Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve
Encyclopedia
Glacier Bay National Park is a national park in Alaska. The area around Glacier Bay
in southeastern Alaska
was first proclaimed a U.S. National Monument
on February 25, 1925. It was changed to Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve on Dec. 2, 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act
. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is a United States
National Park
in the southeastern part of Alaska west of Juneau
. The park area was included in an International Biosphere Reserve
in 1986 and is part of a UNESCO
World Heritage Site
. The park covers 5,130 mi² (13,287 km²). Most of the park is a designated wilderness area which covers 4,164 mi² (10,784 km²) of the park.
No roads lead to the park and it is most easily reached by air travel. During some summers there are ferries to the small community of Gustavus
or directly to the marina at Bartlett Cove. Despite the lack of roads, there are over 400,000 visitors per year, most on cruise ships.
Glaciers descending from high snow capped mountains into the bay create spectacular displays of ice and iceberg formation. In the last century, the most dramatic was probably the Muir Glacier
. The calving face was nearly 2 mi (3.2 km) wide and about 265 ft (80.8 m) high. In the 1990s, the Muir Glacier receded to the point that it was no longer a tidewater glacier
. Most visitors today see the Margerie
and Lamplugh Glacier
s.
Joseph Whidbey
, master of the Discovery
during George Vancouver
's 1791-95 expedition
, found Icy Strait
, at the south end of Glacier Bay, choked with ice in 1794. Glacier Bay itself was almost entirely iced over. In 1879 naturalist John Muir
found that the ice had retreated almost all the way up the bay, a distance of around forty-eight miles. By 1916 the Grand Pacific Glacier
was at the head of Tarr Inlet about 65 mi (104.6 km) from Glacier Bay's mouth. This is the fastest documented glacier retreat
ever. Scientists are hoping to learn how glacial activity relates to climate change
s from the retreat.
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve includes nine tidewater glaciers. Four of these glaciers actively calve
iceberg
s into the bay.
Wildlife in the area includes both grizzly
and black bears
, moose
, sitka black-tailed deer
, mountain goats, dall sheep
, wolves, lynx
, sea otters, harbor seals, steller's sea lions, Pacific white-sided dolphins, orcas, humpback whales, bald eagles, gulls, waterfowl
, and salmon
.
transborder park system comprising Kluane
, Wrangell-St Elias
, Glacier Bay and Tatshenshini-Alsek
parks, was declared a UNESCO
World Heritage Site
in 1979 for the spectacular glacier and icefield landscapes as well as for the importance of grizzly bears
, caribou
and Dall sheep
habitat.
Glacier Bay
Glacier Bay Basin in southeastern Alaska, 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 Dec...
in southeastern Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
was first proclaimed a U.S. National Monument
U.S. National Monument
A National Monument in the United States is a protected area that is similar to a National Park except that the President of the United States can quickly declare an area of the United States to be a National Monument without the approval of Congress. National monuments receive less funding and...
on February 25, 1925. It was changed to Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve on Dec. 2, 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act
The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act was a United States federal law passed in 1980 by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on December 2 of that year....
. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is a United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
National Park
National park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
in the southeastern part of Alaska west of Juneau
Juneau, Alaska
The City and Borough of Juneau is a unified municipality located on the Gastineau Channel in the panhandle of the U.S. state of Alaska. It has been the capital of Alaska since 1906, when the government of the then-District of Alaska was moved from Sitka as dictated by the U.S. Congress in 1900...
. The park area was included in an International Biosphere Reserve
Biosphere reserve
The Man and the Biosphere Programme of UNESCO was established in 1971 to promote interdisciplinary approaches to management, research and education in ecosystem conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.-Development:...
in 1986 and is part of a UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
. The park covers 5,130 mi² (13,287 km²). Most of the park is a designated wilderness area which covers 4,164 mi² (10,784 km²) of the park.
Gustavus, Alaska
Gustavus is a city in Hoonah-Angoon Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. At the 2000 census the population was 429.-Geography:Gustavus is located at ....
or directly to the marina at Bartlett Cove. Despite the lack of roads, there are over 400,000 visitors per year, most on cruise ships.
Glaciers descending from high snow capped mountains into the bay create spectacular displays of ice and iceberg formation. In the last century, the most dramatic was probably the Muir Glacier
Muir Glacier
Muir Glacier is a glacier in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is currently about wide at the terminus. As recently as the mid-1980s the glacier was a tidewater glacier and calved icebergs from a wall of ice 60 m tall.Muir Glacier has undergone very rapid,...
. The calving face was nearly 2 mi (3.2 km) wide and about 265 ft (80.8 m) high. In the 1990s, the Muir Glacier receded to the point that it was no longer a tidewater glacier
Tidewater glacier cycle
The tidewater glacier cycle is the typically centuries-long behavior of tidewater glaciers that consists of recurring periods of advance alternating with rapid retreat and punctuated by periods of stability...
. Most visitors today see the Margerie
Margerie Glacier
Margerie Glacier is a 21-mile-long tide water glacier in Glacier Bay in Alaska and is part of the Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. It begins on the south slope of Mount Root, at the Alaska-Canada border in the Fairweather Range, and flows southeast and northeast to Tarr Inlet...
and Lamplugh Glacier
Lamplugh Glacier
Lamplugh Glacier is an 8-mile-long glacier located in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in the U.S. state of Alaska. It leads north to its 1961 terminus in Johns Hopkins Inlet, 1.4 miles west of Ptarmigan Creek and 76 miles northwest of Hoonah. The glacier was named by Lawrence Martin of...
s.
