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Katmai Provincial Park Facts

Katmai Provincial Park Facts
Katmai National Park is a 4,093,077 acre park located in southern Alaska, in the United States. It is most famous for its Alaskan grizzly bear population, and for the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, a valley named for the thousands of smoke curls rising from its floor following a volcanic eruption in 1912. Katmai Provincial Park is located on the Alaska Peninsula, and named for its stratovolcano Mount Katmai. Katmai Provincial Park is across from the famous Kodiak Island. In 1918 the region was designated a national monument, but it wasn't until 1950 that interest in the area began to grow because of its bear population and other wildlife including sockeye salmon. In 1980 Katmai Provincial Park was established, and most of the land in the park is also designated a Wilderness Area, so hunting is not allowed on more than 3,922,000 acres.
Interesting Katmai Provincial Park Facts:
There are several active volcanoes in Katmai Provincial Park, including Mount Katmai, Fourpeaked Mountain, Mount Martin, Mount Mageik, Trident Volcano, and Novarupta.
Volcanoes in the park that have not erupted in recent years include Mount Kejulik, Mount Douglas, Mount Griggs, Snowy Mountain, Mount Cerberus, Falling Mountain, and Devils Desk.
Visitors to Katmai Provincial Park can engage in a variety of activities including boat tours, kayaking, fishing, skiing in the backcountry, hiking, backpacking, and camping.
Katmai Provincial Park is home to the largest protected population of grizzly bears, which is estimated to be at approximately 2,200.
The salmon are a popular draw for tourists as well, as they can be seen spawning at Brooks Falls. The spawning salmon draw the grizzly bears and this is a popular time for photographing the grizzly bears catching salmon in the river.
Because the rangers at Katmai Provincial Park take special care to avoid the grizzly bears coming into contact with humans or with human food, the grizzly bears are not interested in humans. This makes it possible for better photography opportunities as it is possible to get closer.
Due to cold climate in Alaska's Katmai Provincial Park, there are almost no reptiles or amphibians found there.
Wildlife that can be found at Katmai Provincial Park includes grizzly bears, moose, wolves, Dall sheep, coyotes, wolverines, lynx, arctic ground squirrels, voles, red foxes, weasels, caribous, beavers, river otters, martens, porcupines, snowshoe hares, sea lions, sea otters, harbor seals, and gray whales, orcas, and beluga whales can be seen in the ocean.
The fish most common to the waters in Katmai Provincial Park are sockeye salmon.
In 1989 the coastline to Katmai Provincial Park was damaged extensively by the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound. It resulted in oil along 90% of the park's coastline. The oil killed 8,400 birds alone. The last oil was cleaned up in 1991.
In 1923 the annual number of visitors to Katmai was 15. In 2012 the number of visitors was 39,818.
Visiting the park is best in July when the grizzly bears are trying to catch salmon in the rivers. Because of accessibility, the time to visit is between June and early Spetember.


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