Birds

Klondike Gold Rush National Historical park is located in temperate rainforest areas but borders interior forest. This makes the park an important transition zone between two different ecosystems with distinctly different species of birds. Despite its small size, this unique geographic setting and climate make the park one of the most biologically diverse areas in Alaska.

Did you know that Klondike Gold Rush NHP (KLGO) established long-term bird monitoring programs work together to provide essential information about park avian resources?
The ongoing bird monitoring programs at KLGO collaborate to deliver vital long-term data about the park’s avian resources. In addition, special bird studies are conducted as needed for short-term, in-depth investigations to address management, scientific, or conservation priorities. Birds and their habitats serve as key natural resources and indicators of environmental health and change. Each year from May through September birds are surveyed and monitored in the park. Birds are surveyed through coastal waterbird surveys (in Dyea, along the Dyea road, and in the Skagway area), through breeding bird surveys on an established route, and on two established off road survey routes. The Coastal Waterbird Survey (CWS) has been conducted every year at Klondike Gold Rush NHP from 2003 to 2019 and resumed again in 2021. However, there has been variation in the number of surveys and length of monitoring season between years.