Glacier Bay National Park

Glacier Bay National Park

Description of Glacier Bay National Park

Location: Juneau     Map

Area: 3,283,246 acres (13,287 km²)

Official site

Fees and permits
There are no entry fees for non-commercial users of the park.

 

The Glacier Bay National Park is a national park in the USA in southern Alaska, near Juneau, in the so-called Alaska Panhandle. There are over 50 named glaciers in the park, 7 of which extend into the tidal waters of the bay called Glacier Bay, which is crossed by fjords such as Tarr Inlet. Chunks of ice over 50 meters high often break off and fall explosively into the water (calving).

The region around Glacier Bay was initially protected as a national monument on February 25, 1925. The national park, which was created in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, was expanded by 2,100 km² and covers an area of 13,287 km². A large part of it (10,784 km²) is designated as a wilderness area. The park is an IUCN Category V protected area (Protected Landscape/Protected Marine Area). The park is classified by UNESCO as part of an international biosphere reserve and a world natural heritage site. In 1979, Canada's Kluane National Park, along with the US Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, was declared a transboundary natural heritage site. This world natural heritage was then supplemented in 1992 by the Glacier Bay National Park and in 1994 by the Canadian Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park to form a joint and coherent world natural heritage. A small extension area in the far west of the national park is designated with the lower protection status of a National Preserve. Hunting was already common here before it was placed under protection, and it is still permitted.

The national park's glaciers are of scientific importance because they now mark the retreat of a smaller ice age that dates back 4,000 years. When Captain George Vancouver explored the region in 1794, the bay was almost completely filled with ice from glaciers. The ice was several kilometers wide and over 1000 meters high. In 1879, less than 100 years later, the naturalist John Muir discovered that the glaciers had retreated significantly. The ice mass now known as Muir Glacier has shortened by 77 kilometers in these 85 years. Today this retreat of the glaciers has slowed. Three glaciers continue to retreat, while eight are growing longer. Scientists are researching the influence of glacier movement on the global climate and the flora in the areas released by the glaciers.

The approximately 380,000 visitors annually arrive mostly on cruise ships, or in some cases on ferries operated by the National Park Service. The only road leads from the small airport through the town of Gustavus, both outside the park boundaries in the southeast, to the visitor center, the campground and the Glacier Bay Lodge, the only hotel in the park.

There are over 100 glaciers in the four mountain ranges. The highest point in the park is on the flank of the 4,663 meter high Mount Fairweather, whose summit lies outside the park boundaries on the Canadian side. Wolves, brown bears, black bears and mountain goats are characteristic large animal species of the national park. Numerous marine mammals such as killer whales, humpback whales, gray whales, sea otters, seals and Steller sea lions can also be found in the coastal waters. The area is also one of the few places where the endangered Short-billed Auk still occurs.

Other mammals in the area include snowshoe hares, gray marmots, beavers, ursons and red squirrels. The Sitka black-tailed deer has its northernmost occurrence in this region. Since the 1960s, moose have also appeared in the area, which were not previously found here. The coyote is also a recent immigrant. In the near future, pumas could also advance further and colonize the park. Other predators such as wolverine, North American river otter, mink and red fox also live in the park. Canada lynx, on the other hand, are rare.

 

Sleeping options

The only lodging that is within the park is the Glacier Bay Lodge in Bartlett Cove and a handful of lodges in Dry Bay. The town of Gustavus, 10 miles from Bartlett Cove, has a handful of additional options.

Lodging
Alsek River Lodge (Summer only), ☎ +1 907 784-3451. 60 miles southeast of Yakutat, Alaska at Dry Bay in Glacier Bay National Preserve. The Alsek River Lodge is a small rustic lodge primarily focusing on guided hunting, photography & sport fishing activities and services. Access is by small plane.
Glacier Bay Lodge (Mid-May to mid-September), toll-free: +1-888-229-8687. The Glacier Bay Lodge is in Bartlett Cove and offers overnight accommodations, a restaurant, gift shop, fuel sales (gasoline, #2 diesel, and white gas), and a daily vessel tour to the park's spectacular tidewater glaciers.
Johnny's East River Lodge (Summer only), ☎ +1 907 463-1288. 60 miles southeast of Yakutat, Alaska at Dry Bay in Glacier Bay National Preserve. Johnny's East River Lodge is a small wilderness lodge focusing on sport fishing and wildlife viewing activities and services. Access is by small plane.
Northern Lights Haven (Summer only), ☎ +1 253 564-4583. 60 miles southeast of Yakutat, Alaska at Dry Bay in Glacier Bay National Preserve, Northern Lights Haven is a small rustic lodge primarily focusing on sport fishing activities and services. Access is by small plane.

Camping
2 Bartlett Cove Campground. A free walk-in campground with bear-resistant food caches, firewood, and a warming hut, is at Bartlett Cove. No reservations are accepted, but a permit is required. Campground permits are issued at the Visitor Information Station on a first-come, first-served basis. Wheelbarrows are available to help transport gear between the parking area, dock, and campground. Stays are limited to 14 days. Free.

