. It stretches from the edges of Cook Inlet across tundra plains to the Chigmit Mountains. The Chigmits are part of the larger Aleutian range. Within the confines of the park, the Aleutian range includes two active volcanoes. Mount Iliamna rises to more than 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) but is about 200 feet (61 meters) shorter than Mount Redoubt. The last significant activity from these two volcanoes occurred in 1990, when they shot ash far enough into the sky that it was visible from 100 miles (160 kilometers) away. Another volcano, Mount Spurr, reaches a height of nearly 11,100 feet (3,383 meters) and is located just north of the park grounds.

The coastal inlet area, tundra plains, volcanic mountains, and the mountain foothills with many lakes make up four unique ecosystems within the park. Connecting all these areas is a network of rivers and systems of lakes and smaller creeks. These play an important role in supporting the many forms of wildlife in the area and the people who depend on that wildlife for survival. Among the largest of these river systems is the Kvichak River, where one of the largest spawning runs of sockeye salmon occurs each year.

The park is home to a diverse collection of wildlife. This includes several types of bears as well as wolves, caribou, moose, wolverines, lynx, seals, sea otters, and Dall sheep. Although all national parks include animal protection as one of their purposes, national parks in Alaska are slightly different. While oversight for the health and well-being of the animals is important in Alaskan parks, people with valid Alaska hunting licenses are allowed to hunt for bear, caribou, moose, and Dall sheep even when they are within the preserve.

Hunters and others travel to the park at all times of the year, but the climate is most conducive to travel within the summer months between June and August. During this time, the park temperatures reach a high of 65 degrees Fahrenheit (16 degrees Celsius), although rainy weather is common. Snow and frost become a danger beginning in September and can continue through May. In the midst of winter, the temperature can drop to -40 degrees Fahrenheit.

The park receives more visitors than most other Alaskan parks. This may be because more facilities exist to support tourism from people seeking to hunt, fish, backpack, camp, kayak, or canoe within the park. However, there are no roads within the park, and only a few formal trails exist for hiking.

Bibliography

“Explore the Alaskan Wilderness in This Huge National Park.” National Geographic, 30 May 3023 www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/national-parks/lake-clark-national-park/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“Lake Clark National Park and Preserve.” Greatest American Road Trip, www.thegreatestroadtrip.com/lake-clark-national-park/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“Lake Clark National Park and Preserve.” National Park Foundation, www.nationalparks.org/explore-parks/lake-clark-national-park-and-preserve. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“Lake Clark National Park & Preserve.” National Park Service, www.nps.gov/lacl/index.htm. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“Lake Clark National Park and Preserve.” National Parks Conservation Association, www.npca.org/parks/lake-clark-national-park-preserve. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

Payne, Stephanie. “3 Ways to Explore Lake Clark National Park in Alaska.” Huffington Post, 25 Dec. 2017, www.huffpost.com/entry/3-ways-to-explore-lake-cl‗b‗13379498. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“Welcome to Lake Clark National Park.” National Park, www.national-park.com/welcome-to-lake-clark-national-park/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.