Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve is an American

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

and

preserve The word preserve may refer to: Common uses * Fruit preserves, a type of sweet spread or condiment * Nature reserve, an area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or other special interest, usually protected Arts, entertainment, and medi ...

managed by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

in south central

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...

. The park and preserve were established in 1980 by the

Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) is a United States federal law signed by President Jimmy Carter on December 2, 1980. ANILCA provided varying degrees of special protection to over of land, including national parks, n ...

. The protected areas are included in an

International Biosphere Reserve Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an intergovernmental scientific program, launched in 1971 by UNESCO, that aims to establish a scientific basis for the improvement of relationships between people and their environments. MAB's work engag ...

and are part of the Kluane/Wrangell–St. Elias/Glacier Bay/Tatshenshini-Alsek

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

. The park and preserve form the largest area managed by the National Park Service with a total of , an expanse larger than nine U.S. states and around the same size as

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

. are designated as the national park and the remaining are designated as the preserve. The area designated as the national park alone is larger than the 47 smallest American national parks combined (there are currently 63 national parks) and is more than twice the size of all but two other national parks. Its area makes up over 15% of all national park designated land in the United States. The park includes a large portion of the

Saint Elias Mountains The Saint Elias Mountains (french: Chaîne Saint-Élie) are a subgroup of the Pacific Coast Ranges, located in southeastern Alaska in the United States, Southwestern Yukon and the very far northwestern part of British Columbia in Canada. The r ...

, which include most of the highest peaks in the United States and Canada, yet are within of tidewater, one of the highest reliefs in the world. Wrangell–St. Elias borders on Canada's

Kluane National Park and Reserve Kluane National Park and Reserve (; french: Parc national et réserve de parc national de Kluane) are two protected areas in the southwest corner of the territory of Yukon. The National Park Reserve was set aside in 1972 to become a national pa ...

to the east and approaches another American national park to the south,

Glacier Bay Glacier Bay Basin in southeastern Alaska, in the United States, encompasses the Glacier Bay and surrounding mountains and glaciers, which was first proclaimed a U.S. National Monument on February 25, 1925, and which was later, on December 2, 1980 ...

. The chief distinction between park and preserve lands is that sport hunting is prohibited in the park and permitted in the preserve. In addition, of the park and preserve are designated as the largest single

wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

in the United States. Wrangell–St. Elias National Monument was designated on December 1, 1978, by President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

using the

Antiquities Act The Antiquities Act of 1906 (, , ), is an act that was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, 1906. This law gives the President of the United States the authority to, by presidential pro ...

, pending final legislation to resolve the allotment of public lands in Alaska. Establishment as a national park and preserve followed the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act in 1980. The park has long, extremely cold winters and a short summer season.

Plate tectonics Plate tectonics (from the la, label= Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of larg ...

are responsible for the uplift of the mountain ranges that cross the park. The park's extreme high point is

Mount Saint Elias Mount Saint Elias (also designated Boundary Peak 186), the second-highest mountain in both Canada and the United States, stands on the Yukon and Alaska border about southwest of Mount Logan, the highest mountain in Canada. The Canadian side of ...

at , the second tallest mountain in both the United States and Canada. The park has been shaped by the competing forces of volcanism and glaciation.

Mount Wrangell Mount Wrangell, in Ahtna K’ełt’aeni or K’ełedi when erupting, is a massive shield volcano located in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in southeastern Alaska, United States. The shield rises over above the Copper River to it ...

is an active volcano, one of several volcanoes in the western

Wrangell Mountains The Wrangell Mountains are a high mountain range of eastern Alaska in the United States. Much of the range is included in Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve. The Wrangell Mountains are almost entirely volcanic in origin, and they i ...

. In the St. Elias Range,

Mount Churchill Mount Churchill is a volcano in the Saint Elias Mountains and the Wrangell Volcanic Field of eastern Alaska. Churchill and its higher neighbor Mount Bona about to the southwest are both large ice-covered stratovolcanoes, with Churchill being ...

has erupted explosively within the past 2,000 years. The park's glacial features include

Malaspina Glacier __NOTOC__ The Malaspina Glacier ( Lingít: ''Sít' Tlein'') in southeastern Alaska is the largest piedmont glacier in the world. Situated at the head of the Alaska Panhandle, it is about wide and long, with an area of some . Name The Lingít n ...

, the largest piedmont glacier in North America,

Hubbard Glacier __NOTOC__ Hubbard Glacier ( Lingít: ''Sít' Tlein'') is a glacier located in Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve in eastern Alaska and Kluane National Park and Reserve in Yukon, Canada, and named after Gardiner Hubbard. Geography ...

, the longest tidewater glacier in Alaska, and

Nabesna Glacier Nabesna Glacier is a glacier in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fed by deep snowfall in the Wrangell Mountains, the 53 mile (85 km) long Nabesna is the longest valley glacier in North America and the world's longest interior valley glacier. The g ...

, the world's longest valley glacier. The

Bagley Icefield The Bagley Icefield (also called Bagley Ice Valley) in southeastern Alaska is the second largest nonpolar icefield in North America. It was named after James W. Bagley, a USGS topographic engineer who developed the Bagley T-3 camera and mapped Ala ...

covers much of the park's interior, which includes 60% of the permanently ice-covered terrain in Alaska. At the center of the park, the boomtown of Kennecott exploited one of the world's richest deposits of copper from 1903 to 1938. The abandoned mine buildings and mills comprise a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...

district.

Park purpose

As stated in the foundation document:

Geography

Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve includes the entire Wrangell range, the western portion of the

and the eastern portion of the

Chugach Mountains The Chugach Mountains of southern Alaska are the northernmost of the several mountain ranges that make up the Pacific Coast Ranges of the western edge of North America. The range is about long and wide, and extends from the Knik and Turnaga ...

. Lesser ranges in the park or preserve include the

Nutzotin Mountains The Nutzotin Mountains are a mountain range in Alaska, United States and Yukon, Canada. They have an area of 829 km2 and form a subrange of the Alaska Range at its southeastern end. The mountains are located within Wrangell–St. Elias Nati ...

, which are an extension of the

Alaska Range The Alaska Range is a relatively narrow, 600-mile-long (950 km) mountain range in the southcentral region of the U.S. state of Alaska, from Lake Clark at its southwest endSources differ as to the exact delineation of the Alaska Range. ThBo ...

, the Granite Range and the

Robinson Mountains Robinson may refer to: People and names * Robinson (name) Fictional characters * Robinson Crusoe, the main character, and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719 Geography * Robinson projection, a map projection used since the 1960s ...

. Broad rivers run in glacial valleys between the ranges, including the

Chitina River The Chitina River ( Ahtna Athabascan Tsedi Na’ < ''tsedi'' "

copper

" + ''na’'' "

, Chisana River and the

Nabesna River The Nabesna River (''Naambia Niign'' in Upper Tanana) is a tributary of the Tanana River in the U.S. state of Alaska. Beginning at Nabesna Glacier in the Alaska Range, it flows north-northeast from Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Prese ...

. All but the Chisana and Nabesna are tributaries to the

Copper River Copper River may refer to several places: *Copper River (Alaska), in the United States * Copper River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Skeena River The Skeena River is the second-longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada (afte ...

