Kenai Fjords National Park facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Kenai Fjords National Park |
|
|---|---|
|
IUCN Category II (National Park)
|
|
Kenai Fjords Coastline
|
|
 Kenai Fjords National Park
Location in Alaska
Kenai Fjords National Park
Location in North America
|
|
| Location | Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States |
| Nearest city | Seward |
| Area | 669,984 acres (2,711.33 km2) |
| Established | December 2, 1980 |
| Visitors | 321,596 (in 2018) |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
| Website | Kenai Fjords National Park |
Kenai Fjords National Park is a special place in Alaska, United States. It protects the amazing Harding Icefield, huge glaciers that flow from it, and beautiful coastal fjords and islands. The park covers about 670,000 acres (2,700 square kilometers) on the Kenai Peninsula. It is located west of the town of Seward.
The park is famous for the Harding Icefield, which is one of the biggest ice fields in the United States. Many fjords in the park were carved by glaciers moving down from this ice field. At least 38 glaciers start here, with Bear Glacier being the largest. Fjords are like deep valleys that glaciers carved out, which then filled with ocean water. Exit Glacier is a popular spot you can reach by road. Most of the park can only be explored by boat, airplane, or hiking trails.
Kenai Fjords was first made a national monument in 1978 by President Jimmy Carter. It became a national park in 1980. The park protects the icefield, a narrow strip of forest along the coast, and the many bays and inlets. It is home to many land and sea animals. These include brown bears, black bears, moose, sea otters, harbor seals, humpback whales, and killer whales.
Contents
History of Kenai Fjords National Park
Kenai Fjords National Park was created in 1980. This happened when the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) was passed. Compared to other national parks in Alaska, it is quite small and easy to get to. It is the fifth most-visited park in Alaska. The park's main office is in Seward.
Early People and Gold Mining
When the park was created, not many people lived there permanently. However, studies have found signs that people used this area for a long time. It is thought that rising sea levels covered many old sites along the coast. This was where early people found most of their food and resources.
Surveys have found several old village sites that were used between 1200 AD and 1920. One study found that an earthquake around 1170 AD caused the shoreline to drop, possibly covering even older sites. Later surveys showed that some sites were used for hundreds of years.
Gold mining also took place in the park's history, especially around Nuka Bay. Some mines were active until the 1980s. Eleven mine sites have been found. Two of these are important enough to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
How the Park Was Created
Ideas for new national parks in Alaska began in the 1930s. In the 1970s, people started suggesting a national park specifically for the Kenai Fjords area. Different groups had different ideas for how much land to protect and what activities would be allowed.
In 1973, the Nixon administration suggested creating the Harding Icefield–Kenai Fjords National Monument. This monument would protect the icefield and some islands. However, the plan was delayed due to political issues.
Later, President Jimmy Carter used a special law called the Antiquities Act to declare Kenai Fjords a national monument in 1978. This was done to protect the land while a bigger law about Alaskan lands was being discussed. Finally, on December 2, 1980, the ANILCA bill was signed. This officially made Kenai Fjords a national park.
Park Development and Activities
After becoming a national park, the first improvements focused on making Exit Glacier easier to visit. In 1982, a plan was made for the park. It called Exit Glacier the "front-country" (easy to access), the fjords the "back-country" (harder to access), and the icefield a wilderness area.
The park works with the local community. It also has a special agreement with the Alaska SeaLife Center to share information and educational programs.
Things to Do at Kenai Fjords
The town of Seward is a popular starting point for visiting the park. Many large cruise ships come to Seward. You can take boat tours from Seward into the park through Resurrection Bay. These tours often have park rangers who can tell you about the area.
Boat tours let you see amazing land and sea animals. You might spot Steller sea lions, puffins, Dall's porpoises, black bears, snowshoe hares, Mountain goats, humpback whales, and orca whales. You can also see beautiful fjords and tidewater glaciers (glaciers that flow into the sea).
Bus tours from Seward take visitors to Exit Glacier. There are also trails from the Exit Glacier Nature Center. These trails lead to the glacier and the 7.4-mile (11.9 km) Harding Icefield Trail.
The park also has cabins and shelters for public use in coastal areas and near the Harding Icefield.
Geography of Kenai Fjords
Kenai Fjords National Park is on the southeastern side of the Kenai Peninsula. It is about 130 miles (209 km) south of Anchorage. The town of Seward is just east of the park on Resurrection Bay.
