Katmai National Park and Preserve

We offer an all day Katmai National Park bear viewing tour

The Land

Katmai National Park and Preserve is located about 290 air miles southwest of Anchorage. The park is bounded by Shelikof Strait to the east, the Lake Iliamna watershed to the north, the Bristol Bay coastal plain to the west, and the Becharof Lake watershed to the south.

Flora and Fauna

Katmai National Park and Preserve is best known for its Brown bears and large populations of Salmon and other sport fish. Brown bears, found throughout the coastal region, come to feed on spawning salmon, sometimes in large concentrations. Moose live in the coastal and lake regions and there is a migratory caribou herd.

Smaller mammals include red fox, wolf, lynx, wolverine, river otter, mink, marten, weasel, porcupine, snowshoe hare, red squirrel, and beaver.

The lake edges and marshes of Katmai National Park and Preserve are nesting sites for thousands of tundra swans, ducks, loons, grebes and arctic terns. Grouse and ptarmigan reside in the uplands with bald eagles, hawks, falcons and owls living on the seacoast and lake shores.

Sea lions, sea otters, orcas and gray whales can sometimes be seen in Shelikof Strait.

Salmon and Rainbow trout are found in abundance throughout Katmai National Park and Preserve.

History

In late prehistoric and proto historic times the area that is now Katmai National Park and Preserve was occupied by various groups of people, all part of the Pacific Eskimo group.

Between 1784 with the establishment of Russian fur traders on Kodiak and the Katmai Shelikof Strait coastal areas and 1890, when most of the sea otter population had been wiped out, all activity in the area of Katmai National Park and Preserve centered around fur trading. Salmon canneries filled the economic void until 1918 when the Katmai National Monument was established. The establishment of the monument closed much of the Katmai area to settlement, hunting, and commercial fishing.

Originally established as a National Monument in 1918 to  preserve geological features related to the 1912 eruptions of Mt. Katmai and Novarupta volcano, the park was redesignated a national park and preserve as part of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980.
Katmai National Park and Preserve was, "to be managed for the following purposes, among others: To protect habitats for , and populations of, fish and wildlife, including, but not limited to, high concentrations of brown / grizzly bears and their denning areas; to maintain unimpaired the water habitat for significant salmon populations; and to protect scenic, geological, cultural and recreational features."

Transportation

Katmai National Park and Preserve is accessible by aircraft from Anchorage, Kenai or Kodiak.

More Information

For more information on Katmai National Park and Preserve, visit the National Park Service website at www.nps.gov/katm/.

Source: Alaska State Parks.

For more information on Alaska State Parks, visit the Alaska State Parks web site.

Alaska National Parks

Denali National Park, Kenai Fjords National Park, Lake Clark National Park, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

Alaska State Parks by Region

Anchorage, Interior Alaska, Kenai Peninsula, Kodiak, Mat-Su Valley, Prince William Sound, Southeast Alaska, Southwest Alaska

Alaska State Parks by Name

Anchor River State Recreation Area and Stariski SRS, Birch Lake State Recreation Site, Caines Head State Recreation Area and Resurrection Bay State Marine Parks, Captain Cook State Recreation Area, Chena River State Recreation Area, Chena River State Recreation Site, Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, Chugach State Park, Clam Gulch State Recreation Area, Deep Creek State Recreation Area, Delta Junction Area State Parks, Denali State Park, Haines Area State Parks, Harding Lake State Recreation Area, Independence Mine State Historical Park, Kachemak Bay State Park and State Wilderness Park, Kasilof Area State Parks, Kenai River Special Management Area, Kodiak Area State Parks, Nancy Lake State Recreation Area, Ninilchik State Recreation Area, Point Bridget State Park, Salcha River State Recreation Site, Sitka Area State Parks, State Marine Parks in Prince William Sound and Resurrection Bay, Summit Lake State Recreation Site, Tok Area Parks, Totem Bight State Historical Park, Upper Chatanika State Recreation Site, Wickersham State Historic Site, Wood-Tikchik State Park