, which flows along the western margin of the park and which has its headwaters within the park, at the Copper Glacier. The park includes dozens of

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...

s and

icefield An ice field (also spelled icefield) is a mass of interconnected valley glaciers (also called mountain glaciers or alpine glaciers) on a mountain mass with protruding rock ridges or summits. They are often found in the colder climates and highe ...

s. The

covers portions of the St. Elias and Chugach ranges, and

covers most of the southeastern extension of the park, with

at the park's extreme eastern boundary, the largest tidewater glacier in North America. The eastern boundary of the park is Alaska's border with Canada, where it is adjoined by

. On the southeast the park is bounded by

Yakutat Bay Yakutat Bay ( Lingít: ''Yaakwdáat G̱eeyí'') is a 29-km-wide (18 mi) bay in the U.S. state of Alaska, extending southwest from Disenchantment Bay to the Gulf of Alaska. "Yakutat" is a Tlingit name reported as "Jacootat" and "Yacootat ...

Tongass National Forest The Tongass National Forest () in Southeast Alaska is the largest U.S. National Forest at . Most of its area is temperate rain forest and is remote enough to be home to many species of endangered and rare flora and fauna. The Tongass, which is ...

and the

Gulf of Alaska The Gulf of Alaska (Tlingit: ''Yéil T'ooch’'') is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east ...

. The remainder of the southern boundary follows the crest of the Chugach Mountains, adjoining

Chugach National Forest The Chugach National Forest is a United States National Forest in south central Alaska. Covering portions of Prince William Sound, the Kenai Peninsula and the Copper River Delta, it was formed in 1907 from part of a larger forest reserve. The C ...

. The western boundary is the Copper River, and the northern boundary follows the

Mentasta Mountains The Mentasta Mountains in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Alaska form the eastern end of the Alaska Range. They lie south of the Alaska Highway, east of the Glenn Highway, north of the Wrangell Mountains, and west of the Nabesna River. Across ...

and borders

Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge is a dynamic landscape made up of forests, wetlands, tundra, lakes, mountains and glacial rivers bounded by the snowy peaks of the Alaska Range. This upper Tanana River valley has been called the "Tetlin Passage," be ...

. Mount St. Elias is the second highest

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher ...

in both Canada and the United States. Nine of the 16 highest peaks on U.S. soil are located in the park, along with North America's largest subpolar icefield, glaciers, rivers, an

active volcano An active volcano is a volcano which is either erupting or is likely to erupt in the future. An active volcano which is not currently erupting is known as a dormant volcano. Overview Tlocene Epoch. Most volcanoes are situated on the Pacific ...

, and the historic Kennecott copper mines. Both the St. Elias and Wrangell ranges have seen volcanic activity. The St. Elias volcanoes are considered extinct, but some of the volcanoes of the Wrangell Range have been active in Holocene time. Ten separate volcanoes have been documented in the western Wrangell Range, of which

Mount Blackburn Mount Blackburn is the highest peak in the Wrangell Mountains of Alaska in the United States. It is the fifth-highest peak in the United States and the twelfth-highest peak in North America. The mountain is an old, eroded shield volcano, the se ...

is the highest and

is the most recently active.Richter ''et al'', pp. 8–10. Mount St. Elias is situated on the border between Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Kluane National Park and Reserve. At ,it is the 2nd highest peak visible from sea-level in North America (

Pico de Orizaba Pico de Orizaba, also known as Citlaltépetl (from Nahuatl = star, and = mountain), is an inactive stratovolcano, the highest mountain in Mexico and the third highest in North America, after Denali of Alaska in the United States and Moun ...

is first). Nearly 66 percent of park and preserve land is designated as

. Wrangell–St. Elias Wilderness is the largest designated wilderness in the United States. The park region is divided between national park lands, which only allow subsistence hunting by local rural residents, and preserve lands, which allow sport hunting by the general public. Preserve lands include the Chitina valley north of the river, two parts of the Copper River valley east of the river, most of the Chisana and Nabesna valleys, and lands along Yakutat Bay. The park is accessible by highway from

Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring ...

; two rough gravel roads (the

McCarthy Road The McCarthy Road is a gravel-surfaced road that runs from the end of the Edgerton Highway in Chitina, Alaska, to about outside of McCarthy, Alaska. Route description McCarthy Road starts at the end of the Edgerton Highway in Chitina. The ro ...

and the

Nabesna Road The Nabesna Road is a minor highway in the U.S. state of Alaska that extends from the Slana River to Nabesna, providing access to some interior components of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. The entire length of the road is gravel and has few ...

) wind through the park which makes portions of the interior accessible for backcountry camping and hiking. Chartered aircraft also fly into the park. Wrangell–St. Elias received 79,450 visitors in 2018. The park area includes a few small settlements. Nabesna and Chisana are in the northern part of the park. Kennicott and McCarthy are relatively close together in the center of the park, with a few smaller settlements nearby and along the McCarthy Road.

Chitina Chitina ( Ahtna Athabascan Tsedi Na < ''tsedi'' " copper" + ''na'' "

river ...

serves as a gateway community where the McCarthy Road meets the

Edgerton Highway The Edgerton Highway is a minor highway in the U.S. state of Alaska that extends from the Richardson Highway near Copper Center to the town of Chitina. The McCarthy Road, within the Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve, is a exten ...

along the Copper River. The McCarthy Road and the Nabesna Road are the only significant roads in the park.

Activities

Access to the park is open all year, and most of the park facilities are open from May to September, although some locations open as late as the end of May and close in mid-August. The main visitor center remains open on weekdays in the winter. Wrangells_Mountains_Alaska

The Edgerton Highway runs along the valley of the Copper River on the western margin of the park. The headquarters and visitor center are at mile 106.8 near Copper Center. Road access to the park's interior is along the Nabesna Road and the McCarthy Road. The abandoned mining town of Kennecott can be accessed by footbridge from a continuation of the McCarthy road. Backcountry access is available by air taxi services. The Kendesnii campground on the Nabesna Road is the only Park Service-managed campground in the park. There are a number of private campgrounds and lodgings on the McCarthy and Nabesna roads, and there are fourteen public-use cabins. Most of these cabins are accessible only by air. A few are accessible by road near the Slana Ranger Station, and most are associated with airstrips. Backcountry camping is allowed without a permit. There are few established and maintained trails in the park. Mountain biking is mainly limited to roads due to prevailing boggy conditions in the summer. On the other hand, float trips on the rivers are a popular way to see the park on the

Copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...

, Nizina, Kennicott and

Chitina Chitina ( Ahtna Athabascan Tsedi Na < ''tsedi'' " copper" + ''na'' "

river ...

rivers. Because the park and preserve include some of the highest peaks in North America, they are a popular destination for mountain climbing. Of the 70 tallest mountains in Alaska, 35 are in the park, including seven of the top ten peaks. Climbing these peaks is technically demanding, and requires expeditions to access remote and dangerous terrain. In addition to the Copper Center visitor center, the park maintains a visitor center at Kennecott and an information station at Mile 59 on the McCarthy Road. There are ranger stations at Slana on the Nabesna Road, in Chitina at the end of the Edgerton Highway, and in Yakutat. The Yakutat ranger station is shared with

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is an American national park located in Southeast Alaska west of Juneau. President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the area around Glacier Bay a national monument under the Antiquities Act on February 26, 1925. ...

. The park has three improved airstrips, at McCarthy, May Creek and Chisana, with a number of unimproved strips scattered around the park. Air taxis provide sightseeing services and visitor transportation within the park, based in Glennallen, Chitina, Nabesna, and McCarthy. Air taxis provide access to sea kayak tours that operate in the vicinity of Icy Bay. Farther east on the park's coast, cruise ships are frequent visitors to Hubbard Glacier in Yakutat Bay. Sport hunting and trapping are allowed only within the preserve lands. Subsistence hunting by local residents is permitted in both the park and preserve. Hunting is managed jointly by the National Park Service, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, which issues hunting licenses. The use of off-road vehicles (ORVs) is restricted to specific routes and permits are required to use ORVs in the preserve.