The park includes a coastline with deep, glacier-carved inlets and large ice fields inland. Important fjords include Aialik Bay, Harris Bay, McCarty Fjord, and Nuka Bay. Most of the park's interior is covered by the Harding Icefield. The highest point in the park is an unnamed peak in the Kenai Mountains, which is about 6,450 feet (1,966 meters) tall.
The park is next to the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge to the west. It also borders Kachemak Bay State Park to the south. You can reach the park from Seward, which is at the end of the Seward Highway. It is one of only three national parks in Alaska that you can drive to.
Geology and Glaciers
.jpg)
The landscape of Kenai Fjords has been shaped by the movement of Earth's plates. The Pacific Plate is slowly sliding under the North American Plate. This process has lowered the Kenai Mountains. It has also pulled glacial features down into the sea, while the sea level is also rising. The bottoms of the fjords can be 600 to 1,000 feet (180 to 300 meters) below the current sea level.
Over half of the park (51%) is covered by ice. The Harding Icefield gets about 60 feet (18 meters) of snowfall each year. More than 30 glaciers start in this ice field, which first formed about 23,000 years ago. However, the ice field has been shrinking. Its size decreased by 3% over a 16-year study period. Bear Glacier is the largest glacier in the park. Exit Glacier is the easiest glacier to visit, as it is the only part of the park you can drive to.
Wildlife and Ecosystems
.jpg)
Kenai Fjords National Park is mostly covered by glaciers. As these glaciers have melted over the years, they have revealed new land. This new land is then slowly taken over by plants and animals. The park also has a very important ocean environment.
Land Animals
Large land animals in the park include wolves, porcupines, lynx, brown bears, black bears, moose, and mountain goats. Smaller animals like coyotes, beavers, and river otters also live here.
Marine Animals
The waters of Kenai Fjords are home to many marine mammals. These include sea otters, harbor seals, and Steller sea lions. You can also see many types of whales and dolphins, such as orcas, fin whales, humpback whales, minke whales, Dall's porpoises, and Pacific white-sided dolphins.
Birds
Many birds nest in the park. These include the bald eagle, peregrine falcon, black-billed magpie, and Steller's jay. Sea birds like tufted puffins, horned puffins, common murres, thick-billed murres, and marbled murrelets are also found here.
Plants and Plant Life Cycle
The types of plants you see in Kenai Fjords depend on how recently a glacier has moved away. When new land is exposed, it is mostly rocky with no soil. The first plants to grow are lichens and mosses, along with tough plants like dwarf fireweed and yellow dryas.
As moss and lichen break down rocks into soil, other plants start to grow. Sitka alder is important because it can add nitrogen to the soil, helping other plants. Willows also appear at this stage. After willows and alders, black cottonwoods and then Sitka spruce trees grow.
A mature forest in the park has Sitka spruce and mountain hemlock trees. Underneath these trees, you can find plants like devil's club, Alaska blueberry, elderberry, and lady fern. Similar plant growth patterns are seen on nunataks, which are rocky areas that stick out of the Harding Icefield.
At higher altitudes, it is too cold for trees to grow tall. This creates an alpine ecosystem. The tree line in Kenai Fjords is between 750 and 1,000 feet (230 and 300 meters) above sea level. In these alpine areas, you find small shrubs like alders and elderberry. There are also grasses and wildflowers like Nootka lupine and fireweed. Even higher up, you find very small dwarf plants that grow slowly, like bog blueberry and black crowberry. These tiny plants are easily damaged by people walking on them.
Fjord Estuary Ecosystem
Kenai Fjords has a special type of estuary. This is where fresh water from glaciers mixes with ocean water. As glaciers move, they grind rocks into a fine powder called rock flour. This powder makes the water cloudy near the glaciers. It also adds minerals to the water, which helps tiny plants called phytoplankton grow. These phytoplankton then become food for larger animals, supporting the whole ecosystem.
The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
In 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez spilled oil in Prince William Sound. This oil spread and reached the coastline of Kenai Fjords. Park staff worked to protect salmon streams and check on plants and animals. About 20 miles (32 km) of the park's coastline were affected by the oil. The oil did not go deep into the fjords because of strong fresh water flows from the land.
Cleaning up the oil was very hard. The oil turned into a thick, sticky tar that could not be easily removed. Cleanup efforts continued for several years. The oil spill also affected some old archeological sites. One site, found during cleanup, showed that native people had used parts of the park for a very long time. Cleaning this site without damaging it was a big challenge.
Images for kids
-
Map of Kenai Fjords National Park
See also
In Spanish: Parque nacional de los fiordos de Kenai para niños