Joseph Whidbey
Joseph Whidbey
Joseph Whidbey was a member of the Royal Navy who served on the Vancouver Expedition 1791–1795, and later achieved renown as a naval engineer. He is notable for having been the first European to discover and chart Admiralty Island in the Alexander Archipelago in 1794.Little is recorded of...
, master of the Discovery
HMS Discovery (1789)
HMS Discovery was a Royal Navy ship launched in 1789 and best known as the lead ship in George Vancouver's exploration of the west coast of North America in his famous 1791-1795 expedition. She was converted to a bomb vessel in 1798 and participated in the Battle of Copenhagen. Thereafter she...
during George Vancouver
George Vancouver
Captain George Vancouver RN was an English officer of the British Royal Navy, best known for his 1791-95 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of contemporary Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...
's 1791-95 expedition
Vancouver Expedition
The Vancouver Expedition was a four-and-a-half-year voyage of exploration and diplomacy, commanded by Captain George Vancouver. The expedition circumnavigated the globe, touched five continents and changed the course of history for the indigenous nations and several European empires and their...
, found Icy Strait
Icy Strait
The Icy Strait is a strait in the Alexander Archipelago in southeastern Alaska, at about . The strait separates Chichagof Island to the south and the Alaska mainland to the north. The strait is from its west side at the intersection of the Cross Sound and Glacier Bay to its east side at Chatham...
, at the south end of Glacier Bay, choked with ice in 1794. Glacier Bay itself was almost entirely iced over. In 1879 naturalist John Muir
John Muir
John Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions...
found that the ice had retreated almost all the way up the bay, a distance of around forty-eight miles. By 1916 the Grand Pacific Glacier
Grand Pacific Glacier
Grand Pacific Glacier is a 25-mile long glacier in British Columbia and Alaska. It begins in Glacier Bay National Park in the St...
was at the head of Tarr Inlet about 65 mi (104.6 km) from Glacier Bay's mouth. This is the fastest documented glacier retreat
Retreat of glaciers since 1850
The retreat of glaciers since 1850 affects the availability of fresh water for irrigation and domestic use, mountain recreation, animals and plants that depend on glacier-melt, and in the longer term, the level of the oceans...
ever. Scientists are hoping to learn how glacial activity relates to climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
s from the retreat.
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve includes nine tidewater glaciers. Four of these glaciers actively calve
Ice calving
Ice calving, also known as glacier calving or iceberg calving, is a form of ice ablation or ice disruption. It is the sudden release and breaking away of a mass of ice from a glacier, iceberg, ice front, ice shelf, or crevasse...
iceberg
Iceberg
An iceberg is a large piece of ice from freshwater that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water. It may subsequently become frozen into pack ice...
s into the bay.
Wildlife in the area includes both grizzly
Grizzly
Grizzly may refer to:* Grizzly bear , a North American bear* Grizzly , a Marvel Comics character* Grizzly , a novel in Gary Paulsen's World of Adventure series...
and black bears
American black bear
The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...
, moose
Moose
The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...
, sitka black-tailed deer
Black-tailed Deer
Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer occupying coastal temperate rainforest on North America's Pacific coast are subspecies of the mule deer. They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all recent authorities maintain they are subspecies...
, mountain goats, dall sheep
Dall Sheep
The Dall sheep , Ovis dalli, is a species of sheep native to northwestern North America, ranging from white to slate brown in color and having curved yellowish brown horns...
, wolves, lynx
Lynx
A lynx is any of the four Lynx genus species of medium-sized wildcats. The name "lynx" originated in Middle English via Latin from Greek word "λύγξ", derived from the Indo-European root "*leuk-", meaning "light, brightness", in reference to the luminescence of its reflective eyes...
, sea otters, harbor seals, steller's sea lions, Pacific white-sided dolphins, orcas, humpback whales, bald eagles, gulls, waterfowl
Waterfowl
Waterfowl are certain wildfowl of the order Anseriformes, especially members of the family Anatidae, which includes ducks, geese, and swans....
, and salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
.
World Heritage Site
The Kluane-Wrangell-St. Elias-Glacier Bay-Tatshenshini-AlsekKluane-Wrangell-St. Elias-Glacier Bay-Tatshenshini-Alsek
Kluane / Wrangell-St. Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek is an international park system located in Canada and the U.S., at the border of Yukon, Alaska and British Columbia....
transborder park system comprising Kluane
Kluane National Park and Reserve
Kluane National Park and Reserve are two units of Canada's national park system, located in the extreme southwestern corner of Yukon Territory. Kluane National Park Reserve was established in 1972, covering 22,016 square kilometres....
, Wrangell-St Elias
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve
Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve is a United States National Park in southeastern Alaska. It was established in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. The park area is included in an International Biosphere Reserve and is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site...
, Glacier Bay and Tatshenshini-Alsek
Tatshenshini-Alsek Park
Tatshenshini-Alsek Park or Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Wilderness Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada . It was established in 1993 after an intensive campaign by Canadian and American conservation organizations to halt mining exploration and development in the area and protect...
parks, was declared a UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
in 1979 for the spectacular glacier and icefield landscapes as well as for the importance of grizzly bears
Grizzly Bear
The grizzly bear , also known as the silvertip bear, the grizzly, or the North American brown bear, is a subspecies of brown bear that generally lives in the uplands of western North America...
, caribou
Reindeer
The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...
and Dall sheep
Dall Sheep
The Dall sheep , Ovis dalli, is a species of sheep native to northwestern North America, ranging from white to slate brown in color and having curved yellowish brown horns...
habitat.
External links
- Official website: Glacier Bay National Park
- World Heritage Site
- Glacier Bay National Monument in Glimpses of Our National Monuments (1930)