Geology

The southern part of Alaska is composed of a series of

terrane In geology, a terrane (; in full, a tectonostratigraphic terrane) is a crust fragment formed on a tectonic plate (or broken off from it) and accreted or " sutured" to crust lying on another plate. The crustal block or fragment preserves its ow ...

s that have been pushed against the North American landmass by the action of

plate tectonics Plate tectonics (from the la, label= Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of larg ...

. The

Pacific Plate The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At , it is the largest tectonic plate. The plate first came into existence 190 million years ago, at the triple junction between the Farallon, Phoenix, and I ...

moves northwestward relative to the

North American Plate The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme northeastern Asia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores. With an area of , it is the Earth's second largest tectonic plate, behind the Paci ...

at about to per year, meeting the continental landmass in the Gulf of Alaska. The Pacific Plate

subducts Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the ...

under the Alaskan landmass, compressing the continental rocks and giving rise to a series of mountain ranges. Terranes or

island arc Island arcs are long chains of active volcanoes with intense seismic activity found along convergent tectonic plate boundaries. Most island arcs originate on oceanic crust and have resulted from the descent of the lithosphere into the mantle alon ...

s carried on the surface of the Pacific Plate are carried against the Alaskan landmass and are themselves compressed and folded, but are not fully carried into the Earth's interior. As a result, a series of terranes, collectively known as the Wrangellia composite terrane, have been pushed against the south coast of Alaska, followed by the Southern Margin composite terrane to the south of the Border Ranges fault system. A byproduct of the subduction process is the formation of volcanoes at some distance inland from the subduction zone.Richter ''et al'', pp. 3–7. At present the Yakutat Terrane is being pushed under material of similar density, resulting in uplift and a combination of accretion and subduction. Nearly all of Alaska is composed of a series of terranes that have been pushed against North America. The coastal region is seismically active with frequent large earthquakes. Major quakes occurred in 1899 (four between magnitudes 7 and 8) and 1958 (7.7), followed by the

1964 Alaska earthquake The 1964 Alaskan earthquake, also known as the Great Alaskan earthquake and Good Friday earthquake, occurred at 5:36 PM AKST on Good Friday, March 27.

(9.2). The 1979 St. Elias earthquake reached magnitude 7.9.Winkler, pp. 12–13.Winkler, p. 69. Six terranes and one sedimentary belt have been documented in Wrangell–St. Elias. From north to south, and oldest to youngest, they are the Windy or Yukon-Tanana (180 million years ago), Gravina-Nutzotin Belt (120 MYa), Wrangellia, Alexander, Chugach (previously assembled elsewhere, then accreted as the Wrangellia composite terrane 110-67 MYa), Prince William (50MYa) and Yakutat terranes (beginning 26 MYa). The Wrangellian rocks include fossiliferous sedimentary rocks interspersed with volcanic rocks. The Alaskan coast reached an approximation of its modern configuration about 50 million years ago, with the complete subduction of the now-vanished

Kula Plate The Kula Plate was an oceanic tectonic plate under the northern Pacific Ocean south of the Near Islands segment of the Aleutian Islands. It has been subducted under the North American Plate at the Aleutian Trench, being replaced by the Pacific ...

under North America. The present subduction of the Pacific Plate in southern Alaska has been going on for about 26 million years. The oldest volcanoes in Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve are about 26 million years old, near the Alaska-Yukon Territory border in the St. Elias Range. Activity has moved north and west from that area.

Volcanic activity

The majority of the volcanoes in the Wrangell volcanic field lie at the western end of the Wrangell Mountains. The western Wrangell volcanoes are unusual for subduction-related volcanoes, in their generally non-explosive nature. The majority of the volcanoes are unusually large

shield volcano A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a warrior's shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more vi ...

es that built to their present size quickly from voluminous flows of

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predo ...

lavas which erupted from multiple centers. Their growth is associated with the arrival of the Yakutat terrane, with considerable activity until about 200,000 years ago, when movement along the Denali-Totchunda and Fairweather faults began to accommodate some of the Pacific Plate's motion. For that reason, very large magmatic flows are regarded as unlikely in the present day. The majority of the Wrangell volcanoes are shield volcanoes with large collapse

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

s at their summits. All but Mount Wrangell have been modified by glaciers to sharper, steeper relief than the gentle, rounded forms that characterize young shield volcanoes. The shield volcanoes are surrounded by

cinder cone A cinder cone (or scoria cone) is a steep conical hill of loose pyroclastic fragments, such as volcanic clinkers, volcanic ash, or scoria that has been built around a volcanic vent. The pyroclastic fragments are formed by explosive eruption ...

s that formed after the main volcano.Richter ''et al'', pp. 7–12. Wrangells1

The ten highest summits in the Wrangell Mountains are all of volcanic origin, and several are among the most voluminous volcanoes in the world.

is the only Wrangell volcano considered active. Wrangell measures in height. It was built by a series of large lava flows from 600,000 to 200,000 years ago. Three comparatively modest eruptive episodes were reported in 1784, 1884–85 and 1900. The gently sloping dome features an ice-filled summit caldera measuring by . Three craters containing fumaroles produce a steam plume that can be visible on calm, clear days. The summit produces occasional

phreatic eruption A phreatic eruption, also called a phreatic explosion, ultravulcanian eruption or steam-blast eruption, occurs when magma heats ground water or surface water. The extreme temperature of the magma (anywhere from ) causes near-instantaneous evap ...

s that can coat the ice with ash. During the 1980s the summit's heat flux was sufficient to melt of ice and form a small crater lake. That activity has subsided since 1986 and ice has accumulated since. The last large eruption of magma from Wrangell is estimated to have been about 50,000 to 100,000 years ago. The summit caldera is estimated to have collapsed between 200,000 and 50,000 years ago. Mount Zanetti is a large cinder cone on Wrangell's northwest flank, estimated to be less than 25,000 years old.Winkler, p. 110.

Mount Drum Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

is the westernmost Wrangell volcano. high, it dominates the local landscape more than much higher mountains. Mount Drum is either a shield volcano or a

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and peri ...

that has been extensively eroded by glacial activity, preceded by explosive activity about 250,000–150,000 years ago that destroyed a summit that may have once measured . These eruptions generated extensive mudflows, and represent the last activity at Mount Drum. Mount Drum supports at least eleven glaciers that flow from its summit icefield. Wrangell Mountains

Mount Sanford is the tallest of the western Wrangell volcanoes at , the 13th highest peak in North America. It is a complex shield volcano that first formed about 900,000 years ago. The latest eruption is estimated to have been between 320,000 and 100,000 years ago. Like Drum, Sanford has a large icefield above that feeds a series of glaciers. Capital Mountain is located near Mount Sanford, but is much smaller at in height. It is a shield volcano, about in diameter. Its summit has collapsed to form a caldera roughly in diameter. Its last activity was about a million years ago, and it has been deeply eroded by glacial activity. Tanada Peak is an older and larger neighbor of Capital Mountain, tall with a by summit caldera. The shield volcano last erupted 900,000 years ago and has been dissected by glaciers. The Skookum Creek Volcano is a volcanic center that has been heavily eroded. It was active between 3.2 million and 2 million years ago. high at its highest point, the old shield volcano has been severely eroded. Its caldera is surrounded by a series of

dacite Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained ( aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyo ...

and

rhyolite Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals ( phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The miner ...

domes. Mount Jarvis is a shield volcano. high, with one or more indistinct summit calderas. It is covered with ice and erupted between 1.7 million and 1 million years ago.Richter ''et al'', pp. 23–25.

is at the highest point in the Wrangells, the 12th highest peak in North America, and the oldest volcano in the range. It is a shield volcano with a filled caldera that was active between 4.2 million and 3.4 million years ago. Mount Blackburn is ice-covered and is the source of Kennicott Glacier and Nabesna Glacier, among others. The Boomerang volcano is a very small shield volcano, only rising . It is at least one million years old and is overlaid by deposits from Capital Mountain.

