Wrangell - St. Elias National Park Service National Park and National Preserve U.S. Department of the Interior Wrangell-St. Elias Alaska
The wildness of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation vest harbor seals, which feed on fish and In late summer, black and brown bears, drawn and Preserve is uncompromising, its geography Act (ANILCA) of 1980 allows the subsistence marine invertebrates. These species and many by ripening soapberries, frequent the forests awe-inspiring. Mount Wrangell, namesake of harvest of wildlife within the park, and preserve more are key foods in the subsistence diet of and gravel bars. Human history here is ancient one of the park's four mountain ranges, is an and sport hunting only in the preserve. Hunters the Ahtna and Upper Tanana Athabaskans, and relatively sparse, and has left a light imprint active volcano. Hundreds of glaciers and ice find Dall's sheep, the park's most numerous Eyak, and Tlingit peoples. Local, non-Native on the immense landscape. Even where people fields form in the high peaks, then melt into riv large mammal, on mountain slopes where they people also share in the bounty. continue to hunt, fish, and trap, most animal, ers and streams that drain to the Gulf of Alaska browse sedges, grasses, and forbs. Sockeye, Chi fish, and plant populations are healthy and self and the Bering Sea. Ice is a bridge that connects nook, and Coho salmon spawn in area lakes and Long, dark winters and brief, lush summers lend regulati ng. For the species who call Wrangell the park's geographically isolated areas. streams and are caught in the Copper River with intensity to life here. The sounds of migrant St. Elias home, the park's size and remoteness fish wheels, dip nets, and rod and reel. In the birds, including trumpeter swans, thrushes, and ensure a naturally functioning ecosystem. park's southeastern corner, Tlingit people har- warblers, enliven long summer days.
SHARING EARTH'S BOUNTY PROSPECTING FOR WEALTH
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The living cultures of south central Alaska During winter the Upper Ahtna people lift the fish from the w ater. In summer, PHOTOS, TOP PHOTOS, A BOVE After the Klondike gold strike in 1896, while living in crowded, rough bunk include the Upper Ahtna, or 'Headwaters traditionally hunted Dall's sheep, caribou, you'll see many of these wheels along LEFT TO RIGHT: LEFT TO RIGHT: thousands of prospectors poured into houses. By 1938, when the mine closed, BLUEBERRIES- NPS / CH A RLEY SANFOR D People' (Tatl'ahwt'aenn). Their identity is and moose, and trapped small mammals the river edges. BARBARA CELL ARIUS; FAM ILY, UPPER A HTNA, Alaska. Many headed to Chisana and workers had extracted ore with a market embedded in the earth, water, and ice of in the uplands. In summer they moved to CA RIBOU- CREDIT; - NATIONAL ARCHIVES; Nabesna, but found only small amounts value of about $200 million at that time. DA LL' S SHEEP- CR EDIT; COHO SA LM ON the upper Copper River region, where fish camps. They built fish traps in slow As newcomers began to arrive in the late LUPINE- NPS; TRUMPET USFWS / TIM KNEPP; FISH of gold. The discovery of copper deposits they draw upon traditional ecological moving, flat-bottomed creeks. 1800s, new economic opportunities ER SWAN-© TIM WHEEL-M IC HAEL in the Chitina River valley drew investors Although Kennecott mine and mill knowledge to hunt, gather, trap, and emerged. Some Ahtna people began to DRE W ; SOA PBER RY- QUINTON; CLEA NING who formed a syndicate to develop a closed, the community continues to © ED DIE KING; BROWN SA LMON- © KA TH ER fish. Their knowledge, born of discipline In the Copper River's fast-moving waters, work for money, but they also continued BE AR- CREDIT IN E M cC ONKEY; mine. To transport the ore they built a thrive. Restoration crews bring life to and wisdom passed down through gen people used dip nets to harvest salmon to harvest natural resources to provide BACKGROUND: MOOSE-CREDIT; RED railroad, completed in 1911. It linked relics of a time of industrial growth, erations, contributes to an economy before they adopted fish wheels in the ICY BAY A ND MOUNT FOX- CREDIT; DOG Kennecott mine to Cordova and from expanded markets, global migration, and for their families. Although some Alaska ST. ELIAS-NPS / NEAL SLED DING TEA M based on sharing natural resources. This early 1900s. The fish wheel's arms are Natives now live in cities, they also con HERBERT ALAS KA STATE LIBRARY there to profitable markets. innovation. At Kennecott you can walk in differs from the market economy that like spokes on a wheel. As the current tinue to participate in the traditional P178- 097; COPPER the footsteps of mill workers and their ORE- NPS / M ELIN DA At its peak of operation the company em families, and contemplate what made prevails elsewhere in the United States. propels the paddles, revolving baskets sharing economy. SCHMITT; TOURING KEN NECOTT M ILL- NPS / ployed 600 people, many of them immi t his rugged place ho me. JA M IE HART grants who worked seven days a w eek
ENTER ANOTHER WORLD Glaciers, icefields, rivers, and mountains Float the Copper River from Chitina to offer challenges and incomparable re the Gulf of Alaska. near Cordova, to see wards to the adventurous. some of the park's most rugged terrain. Sea kayakers may opt to paddle in In spring, climbers attempt Mounts Icy Bay and Yakutat areas. Crosscountry Drum, Sanford, Blackburn. and St. Elias. skis offer yet another w ay to explore in Hikers usually begin from points along winter and spring. Ca mpers find August the Nabesna or McCarthy roads- t he and Sept ember cool, wit h fewer mosqui only two roads into the pa rk. Others tos. For bird's ey e view s, you may fly or strike out across Root Glacier (right), charter a plane. whose sheer breadth and dist ant views of Mount Blackburn and the Stairway lcefall are otherworldly.
