Location: Anchorage, Alaska Map
Area: 4,030,025 acres (16,308 km²)
Official site
Fees and permits
There are no fees or
permits anywhere within the park. Backcountry hikers are requested
to fill out a
free registration form, which can assist rangers in the event of
a rescue.
Lake Clark National Park is situated near
Anchorage, Alaska in USA. It is a protected natural area composed of
a United States National Park and a reserve located in southern
Alaska, which protects numerous streams and lakes of vital
importance for the Bristol Bay salmon fishery. Administratively, the
park belongs to the boroughs of the Lake and Peninsula, the Kenai
Peninsula and Matanuska-Susitna and the Bethel census area. It was
first established as a national monument in 1978 and then as Lake
Clark National Park in 1980. It protects an area of 16 308 km²,
making it the fifth largest national park in Alaska and also in the
entire United States. The park allows a wide variety of recreational
activities throughout the year.
The Lake Clark Park has been
called "the essence of Alaska" as it concentrates in a relatively
small area of the Alaska Peninsula, southwest of Anchorage, a
variety of Great features that do not occur together in none of the
other national parks of Alaska: the union of three chains of
mountains (the Alaska mountain range to the north, the Aleutian
mountain range to the south, and the park's own rugged Chigmit
mountains); two active volcanoes, the Iliamna and the Redoubt; a
forested coast in the east (similar to southeastern Alaska), washed
by the waters of Cook Inlet; a plateau with tundra, in the west
(similar to the Arctic Alaska); and several turquoise lakes.
No road or road leads to Lake Clark National Park and can only be
reached in small planes, the hydroplane being the best method. The
park, one of the least visited of the entire National Park System of
the United States, has an average of just over 5,000 visitors per
year.
The documentary film Alone in the Wilderness (2003)
looks at what is now the park. Most of the film was shot in 1968 and
1969 and shows the twin lakes park area, Twin Lakes.
Lake Clark Park has been called "the essence of Alaska" because it
concentrates in a relatively small area of the Alaska Peninsula,
southwest of Anchorage, a variety of features that do not occur together
anywhere. of Alaska's other national parks: the union of three mountain
ranges (the Alaska Range to the north; the Aleutian Range to the south;
and the park's own rugged Chigmit Mountains); two active volcanoes,
Iliamna and Redoubt; a forested coast in the east (similar to southeast
Alaska), washed by the waters of Cook Inlet; a plateau with tundra, in
the west (similar to Arctic Alaska); and several turquoise lakes.
No roads or paths lead to the park and it can only be reached by
small aircraft, with the seaplane being the best method. The park, one
of the least visited in the entire United States National Park System,
has an average of just over 5,000 visitors per year.
The
documentary film Alone in the Wilderness (2003) looks at what is now the
park. Most of the film was shot in 1968 and shows the Twin Lakes park
area.
The area was first protected by proclamation on December 1, 1978 as a
national monument of the United States, forming part of a group of 15
natural areas in Alaska that Jimmy Carter, using presidential
prerogative, proclaimed new national monuments, after that the United
States Congress had postponed a large purchase of Alaskan lands that had
strong state opposition. Congress passed the Alaska National Interest
Lands Conservation Act in 1980, which incorporated most of these
national monuments into national parks and preserves, but also limited
future use of the land. presidential prerogative in Alaska.
On
December 2, 1980, the monument became a national park.
The park is located in southern Alaska, 160 km from the city of Anchorage. It includes a fairly significant variety of landscapes: the junction of three mountain ranges, a coastal line with rainforests, an alpine tundra plateau, glaciers, glacial lakes, salmon rivers, as well as two volcanoes: Mount Redoubt and Mount Iliamna. The region includes three wild and picturesque rivers: the Chilikadrotna, the Mulchatna and the Tlikakila. Despite these assets, the park is one of the least visited in the State (only 5,000 people per year), because no road leads there, the plane being the only way to access it.