Mount Gordon Mount Gordon is a cinder cone in the Wrangell Mountains of eastern Alaska, United States, located between Nabesna Glacier and the stratovolcano Mount Drum. It is the most prominent of a group of Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referre ...

is a cinder cone, one of the largest in the Wrangells at . Several hot springs or

mud volcano A mud volcano or mud dome is a landform created by the eruption of mud or slurries, water and gases. Several geological processes may cause the formation of mud volcanoes. Mud volcanoes are not true igneous volcanoes as they do not produce ...

es in the vicinity of Mount Drum produce warm brackish water charged with

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is t ...

. The largest are called Shrub, Upper Klawasi and Lower Klawasi. Their deposits of hydrothermally-altered mud have built cones high and in diameter. The chief volcanoes in the St. Elias Range are

Mount Bona Mount Bona is one of the major mountains of the Saint Elias Mountains in eastern Alaska, and is the fifth-highest independent peak in the United States.This counts both the North and South Peaks of Denali (Mount McKinley), which is not a universal ...

and

. At and , respectively, they are the highest and fourth-highest volcanoes in the United States and the fourth and seventh highest in North America,Richter ''et al'', pp. 28–29. and Bona is the tenth highest peak of any kind in North America. Churchill is often regarded as a subsidiary peak of Bona. Both are ice-covered stratovolcanoes. Churchill is the source of the

White River Ash The White River Ash is a 1,200-year-old ash deposit. It was formed by two large ( VEI 6) explosive eruptions from the stratovolcano of Mount Churchill that occurred around 850 AD and blanketed of Yukon and Northwest Territories, Canada and the U. ...

. It erupted about 100 AD and 700 AD, spreading ash across much of Alaska and northwestern Canada.

Glaciers and icefields

The mountain ranges of Wrangell–St. Elias account for 60 percent of glacial ice in Alaska, covering more than . The glaciers have advanced and retreated repeatedly, reaching the sea and filling the valley of the Copper River. A glacial dam in the valley retained

Lake Atna Lake Atna (; also known as Lake Ahtna) was a prehistoric proglacial lake that initially formed approximately 58 ka (thousand years ago) in the Copper River Basin, an area roughly centered around northeast of modern-day Anchorage, Alaska. The ...

during the

Wisconsin glaciation The Wisconsin Glacial Episode, also called the Wisconsin glaciation, was the most recent glacial period of the North American ice sheet complex. This advance included the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, which nucleated in the northern North American Cord ...

. Drainage of the lake has scoured the riverbed to bedrock above the Bremner River. Several features are particularly notable. The Malaspina Glacier is the largest piedmont glacier in North America,

is at the longest tidewater glacier in Alaska, and the

is the world's longest valley glacier, at more than . Glaciers in Wrangell–St. Elias are mostly in retreat. The Bagley Icefield has grown thinner and its glaciers have retreated, including portions feeding Malaspina Glacier, which is stagnant or retreating. Malaspina's west and east lobes filled Icy Bay and Yakutat Bay, respectively, about 1000 years ago, and

Guyot In marine geology, a guyot (pronounced ), also known as a tablemount, is an isolated underwater volcanic mountain (seamount) with a flat top more than below the surface of the sea. The diameters of these flat summits can exceed .Yahtse and Tyndall Glaciers have individually retreated at the head of Icy Bay. However, Hubbard Glacier advanced from 1894, closing Russell Fjord.

Minerals

Five major mining districts were developed in Wrangell–St. Elias during the heyday of mining between the 1890s and 1960. Gold was found in the Bremner district in 1901, and in the Nizina area near Kennecott. Most of the gold from these areas was placer gold, obtained through

hydraulic mining Hydraulic mining is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment.Paul W. Thrush, ''A Dictionary of Mining, Mineral, and Related Terms'', US Bureau of Mines, 1968, p.560. In the placer mining of ...

. Copper nuggets were found with the gold and were usually discarded as uneconomical to ship until roads were improved to the area. Other gold strikes were made in the Chisana district, with a minor stampede between 1913 and 1917 to the area by miners. During the 1930s lode ore was mined in the Nabesna district. The chief source of copper was the Kennecott lode next to the Kennicott Glacier. The

copper sulfide Copper sulfides describe a family of chemical compounds and minerals with the formula CuxSy. Both minerals and synthetic materials comprise these compounds. Some copper sulfides are economically important ores. Prominent copper sulfide mineral ...

ore assayed at 70% copper when first discovered, among the richest ever found. Total production amounted to more than 536,000 metric tons of copper and about 100 metric tons of silver. After the

chalcocite Chalcocite (), copper(I) sulfide (Cu2S), is an important copper ore mineral. It is opaque and dark gray to black, with a metallic luster. It has a hardness of 2.5–3 on the Mohs scale. It is a sulfide with a monoclinic crystal system. ...

ore was exhausted the mines worked

malachite Malachite is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral, with the formula Cu2CO3(OH)2. This opaque, green-banded mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often forms botryoidal, fibrous, or stalagmitic masses, in fracture ...

and

azurite Azurite is a soft, deep-blue copper mineral produced by weathering of copper ore deposits. During the early 19th century, it was also known as chessylite, after the type locality at Chessy-les-Mines near Lyon, France. The mineral, a basic car ...

deposits embedded in hydrothermally-altered

dolomite Dolomite may refer to: *Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral *Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock *Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community *Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...

. The copper is believed to have been dissolved in hot water moving through copper-rich Nikolai Greenstone, then redeposited in concentrated form in Chitistone Limestone through reaction with sulfide-rich waters in the

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

. A number of other sites on the southern side of the Wrangells were investigated and prospected, and some even produced small amounts of ore, but none were commercially exploited. Large, but low-grade deposits of

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow t ...

and

molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lead ...

were investigated as late as the 1970s.

History

Early history and exploration

Archeological evidence indicates that humans entered the Wrangell Mountains about 1000 AD. The

Ahtna people The Ahtna (also Ahtena, Atna, Ahtna-kohtaene, or Copper River) are an Alaska Native Athabaskan people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. The people's homeland called Atna Nenn', is located in the Copper River area of southern A ...

settled in small groups along the course of the Copper River. A few Upper Tanana speakers settled along the Nabesna and Chisana Rivers. The

Eyak people The Eyak (Eyak: ʔi·ya·ɢdəlahɢəyu·, literally "inhabitants of Eyak Village at Mile 6"Krauss, Michael E. 1970. ''Eyak dictionary''. University of Alaska and Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1963-1970) are a Native American indigenous ...

settled near the mouth of the Copper River on the

. Along the coast the

Tlingit people The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),

dispersed, with some settling at Yakutat Bay. The first Europeans in the area were Russian explorers and traders.

