Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve

Park Information

• Date Established: December 2, 1980
• Location: Alaska
• Area: 13,188,000 acres

Overview

Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve is by far America’s largest national park. It is nearly six times the size of Yellowstone National Park. Within Wrangell–St. Elias’s confines are parts of four mountain ranges with nine of the tallest mountains in the country; the park includes 25 percent more mountains than all of Switzerland. More than 150 glaciers are inside the park, including one—Malaspina—which covers more ground than the state of Rhode Island.

This vast park borders on another park, Canada’s Kluane National Park Reserve. These two parks, along with two other Canadian parks—Glacier Bay National Park and Tatshenshini—have been designated a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site. This makes Wrangell–St. Elias part of the first and largest internationally protected wilderness area in the world. Despite this, the area known as North America’s Mountain Kingdom continues to be inhabited by people who live off the land, as countless others have done for generations before them.

History

The mountains that make up the backbone of Wrangell–St. Elias National Park were formed many thousands of years ago by various motions of the earth. There are several volcanoes located in the area, which also sits on several major fault lines in the earth and is prone to earthquakes. Over many centuries, these forces, along with the passage of glaciers, helped shape the terrain that is now part of the park.

The area was likely first inhabited an estimated eight thousand years ago by caribou hunters who followed the migrating herds in search of food. However, the first confirmed evidence of human habitation is from about 1,000 CE, when a people called the Eyak settled in the area. Over hundreds of years, various native cultures are known to have lived in the area, including the Ahtna and Upper Tanana Athabascans. They established villages and communities that were scattered throughout what is now Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and into the areas of British Columbia that are included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In the late 1700s, settlers from Russia and areas of Europe arrived in search of new sources of animal skins for the growing fur trade. Various explorations followed to map and record observations about the area, starting with one led by US Army lieutenant Henry T. Allen in 1885. This led to the discovery of gold and copper in the area, and a number of mining operations followed over the next forty to fifty years.

The park is named for two of the four mountain ranges found within its scope: Wrangell and St. Elias. The Wrangell Mountains were named for Baron Ferdinand Petrovich von Wrangel, Russia’s governor of Alaska before Russia sold the territory to America. The St. Elias Mountains were named by Danish explorer Vitus Bering, who was working for Russia. One of the mountain range’s tall peaks caught Bering’s attention when he sailed into the area for the first time on July 16, 1741. He named it Elias after St. Elias, whose feast day was celebrated on that date. Eventually, the entire mountain range came to bear the saint’s name.

After Alaska was made part of the United States in 1959, interest began to grow in protecting the natural beauty and resources in the Wrangell–St. Elias area. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter declared the area a national monument. In 1980, that status was changed to national park, making Wrangell–St. Elias America’s largest national park. The park was made part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.

Geology and Ecology

Researchers come from all over the world to study the geology of Alaska, as found in Wrangell–St. Elias. The mountains and other terrain in the park represent rock and other formations from many different parts of the earth during its formative time. Volcanic and seismic activity in the area brought rocks from the edges of other continents and from the Pacific basin, along with part of the earth’s crust and other pieces from faraway areas.

It is believed that as little as 1 percent of the land in Alaska and in the park was originally from the area. Most has been transported there by centuries of activity of the tectonic plates of the earth itself. The area is known to include seven different lithotectonic terranes, or portions of land from other parts of the world. These include areas known as the Windy, Gravina Belt, Wrangellia, Alexander, Chugach, Prince William, and Yakutat terranes.

Four mountain ranges are within the park. They include the Wrangell Mountains, St. Elias Mountains, Chugach Mountains, and the Alaska Range, which includes the Mentasta and Nutzotin Mountains. Most of the mountains were formed by movement of the earth’s tectonic plates, but the Wrangells also included several volcanoes. All but one—Mount Wrangell—are now dormant. However, the area remains very prone to earthquakes, with very frequent small quakes and occasional larger ones. These quakes continue to alter the geology of the park and the surrounding area.

Parts of the park are covered by thick and ancient ice, with more than 150 glaciers found within the park’s confines. Nearby areas of the park are boreal forests, which grow evergreen tree species such as pines, spruce, and balsams, along with aspens. Three climate zones exist in the park, so in addition to the boreal forests, there are subarctic regions where only the hardiest of plants are found and areas of tundra where many different species of plants grow. One of the most common plants found in Wrangell–St. Elias is fireweed, but many other wildflowers and even sunflowers grow in various areas.

Animal life in the park includes a similar diversity of creatures. The coastal areas include marine mammals such as seals and sea otters, as well as whales and porpoises. The more inland areas are home to several species of bears, caribou, mountain goats, bison, beavers, wolves, coyotes, and others. Eagles and other birds of prey, along with many other avian species, also make their home in the park.

Bibliography

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“Wrangell St. Elias National Park.” Alaska.org, www.alaska.org/destination/wrangell-st-elias-national-park. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“Wrangell St. Elias National Park.” Frontier Botany, www.frontierbotany.info/fotos/wrangel-st-elias-national-park/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“Wrangell–St. Elias National Park.” National Geographic, www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/national-parks/wrangell-st-elias-national-park/?user.testname=none. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“Wrangell St. Elias National Park.” St. Elias Guides, www.steliasguides.com/resources/wrangell-st-elias-national-park/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve.” National Park Foundation, www.nationalparks.org/explore-parks/wrangell-st-elias-national-park-and-preserve. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve.” National Park Service, 11 July 2024, www.nps.gov/wrst/index.htm. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska USA.” Greatest American Road Trip, www.thegreatestroadtrip.com/wrangell-st-elias-national-park/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.