StoryMaps

StoryMaps are interactive websites about natural and cultural resources in the park.

Subsistence in Alaska

An Enduring Way of Life --
[Subsistence uses are the] customary and traditional uses by rural Alaska residents of wild, renewable resources for direct personal or family consumption as food, shelter, fuel, clothing, tools or transportation; for the making and selling of handicraft articles out of non-edible by-products of fish and wildlife resources taken for personal or family consumption; for barter, or sharing for personal or family consumption; and for customary trade.

–definition of subsistence uses, Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (PL 96-487), Section 803

Alaska's Shrinking Glaciers

Monitoring Glaciers in a Warming Climate --
Alaska is one of the most heavily glaciated areas in the world outside of the polar regions. Approximately 23,000 square miles of the state are covered in glaciers—an area nearly the size of West Virginia. Glaciers have shaped much of Alaska’s landscape and continue to influence its lands, waters, and ecosystems. Because of their importance, National Park Service scientists measure glacier change. They have found that glaciers are shrinking in area and volume across the state.

Wrangell-St. Elias features four mountain ranges and multiple glaciers!

• 33% of Wrangell-St. Elias is covered in glaciers (6,757 square miles, 3,121 glaciers).
• 5% decrease in glacier area from 1950s to 2000.
• 5% decrease in glacier area from 1985-2020.

Wrangellia Terrain

Geology of the Wrangell Mountains --
The volcanoes on Wrangellia were formed 5 mya due to the northward movement and subduction of the Pacific Plate and North American Plate. Which resulted in magma intruding through older terrane and creating the tall mountain ranges of Alaska. Furthermore, many of the peaks on top of the Wrangell Mountains were once active volcanoes. Currently, only one peak remains active; Mt. Wrangell. Found in the Wrangell Volcanic Field, this mountain is one of the largest andesitic volcanoes in the world and has produced lava flows up to 58 km long. It is currently active, but has not erupted for almost a century. Mt. Wrangell is a andesitic shield volcano and its peak formed a caldera in response to a past erruption that quickly emptied out a magma chamber.

Hunting in Alaska National Preserves

NATIONAL PRESERVES in Alaska are managed similarly to national parks, except that hunting for sport and subsistence is allowed as described in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act passed by Congress in 1980.