Vitus Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering (baptised 5 August 1681 – 19 December 1741),All dates are here given in the Julian calendar, which was in use throughout Russia at the time. also known as Ivan Ivanovich Bering, was a Danish cartographer and explorer in ...

landed in the area in 1741. Fur traders followed. A permanent Russian trading post was established in 1793 by the Lebedev-Lastochkin Company at

Port Etches Port Etches is a bay in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the west side of Hinchinbrook Island and opens onto Hinchinbrook Entrance, a strait between Hinchinbrook Island and Montague Island, connecting Prince Wil ...

Hinchinbrook Island Hinchinbrook Island (or Pouandai to the Biyaygiri people) is an island in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It lies east of Cardwell and north of Lucinda, separated from the north-eastern coast of Queensland by the narrow H ...

near the mouth of the Copper River. A competing post operated by the Shelikov Company was established in 1796 at Yakutat Bay. The Shelikov Company sent Dmitri Tarkhanov to explore the lower Copper River and to look for copper deposits, inspired by reports that the native peoples used implements and points made of pure copper. Another exploration party in 1797 was killed by natives. Semyen Potochkin was more successful in 1798, reaching the mouth of the Chitina River and spending the winter with the Ahtna. In 1799 Konstantin Galaktionov reached the

Tazlina River The Tazlina River is a tributary of the Copper River in the U.S. state of Alaska. Draining Tazlina Lake, it flows generally east to meet the larger river southeast of Glennallen. Course Tazlina Lake lies at the base of Tazlina Glacier in the ...

, but was wounded in an attack by the Ahtna. He was killed on a return trip in 1803. The Tlingit and Eyak attacked and destroyed the Russian post at Yakutat in 1805. It was not until 1819 that a party under Afanasii Klimovskii was sent to explore the Copper River again, reaching the upper portion of the river and establishing the Copper Fort trading post near Taral. A party that started from Taral in 1848 with the intention of reaching the

Yukon River The Yukon River ( Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän: ''Tth'echù'' or ''Chuu k'onn'', Southern Tutchone: Chu Nìikwän, russian: Юкон, Yukon) is a major watercour ...

was killed by the Ahtna, ending Russian exploration. MtBlackburn-KennicottGlacier

American interest in the area after Alaska's acquisition by the United States in 1867 was limited until gold was found in the

Yukon Territory Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

in the 1880s. George Holt was the first American known to have explored the lower Copper River, in 1882. In 1884 John Bremner prospected the lower river. The same year a U.S. Army party led by Lieutenant William Abercrombie attempted to explore the lower river, and found a passage to the country's interior over a glacier at the Valdez Arm. In 1885 Lieutenant Henry Tureman Allen fully explored the Copper and Chitina rivers, going on to cross the Alaska Range and enter the

system and eventually reaching the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Am ...

.Richter ''et al'', p. 1. The Allen expedition also noted the use of copper by native peoples along the Copper River. Several other expeditions explored the coastal regions in the late 1880s, and some attempted to climb the mountains. An 1891 expedition led by Yukon explorer Frederick Schwatka descended the Nizina, Chitina and Copper Rivers from the north.

Mineral extraction

The discovery of gold in the Canadian Klondike brought prospectors to the region who discovered some gold along the Copper River. Explorers' reports of copper tools and copper nuggets caused the U.S. Geological Survey to send a geologist, Oscar Rohn, to look for the source. Rohn reported finding copper ore in Kennicott Glacier, but did not find the source. Shortly afterwards prospectors Jack Smith and Clarence Warner are said to have noticed a green spot on a hillside at what is now Kennecott, which proved to be a rich copper lode. Engineer

Stephen Birch Stephen Birch (1873–1950) was the President of the Kennecott Copper Company. Early life Birch was born in New York City on March 24, 1873. He was the second son out of six children. His father was a Union Army sergeant who died when Ste ...

acquired the rights to the deposit and established the Alaska Copper and Coal Company in 1903 to mine it. Birch obtained cash from investors like

J. P. Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...

and the

Guggenheim family The Guggenheim family ( ) is an American-Jewish family known for making their fortune in the mining industry, in the early 20th century, especially in the United States and South America. After World War I, many family members withdrew from ...

, who became known as the "Alaska Syndicate" and his venture became Kennecott Mines in 1906, eventually becoming the Kennecott Copper Corporation. The town was named after the glacier, but misspelled, so that "Kennicott" became "Kennecott." Other copper deposits were found on the south side of the Wrangells at Bremner and Nizina. Smaller deposits of both gold and copper were found in the Nabesna area.Winkler, p. 7. Bremner Mining Camp Mechanic's Shop

Development of the remote site required the construction of a railway long and costing $23.5 million at the time of its construction. The

Copper River and Northwestern Railway The Copper River and Northwestern Railway (CR&NW) consisted of two rail lines, the Copper River line and the Northwestern line. Michael James Heney had secured the right-of-way up the Copper River in 1904. He started building the railway from ...

(CR&NW) took five years to build, extending to Cordova on the coast. The towns of

Chitina Chitina ( Ahtna Athabascan Tsedi Na < ''tsedi'' " copper" + ''na'' "

river ...

and McCarthy grew up on the line. The Kennecott mine employed surface mining, underground galleries, and, uniquely, mining in glacial ice to recover ore that had been scraped off the surface deposit by the Kennicott Glacier encased in ice. By the 1920s the highest-grade ore had been exhausted and the decline extended into the 1930s, until the Kennecott operation was finally shut down in 1938 after extracting over 4.5 million tons of ore, which yielded 600,000 tons of copper and of silver with a net profit of $100 million to the investors. Reports of oil and gas seeps in the vicinity of Cape Yakutaga and Controller Bay inspired petroleum exploration on the southern margin along the Gulf of Alaska. A small oilfield at Katalla produced oil from 1903 to 1933, when its refinery was destroyed by fire. The petroleum deposits were instrumental in the exclusion of the coast from

Icy Bay Icy Bay ( Tlingit: ''Lig̲aasi Áa'') is a body of water in the borough of Yakutat, Alaska, formed in the last 100 years by the rapid retreat of the Guyot, Yahtse, and Tyndall Glaciers. It is part of the Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness. At th ...

to the Copper River delta from the future park. Coal seams were also noted near Kushtaka Lake.Winkler, pp. 7–8. A boom took place from 1974 to 1977 with the construction of the

Trans-Alaska Pipeline System The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is an oil transportation system spanning Alaska, including the trans-Alaska crude-oil pipeline, 11 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one of ...

near the western margin of the future park. The boom was short-lived, and local residents returned to trapping, fishing and guiding hunters for their living. Thirteen test wells were drilled offshore in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

National park proposals

The first proposals for protected lands in the region came from the newly established

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

in 1908, but were not pursued.Bleakley, p. 11. Early studies of possible new Park Service units in Alaska took place in the 1930s and 1940s. The first study, entitled ''Alaska — Its Resources and Development'' was centered on the development of tourism in existing parks such as

Denali Denali (; also known as Mount McKinley, its former official name) is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of above sea level. With a topographic prominence of and a topographic isolation of , Denali is the ...