Before you head into the backcountry, get familiar with techniques for safely PHOTOS, LEFT TO RIGHT: crossing glaciers, rivers, and streams. ICE CLI M BER, ROOT GLA CIER- N PS / JACOB W. Many rivers are impassable, and some FRANK; CA M PI NG AT A IR can quickly become raging torrents. STRIP- NPS / NEAL HER BERT; SA FE HIKIN G W ITH CRAMPONS ON ROOT GLACIER- BE TSY BRAD BURY Wrangell-St. Elias Unpaved road Approximately 750,000 of the 13+ million c=J National Park ~ wit hin park acres of land within the boundaries of 0 Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve Wrangell-St . Elias Other unpaved are non-federal lands belonging to Alaska c=J Nat ional Preserve ~ road Native Corporations, other private owners, 0 Nat ive Corporat ion Trai l and the State of Alaska. Significant amounts c=J Lands E=l of these non-federal lands are located along ~ the McCarthy and Nabesna Roads and along B the east bank of the Copper River. Please do North not trespass. If you have questions, ask at visitor centers or ranger stations. Q
\ ,ffjgK, Mountain 2204m
Cordova Peak 7730ft • 2356m.,,.,.. - KLUANE NATIONAL PARK AND RESERVE N s
M cArthur Peak Juniper Island 14400ft 4434ft • . 4389m 1351m B AG LE Y King Peak, I C E 16971ft Mount• ~ V,4 5173m Logan L L E y 19551ft 5959m 0
SEWARD G l A CI M ount A l verstone 14565ft Mount Ken n e dy E l? 4439m 13093ft M ount Augusta 3991m 14070ft 4289m / ~~Q 'l', ,:,"'"' ~ c} Getting Around the Wrangell Mountains / To Tok M ouN Siana~~---=---~ Road (unpaved - 42 miles one TA I Iii s mr-~_!11!'1!!11!!II! •~d]"il:i!'l"!llf!.tiil!ll, 1!1 LIU ~ _• ~ -- ~wayJ 80Yden Hil t. ,,,,e( •tl•J:l&G Co per rm Kendesnii---~ ~ ~!!:!!_Cho:; r,.1 abesna p., / To Delta and N ur z o r Fairbanks 2154ft mr.1nn '1-'.. l Lafe OD~ OD ---"' 3100ft Mt Allen • I N '1-i'e<_ ~ 657m DlmUl:I <.,oPPer 8 ;:!besna (Ch 'ahk an' Choh) cnis•"" , ti''<) Mount Sanford Tanag;,:t • Private properfl 9480ft eetsaal'l (Hwniindi K'elt'aeni) . 2ss2m inierspersed w,th 2890m ~'Ith 16237ft public lands. 3318ft •I 4949m Euchre Mtn 1011 m Mt Gordon . 6862ft. o Chisana Mount Drum 1 9040ft 2092m Private property (Hwdaandi K'elt'aeni) 2755m in terspersed wrth 12010ft Mount Wrangell public lands. . 3661m (K'elt'aeni) Mt Zanetti. 14163ft 13009ft • 4317m 3965m Glennallen ~411111 CHESHNINA . m,,oott ll&lll 335m Donoho Pk 6696ft \ 2D41m. Iron Mtn . "' Kots,'r,q 6653ft 2028m \ -1> / Kennecott Visitor Center (summer only) 4 Private property_ River interspersed with public lands. • Sourdough Pk 6201ft / 1890m 581ft Nizina 177m Gilahina Butte· 2783ft 84&n Cnitina • Campground mP icnic area River a Restrooms Telephone • Pa rking Nelson Mtn. North 54571t Scale varies on t his map. Foreground 1663m areas a ppear larger than comparable areas in t he background. (!)