No public access on the U.S. side of the Chilkoot Trail past mile 4.0. Permitted overnight camping is only for the Canadian side of the Trail – Reservations will open in May for the 2025 hiking season. More
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August 20, 2013. Photo pair shows retreat of Hoffman Glacier, growth of vegetation on deglaciated area, and upslope advance of vegetation on talus slopes.
Credit: NPS/R. Karpilo & S. Venator.
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1898. View southwest down valley from Long Hill.
Credit: Yukon Archives, Anton Vogee Collection fonds, #311
"I believe climate change is fundamentally the greatest threat to the integrity of our national parks that we have ever experienced."
- Jonathan B. Jarvis, National Park Service Director
National park sites have preserved some of the best, most special, wildest places across the United States. Now parks across the country are being affected by global climate change.
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Climate Change at Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Even a historical park like Klondike Gold Rush is seeing the effects of climate change.
Described as "America's best idea," national parks have set out to preserve and protect natural and cultural resources throughout the United States. Explore the NPS climate change site to see how we're tackling this dynamic challenge.
North Pacific Landscape Conservation Cooperative One of 22 landscape conservation cooperatives established by the Department of the Interior, the North Pacific Landscape Conservation Cooperative (NPLCC) encompasses coastal areas of northern California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska. NPLCC works with local, tribal, universities, non-profit partners, and more to address broad-scale conservation issues including climate change.
Read the abstract and get the link to an article published in Environmental Research Letters that connects vegetation shift to warming Arctic and Boreal soils under vegetation. Kropp, H., M. M. Loranty, S. M. Natali, A. L. Kholodov, A. V. Rocha, … J. A. O’Donnell … et al. 2020. Shallow soils are warmer under trees and tall shrubs across Arctic and Boreal ecosystems. Environmental Research Letters.
Read the abstract and link to a paper that describes increasing temperatures and their effects on permafrost in northern parks: Swanson, D. K., P. J. Sousanes, and K. Hill. 2021. Increased mean annual temperatures in 2014-2019 indicate permafrost thaw in Alaskan national parks. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 53(1): 1-19.
Read a summary and link to a paper that describes the conditions that create Denali's height, in: Matmon, A., P. Haeussler, and M. G. Loso. 2024. Anomalously high relief on Denali, Alaska, caused by tectonic, lithologic, and climatic drivers. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 646: 118999.
Read a summary and get the link to this article that looks at the use of old carbon in Arctic fish food webs and potential impacts of climate change: Stanek, A.E., Carey, M.P., O'Donnell, J.A., Laske, S.M., Xu, X., Dunton, K.H., von Biela, V.R. 2024. Arctic fishes reveal a gradient in radiocarbon content and use. Limnology and Oceanography Letters.
The Arctic continues to warm at a faster rate than the global average. The 2024 Arctic Report Card highlights record-breaking and near-record-breaking observations that demonstrate dramatic change, including Arctic tundra transformation from carbon sink to carbon source, declines of previously large inland caribou herds, and increasing winter precipitation.
Locations:Wrangell - St Elias National Park & Preserve
The National Park Service is supporting community-identified projects in rural Alaska to mitigate the impacts of climate change on subsistence activities and enhance food security resilience.
Offices:Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center
Buried in Glacier's melting ice are archeological and paleontological materials encased hundreds, or even thousands of years ago. A recent five-year collaborative research project investigated 46 ice patches in the park, taking core samples, documenting melting, and collecting remains of ancient plants and animals, including bison.
Read a summary and get a link to a published paper on how caribou and wolves respond to severe winter storms and how diverse landscape features provided some protection: Prugh, L. R., J. D. Lundquist, B. K. Sullender, C. X. Cunningham, J. Dechow, B. L. Borg, P. J. Sousanes, S. Stehn, and M. T. Furand. 2024. Landscape heterogeneity buffers the impact of an extreme weather event on wildlife. Communications Biology 7(1515).
The National Park Service will harness existing data and products to develop specific, park/landscape-based fire-climate tools that will provide valuable insights for park fire managers. These tools and products will examine future projections for fire risk, hazard, and/or severity, to help guide fire managers in planning and decision-making.