(then called Mount McKinley National Park), despite a dissent from co-author Bob Marshall, who advocated strict preservation. In 1939 Ernest Gruening, then Director of the Division of Territories and Island Possessions in the

Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...

and later governor of the Alaska Territory, proposed the establishment of a park in the Chitina Valley, to be called Panorama National Park or Alaska Regional National Park, together with Kennicott National Monument, a area that was to include

Kennicott Glacier Kennicott Glacier is a glacier in the U.S. state of Alaska. It trends southeast from Mount Blackburn to its terminus at the head of the Kennicott River in the Wrangell Mountains. It is located in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park near the smal ...

and the Kennecott mine site. Gruening was supported by Secretary of the Interior

Harold L. Ickes Harold LeClair Ickes ( ; March 15, 1874 – February 3, 1952) was an American administrator, politician and lawyer. He served as United States Secretary of the Interior for nearly 13 years from 1933 to 1946, the longest tenure of anyone to hold th ...

, but President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

declined to act, noting that there was no urgency, and citing his directive that all non-defense related measures be deferred to preparations for the looming World War II. A lukewarm assessment by Mount McKinley superintendent Frank Been in 1941 further diminished enthusiasm. However, Canada proposed a St. Elias Mountains International Park for the region in 1942, and established the Kluane Game Sanctuary in 1943 on its side of the border, which would eventually become Kluane National Park. These actions inspired the Interior Department to discuss a corresponding system of parks on the Alaska side, which would include what was then Glacier Bay National Monument, portions of the Wrangell and Chugach Mountains, and Malaspina and Bering Glaciers.Bleakley, p. 13.. In 1964,

George B. Hartzog Jr. George Benjamin Hartzog Jr. (March 17, 1920 – June 27, 2008) was an American attorney and Director of the National Park Service. Admitted to the bar in South Carolina in 1942, he became an attorney for the General Land Office (now the Bureau o ...

, director of the National Park Service, initiated a new study entitled ''Operation Great Land'', advocating the development and promotion of the existing Alaska parks. Gruening, by then one of Alaska's senators, proposed a "National Park Highway" for the region in 1966. Further action by the Park Service in the late 1960s resulted in a master plan and draft legislation. By 1969 Interior's

Bureau of Outdoor Recreation The Bureau of Outdoor Recreation (BOR) was an agency of the United States Department of the Interior with the mission of planning outdoor recreation opportunities for the Interior Department and assisting private, local, and state organizations w ...

proposed that the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's ...

oversee a Wrangell Mountain Scenic Area. This management scheme was proposed to allow resource development in addition to preservation and recreation. Park Service reaction was hostile, but Secretary of the Interior and former Alaska governor

Walter J. Hickel Walter Joseph Hickel (August 18, 1919 – May 7, 2010) was an American businessman, real estate developer, and politician who served as the second governor of Alaska from 1966 to 1969 and 1990 to 1994 and as U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1 ...

supported the idea. Despite the effort to preserve the possibility of resource development, Hickel's successor as governor,

Keith Harvey Miller Keith Harvey Miller (March 1, 1925 – March 2, 2019) was an American Republican politician from Alaska. Miller was the second secretary of state of Alaska under Walter Hickel. He became the third governor of Alaska after Hickel’s resignatio ...

, opposed the proposed National Scenic Area on the grounds that it would pre-empt potential Alaska state land claims in the area. The 1971

Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 18, 1971, constituting at the time the largest land claims settlement in United States history. ANCSA was intended to resolve long-standing ...

(ANCSA) spurred new proposals for Alaska parks. As part of the process of divesting federal lands to the state of Alaska and to native corporations, the act required the withdrawal of of lands for conservation. The National Park Service responded with a proposal for a Alaska National Park in the Wrangell Mountains region. Hickel's successor as Interior secretary

Rogers Morton Rogers Clark Ballard Morton (September 19, 1914 – April 19, 1979) was an American politician who served as the U.S. Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Commerce during the administrations of presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, ...

cut the proposed area to , withdrawing the western Wrangell Mountains and excluding Mount Wrangell itself and Mount Sanford. Later amendments brought the proposed acreage back to . A scaled-back park of was proposed by Interior in 1973, together with a Wrangell Mountain National Forest, getting a cold reception from both preservationists and developers. Competing bills were drafted during 1974 by both preservation and development interests with little advancement. In the same year the Park Service and Forest Service started a joint study for the Wrangell area and cooperated in glacier studies and in architectural surveys of the Kennecott mills. McCarthy Road

A variety of bills were introduced in Congress in 1976 with widely varying proposed acreage and levels of protection. None succeeded, but one bill proposed by conservation-oriented groups introduced the concept of

national preserve There are 21 protected areas of the United States designated as national preserves. They were established by an act of Congress to protect areas that have resources often associated with national parks but where certain natural resource-extract ...

s, which would enjoy most of the protections associated with national parks, but which would allow hunting. In 1977 Representative Morris K. Udall introduced the first version of the

(ANILCA) as H.R. 39, in which a Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and a Chisana National Preserve were proposed. Although supported by the Park Service, the bill was opposed by Alaska. A revised bill was proposed by the Interior Department, with in national park lands and in an adjoining preserve, both to be named Wrangell–St. Elias. Hearings in 1978 adjusted the areas, boundaries and relative proportions of park and preserve lands, with a view to allowing the hunting of Dall sheep in the Wrangell Mountains, and introducing a National Recreation Area to the north of the mountains.Bleakley, pp. 19–20. Alaska senator

Mike Gravel Maurice Robert "Mike" Gravel ( ; May 13, 1930 – June 26, 2021) was an American politician and writer who served as a United States Senator from Alaska from 1969 to 1981 as a member of the Democratic Party, and who later in life twice ran for ...

threatened to

filibuster A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking out ...

the proposed ANILCA bill, effectively killing it. Following this blockage and with efforts on the part of Alaska authorities to claim lands that fell within the proposed protections, President

invoked the

to proclaim 17 Alaskan

national monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a spe ...

s, including in Wrangell–St. Elias National Monument on December 1, 1978. The monument designation carried no dedicated funding for park development or operations, but did engender considerable hostility from Alaskans, who regarded the designation under the Antiquities Act as a federal land grab. The few Park Service personnel assigned to the area received threats, and a Park Service airplane was destroyed by fire in August 1979. Attitudes were sharply divided between white Alaskans, who were largely opposed to the park and felt that they were being forced out, and native Ahtnas, who were granted subsistence hunting rights and who expected to profit from tourism.

National park and preserve

In January 1979, Udall introduced a modified version of H.R. 39. Following markup and negotiations between the House and Senate versions, the bill as modified by the Senate was approved by the House on November 12. On December 2, 1980, the ANILCA bill was signed into law by Jimmy Carter, converting Wrangell–St. Elias to a national park and preserve with an initial area of in the park and in the preserve. Boundaries between the park and preserve areas were drawn according to perceived values of scenery versus hunting potential In accordance with the legislation, the designated areas included of wilderness, stipulated in a somewhat less restrictive manner than standard practice in the continental United States. Opposition to the park persisted after Congressional designation from some Alaskans, who resented federal government presence in general and National Park Service presence in particular. Vandalism persisted, with a ranger cabin burned and an airplane damaged, while others skirted regulations and voiced resentment of what, in their view, was an elitist attitude embodied in the park and the Park Service. However, relations improved for a time, with local businesses promoting the park and working with the Park Service on tourism projects. Incidents continued, notably involving arson at a ranger station, and relations bottomed again in 1994 when the park superintendent Karen Wade testified before Congress for increased funding in a way that was perceived to confirm residents' suspicions about the Park Service, exacerbated by commentary from local newspapers that was wrongly attributed to Wade. This marked the high point of resentment against the park, as local residents began to take part in Park Service sponsored events. Nevertheless, the 1979 designation of the region as a UNESCO World Heritage Site continued to be seen with suspicion. The

John Birch Society The John Birch Society (JBS) is an American right-wing political advocacy group. Founded in 1958, it is anti-communist, supports social conservatism, and is associated with ultraconservative, radical right, far-right, or libertarian ideas. T ...

claimed that the designation was part of a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

plan to assume control of the U.S. national park system.Bleakley, p. 48. The state of Alaska proposed major improvements to the McCarthy Road in 1997, planning to pave it and add scenic turnouts and trailheads along its length. Although the road remains gravel, it has been widened and smoothed. Some rental car agencies continue to prohibit use of their vehicles on the McCarthy Road.