Backcountry
All campers (including kayakers) are required to attend a camper orientation, held daily upon request at the Bartlett Cove Visitor Information Station near the dock. This session is for your benefit: to answer your questions, provide you with a tide table, inform you of special wildlife and safety closures or to assist in planning your trip. You will be asked to fill out a backcountry registration form at that time and a wilderness survey form when you return from your trip.

 

History

The area around Glacier Bay, southeast of Alaska, was proclaimed a National Monument on February 5, 1925. Later, in 1980, it received the designation Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve through the Congress passed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. In 1986, UNESCO proclaimed the area a Biosphere Reserve, and in 1992 it was incorporated into the World Heritage Site, within the transboundary site called Kluane / Wrangell-St Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek.

 

Geography

The park covers an area of 13,287 km², of which 10,784 km² are considered wild areas.

There are no roads that penetrate the park and the easiest way to access it is via National Park Service ferries—which arrive across Cross Sound or Icy Sound—or by plane, using the town's runway. by Gustavus. Despite poor communications, 380,000 visitors come to the park each year.

The descent of the glaciers from the snow-capped peaks to the bay creates one of the best landscapes in the world to observe the creation of icebergs. The most famous glacier in the bay is the Muir Glacier, which moves 3 kilometers per year and is 80 meters thick. Until 1750 the bay was an immense glacier.

Explorer George Vancouver discovered Icy Sound in the south of the bay when he hit an ice sheet in 1794. At that time, Glacier Bay was completely covered in ice. In 1879, naturist John Muir discovered that the ice had retreated from the bay. In 1916 the great Pacific Glacier was 100 kilometers away from the mouth of the bay. This is the largest documented setback. Scientists are investigating the relationship between climate change and glacier retreat.

Glacier Bay contains sixteen glaciers, twelve of which reach the coastline and break off, forming icebergs. Among the fauna of the region are bears, deer, whales, mountain goats and waterfowl.

 

Geology

The west side of the bay consists of a 26,000-foot-thick sequence of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, primarily massive limestones and argillite. The oldest rocks in this sequence are the Upper Silurian Willoughby Limestone and the youngest are the Black Cape Devonian Limestone. An outcrop west of Tidal Inlet includes sandstone, greywacke, and limestone of unknown age. Sedimentary rocks of unknown age on the east side of Muir Inlet include tuff interbedded with limestone. The exposed rocks on the 1,205-foot-high hill called “The Nunatak” have been transformed. The earliest stocks (geology) of Cretaceous diorite are exposed south of Tidal Inlet, and on Sebree and Sturgress Islands. Outcrops of diorite quartz on Lemesurier Island. A granite stock is exposed in Dundas Bay. Mafic dikes up to 20 feet wide are found in the area.

Glacial advances occurred 7,000, 5,000 and 500 years ago, the latter extending to the entrance to the bay, where it left a huge semi-circular terminal moraine. The resulting surface glacial deposits include gravels such as wash sands and moraines. Glacial gravels extend up to 2,000 feet on mountain slopes. Lakes formed where glaciers dammed the heads of valleys. Preglacial forests are found east of Goose Cove and on the east side of Muir Inlet. According to Rossman, “One of the remarkable features of the Glacier Bay region is the rapid advance and retreat of glaciers in several substages over the past several thousand years. »

The region experiences tectonic activity with frequent earthquakes. Landslides caused by earthquakes have been important forces of change, thus causing tsunamis. Additionally, parts of the region are experiencing post-glacial rebound (also known as isostatic rebound), the process in which land rises after the weight of the glacier has been removed.

 

Environment

Glacier Bay National Park preserves nearly 600,000 acres (2,428.1 km2) of federally protected marine ecosystems in Alaska (including submerged lands) to which other, less protected marine ecosystems can be compared. Within the park and preserve, there are two ancestral Tlingit homelands that have cultural and spiritual significance to the communities living today. The Alsek River serves as a route of discovery and migration from the park's coastal mountain range to the Pacific Ocean in the reserve. In the latter and unlike the park, the Alsek River provides a framework for subsistence uses, commercial fishing and hunting as provided for by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) while simultaneously protecting the glacial ecosystem.

The park's ecosystems are wet tundra, alpine tundra, coastal forest, glaciers and ice fields. The regions of the park closest to the Gulf of Alaska have a relatively mild climate with significant precipitation and relatively little snowfall. Lower Glacier Bay is a transition zone, and Upper Glacier Bay is cold and snowy. Access to land can be difficult, as glacial fjords have steep walls that rise directly from the water. Where there are coastal beaches, they can be densely covered with alder and devil's club, making hiking difficult.

 

Wildlife

The park is home to many typical Alaskan animals, including grizzly bears, black bears, caribou, Dall sheep, wolves, elk, red foxes, wolverines, marmots, Canada lynx, coyotes, beavers, cougars, otters, mink and Rocky Mountain goats. Birds include the bald eagle, the golden eagle and the osprey. The marine fauna is also very rich, including otters, sea lions, salmon, sea lions, whales, orcas. It can be observed during organized cruises.