Additional designations

The transborder park system Kluane / Wrangell–St. Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek (comprising Wrangell–St. Elias and three other national and provincial parks) was declared a

in 1979 for the spectacular glacier and icefield landscapes as well as for the importance of

grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...

caribou Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

and Dall sheep habitat. of the park and preserve were designated as the Wrangell–Saint Elias Wilderness upon the park's establishment in 1980, the largest single

wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

in the United States.

Climate

The climate of the park's interior is dominated by long, cold winters in which temperatures may remain below freezing for five months. Nighttime low temperatures can sink to and daytime highs of to are usual. Summer lasts two months, June and July, bringing flowers and biting insects, with maximum temperatures of . Late summers can bring drizzle. It begins to get cool in August, and first snows fall in September. Conditions are more temperate along the coast, and the high mountains retain snow all year. According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

system, Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve encompasses the following three types; 1) Continental Subarctic - Cold Dry Summer (''Dsc''). Dsc climates are characterized by their coldest month averaging below 0 °C (32 °F), 1–3 months averaging above 10 °C (50 °F), at least three times as much precipitation in the wettest month of winter as in the driest month of summer, and driest month of summer receives less than 30 mm (1.2 in). 2) Subarctic With Cool Summers And Dry Winters (''Dwc''). Dwc climates are characterized by their coldest month averaging below 0 °C (32 °F), 1–3 months averaging above 10 °C (50 °F), and 70% or more of average annual precipitation received in the warmest six months. 3) Subarctic With Cool Summers And Year Around Rainfall (''Dfc''). Dfc climates are characterized by their coldest month averaging below 0 °C (32 °F), 1–3 months averaging above 10 °C (50 °F), and no significant precipitation difference between seasons. According to the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of comme ...

, the Plant

Hardiness zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...

at the Kennecott Visitor Center (1985 ft / 605 m) is 3a with an average annual extreme minimum temperature of -37.8 °F (-38.8 °C).

Ecology

As the park and preserve cover an area larger than Switzerland, extending from the Gulf of Alaska to the Alaskan interior, with altitudes that vary from sea level to , Wrangell–St. Elias has a wide variety of habitats. Much of the park is high mountain peaks covered with permanent ice, glaciers and icefields. Rivers occupy broad, flat glacial valleys and have constantly-changing

braided river A braided river, or braided channel, consists of a network of river channels separated by small, often temporary, islands called braid bars or, in English usage, ''aits'' or ''eyots''. Braided streams tend to occur in rivers with high sediment ...

beds. The environment can be divided into five major categories, apart from the relatively sterile glacial and riverbed areas: lowlands, wetlands, uplands, sub-alpine and alpine. Some of these environments are influenced and defined by the presence of

permafrost Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Most common in the Northern Hemisphere, around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface ...

, permanently frozen sub-soil.

Plant communities

The lowland regions of the park border the Gulf of Alaska as well as the lower levels of the river valleys.

Black spruce ''Picea mariana'', the black spruce, is a North American species of spruce tree in the pine family. It is widespread across Canada, found in all 10 provinces and all 3 territories. It is the official tree of the province of Newfoundland and Lab ...

dominates areas of permafrost, with understories of

alder Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...

Labrador tea Labrador tea is a common name for three closely related plant species in the genus ''Rhododendron'' as well as an herbal tea made from their leaves. All three species are primarily wetland plants in the heath family. The herbal tea has been a ...

, willows and

blueberry Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' within the genus '' Vaccinium''. ''Vaccinium'' also includes cranberries ...

, with a variety of ground mosses. Wetlands can occur along the coast as well as the interior river basins. Permafrost regions are often marshy regions of

muskeg Muskeg (Ojibwe: mashkiig; cr, maskīk; french: fondrière de mousse, lit. ''moss bog'') is a peat-forming ecosystem found in several northern climates, most commonly in Arctic and boreal areas. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bog or p ...

. The wetland areas are primarily grassy, with

sedge The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus '' Carex'' ...

s and small shrubs. Horsetails such as ''

Equisetum palustre ''Equisetum palustre'', the marsh horsetail, is a plant species belonging to the division of horsetails (Equisetopsida). It is widespread in cooler regions of North America and Eurasia. Description ''Equisetum palustre'' is a perennial crypt ...

'' and

spikerush ''Eleocharis'' is a virtually cosmopolitan genus of 250 or more species of flowering plants in the sedge family, Cyperaceae. The name is derived from the Greek words ἕλειος (''heleios''), meaning "marsh dweller," and χάρις (''charis' ...

are also found. The drier forested upland portions of the park are mostly interior boreal forest, or

taiga Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, sp ...

. The distribution of tree species is determined by fire frequency and extent. The most abundant conifers in the forest are Black spruce and larger

white spruce White spruce is a common name for several species of spruce (''Picea'') and may refer to: * ''Picea glauca'', native to most of Canada and Alaska with limited populations in the northeastern United States * ''Picea engelmannii ''Picea engelman ...

, with white spruce more prevalent in areas without permafrost. Black spruce are better adapted to fire conditions. Both

quaking aspen ''Populus tremuloides'' is a deciduous tree native to cooler areas of North America, one of several species referred to by the common name aspen. It is commonly called quaking aspen, trembling aspen, American aspen, mountain or golden aspen, tr ...

and

paper birch ''Betula papyrifera'' (paper birch, also known as (American) white birch and canoe birch) is a short-lived species of birch native to northern North America. Paper birch is named for the tree's thin white bark, which often peels in paper like ...

are common deciduous species that are among the first trees to grow following a fire. They are followed by balsam poplar and eventually white spruce. Subalpine environments occur above the local

tree line The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures, extreme snow ...

, which in Wrangell–St. Elias usually varies from to . Plants are low and slow-growing shrubs, mainly

graminoid In botany and ecology, graminoid refers to a herbaceous plant with a grass-like morphology, i.e. elongated culms with long, blade-like leaves. They are contrasted to forbs, herbaceous plants without grass-like features. The plants most ofte ...

s and

forb A forb or phorb is an herbaceous flowering plant that is not a graminoid (grass, sedge, or rush). The term is used in biology and in vegetation ecology, especially in relation to grasslands and understory. Typically these are dicots without woo ...

s. The alpine environment is variable according to the availability of water. It starts at a variable altitude from in dry areas to in wetter areas. Heaths and low-growing willows are common, along with forbs.

Wildlife

Large terrestrial mammals include timber wolf,

black bear Black bear or Blackbear may refer to: Animals * American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species * Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species Music * Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...

, and

Mountain goat The mountain goat (''Oreamnos americanus''), also known as the Rocky Mountain goat, is a hoofed mammal endemic to mountainous areas of western North America. A subalpine to alpine species, it is a sure-footed climber commonly seen on cliffs an ...

s and Dall sheep are found in mountainous areas. Approximately 13,000 Dall sheep inhabit Wrangell–St. Elias, one of the highest concentrations of the species in North America.

Moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...

, though unusual, may sometimes be found in areas with willow growth. The smaller mammals include

wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a musc ...

beavers Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers a ...

, Canadian lynxes, porcupines, martens, river otters,

red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...

es,

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecological nich ...

s, ground and flying squirrels, hoary marmots, weasels,

snowshoe hare The snowshoe hare (''Lepus americanus''), also called the varying hare or snowshoe rabbit, is a species of hare found in North America. It has the name "snowshoe" because of the large size of its hind feet. The animal's feet prevent it from sin ...

s, several species of voles and mice, and

pika A pika ( or ; archaically spelled pica) is a small, mountain-dwelling mammal found in Asia and North America. With short limbs, very round body, an even coat of fur, and no external tail, they resemble their close relative, the rabbit, but wi ...

s. A few

bison Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North A ...

have been established in two herds in the park.

Cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. ...

s are considered possible but have not been documented. The waters along the coast host whales, porpoises,

harbor seal The harbor (or harbour) seal (''Phoca vitulina''), also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinniped (walruses, eared se ...

s and

sea lion Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short and thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they make up the family Otariidae, eared seals. ...

s. The endangered

Steller sea lion The Steller sea lion (''Eumetopias jubatus''), also known as the Steller's sea lion and northern sea lion, is a near-threatened species of sea lion in the northern Pacific. It is the sole member of the genus ''Eumetopias'' and the largest of ...

may be found in park waters. Twenty-one species of fish have been documented in fresh waters in the park. Differences in fish distribution depend on drainage:

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (the pikes). They are typical of brackish water, brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are kno ...

are not seen in the Copper River drainages, and no salmon species are seen in Yukon River drainages. Large freshwater fish include Chinook,

chum Chum may refer to: Broadcasting * CHUM Limited, a defunct Canadian media company * CHUM Radio, now Bell Media Radio, a Canadian radio broadcasting company * CHUM (AM), a Toronto radio station * CHUM-FM, a Toronto radio station * CHUM Chart, ...

coho The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". The scientific species name is ...

pink Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, ...

and sockeye salmon, as well as other salmonids such as

lake trout The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater char living mainly in lakes in northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, and grey trout. In Lake Superior, it can also ...

cutthroat trout The cutthroat trout is a fish species of the family Salmonidae native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, Rocky Mountains, and Great Basin in North America. As a member of the genus '' Oncorhynchus'', it is one of the Pacific t ...

, Dolly Varden,

Arctic grayling The Arctic grayling (''Thymallus arcticus'') is a species of freshwater fish in the salmon family Salmonidae. ''T. arcticus'' is widespread throughout the Arctic and Pacific drainages in Canada, Alaska, and Siberia, as well as the upper Mis ...

and

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coast ...

. Other fish include

eulachon The eulacheon ( (''Thaleichthys pacificus''), also spelled oolichan , ooligan , hooligan ), also called the candlefish, is a small anadromous species of smelt that spawns in some of the major river systems along the Pacific coast of North Amer ...

burbot The burbot (''Lota lota'') is the only gadiform (cod-like) freshwater fish. It is also known as bubbot, mariah, loche, cusk, freshwater cod, freshwater ling, freshwater cusk, the lawyer, coney-fish, lingcod, and eelpout. The species is closely ...

round whitefish The round whitefish (''Prosopium cylindraceum'') is a freshwater species of fish that is found in lakes from Alaska to New England, including the Great Lakes. It has an olive-brown back with light silvery sides and underside and its length is ge ...

Pacific lamprey The Pacific lamprey (''Entosphenus tridentatus'') is an anadromous parasitic lamprey from the Pacific Coast of North America and Asia. It is a member of the Petromyzontidae family. The Pacific lamprey is also known as the three-tooth lamprey and ...

, lake chub and a variety of

sculpin A sculpin is a type of fish that belongs to the superfamily Cottoidea in the order Scorpaeniformes.Kane, E. A. and T. E. Higham. (2012)Life in the flow lane: differences in pectoral fin morphology suggest transitions in station-holding demand ...

s. About 93 species of birds inhabit Wrangell–St. Elias, though only 24 remain during the harsh winter. The most common birds include

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...

and rock ptarmigan,

Canada jay The Canada jay (''Perisoreus canadensis''), also known as the gray jay, grey jay, camp robber, or whisky jack, is a passerine bird of the family Corvidae. It is found in boreal forests of North America north to the tree line, and in the Ro ...

raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus '' Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between " crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigne ...

hermit thrush The hermit thrush (''Catharus guttatus'') is a medium-sized North American thrush. It is not very closely related to the other North American migrant species of ''Catharus'', but rather to the Mexican russet nightingale-thrush. The specific na ...

es,

American robin The American robin (''Turdus migratorius'') is a migratory bird of the true thrush genus and Turdidae, the wider thrush family. It is named after the European robin because of its reddish-orange breast, though the two species are not closely ...

hairy woodpecker The hairy woodpecker (''Leuconotopicus villosus'') is a medium-sized woodpecker that is found over a large area of North America. It is approximately in length with a wingspan. With an estimated population in 2020 of almost nine million individ ...

s and

northern flicker The northern flicker or common flicker (''Colaptes auratus'') is a medium-sized bird of the woodpecker family. It is native to most of North America, parts of Central America, Cuba, and the Cayman Islands, and is one of the few woodpecker spec ...

s. Owls include

great horned owls The great horned owl (''Bubo virginianus''), also known as the tiger owl (originally derived from early naturalists' description as the "winged tiger" or "tiger of the air"), or the hoot owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an extrem ...

northern hawk owl The northern hawk-owl or northern hawk owl (''Surnia ulula'') is a medium-sized true owl of the northern latitudes. It is non-migratory and usually stays within its breeding range, though it sometimes irrupts southward. It is one of the few owl ...

s and

boreal owl The boreal owl or Tengmalm's owl (''Aegolius funereus'') is a small owl in the "true owl" family Strigidae. It is known as the boreal owl in North America and as Tengmalm's owl in Europe after Swedish naturalist Peter Gustaf Tengmalm or, more ...

References

Bibliography

*Bleakley, Geoffrey T. (2002)
''Contested Ground: Administrative History of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve 1978–2001''
(PDF). National Park Service. *Eppinger, R. G., et al. (2000)
geochemical studies of selected mineral deposits in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska''
(PDF). U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1619. Reston, VA: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey. *Richter, Donald H. Rosenkrans, Danny S.; Steigerwald, Margaret J. (1995)
''Guide to the Volcanoes of the Western Wrangell Mountains, Alaska—Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve''
(PDF). U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 2072. Denver: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey. *Winkler, G. R. (2000)
''A Geologic Guide to Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska : A Tectonic Collage of Northbound Terranes''
(PDF). U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1616. Denver: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.

External links

* of th

– National Park Service
World Heritage Site
*

Historic American Engineering Record Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

(HAER) documentation, filed under McCarthy, Valdez-Cordova Census Area, AK: ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** {{DEFAULTSORT:Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve Alaska Range ANILCA establishments Archaeological sites in Alaska Protected areas of Chugach Census Area, Alaska Protected areas of Copper River Census Area, Alaska Protected areas of Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska Protected areas of Yakutat City and Borough, Alaska Saint Elias Mountains World Heritage Sites in the United States

Park purpose

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Volcanic activity

Glaciers and icefields

Minerals

History

Early history and exploration

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Additional designations

Climate

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References

Bibliography

External links