page_title: Kenai Fjords National Park
section_title: Wildlife and ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Kenai Fjords National Park / Wildlife and ecology
caption_attribution_description: My favorite shot of the whole trip. I was worried about the sun throwing off the metering/exposure, but it turned out great. I wish I had a polarizer for some of the other pictures, but this one turned out great. The ice field just stretches forever, and the cracks in the ice, and the perfect sky, it was a great day to be up there.
context_page_description: Kenai Fjords National Park is an American national park established in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. The park covers an area of 669,984 acres on the Kenai Peninsula in south-central Alaska, near the town of Seward. The park contains the Harding Icefield, one of the largest ice fields in the United States. The park is named for the numerous fjords carved by glaciers moving down the mountains from the ice field. The field is the source of at least 38 glaciers, the largest of which is Bear Glacier. The fjords are glacial valleys that have been submerged below sea level by a combination of rising sea levels and land subsidence. The park lies just to the west of Seward, a cruise ship port. Exit Glacier is a popular destination at the end of the park's only road. The remainder of the park is accessible by boat, airplane, and hiking.
  Kenai Fjords National Monument was initially designated by President Jimmy Carter on December 1, 1978, using the Antiquities Act, pending final legislation to resolve the allotment of public lands in Alaska. Establishment as a national park followed the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act in 1980.
context_section_description: Kenai Fjords National Park is dominated by a glaciated landscape. The park's glaciers have retreated through the twentieth century, exposing new lands to colonization by plant and animal life. The park also features a significant marine environment.
  Large terrestrial mammal species in the park include timber wolf, porcupine, Canadian lynx, brown bear, black bears, moose and mountain goat. Smaller mammals include coyote, beaver and river otter. Marine mammals include sea otter, harbor seal and Steller sea lion. Cetaceans seen in park waters include orca, fin whale, humpback whale, minke whales, Dall's porpoise and Pacific white-sided dolphin.
  Birds that nest in this park include bald eagle, the Peale's subspecies of peregrine falcon, black-billed magpie, and Steller's jay. Marine birds include tufted and horned puffin, common and thick-billed murre, and marbled murrelets.
  The plant communities at Kenai Fjords are shaped by glacial retreat. New lands exposed in former glacier beds are at first stony, lacking in soil. The first plants to appear in recently glaciated areas are lichens and mosses, with a few hardy plants such as dwarf fireweed and yellow dryas. These pioneers are followed by other plants as the moss and lichen break rock down into soil. In particular, Sitka alder is capable of fixing nitrogen, supporting itself and enriching the soil. Willows also appear at this stage. Willows and alders are followed by black cottonwoods, then Sitka spruce. The mature forest features Sitka spruce and mountain hemlocks, with an understory of devil's club, Alaska blueberry, elderberry, baneberry, watermelon berry and lady fern in the coniferous forest understory. A similar succession pattern is seen at the park's nunataks, exposed rock outcroppings in the Harding Icefield. Forested portions of the park are dominated by conifers, with deciduous forests confined to areas recently vacated by glaciers.
  Harsh conditions at higher altitudes limit tree growth above the tree line, creating an alpine ecosystem. The tree line at Kenai Fjords is between 750 and 1,000 feet (230 and 300 m) above sea level. The alpine regions support shrubby grown to alders, devil's club, elderberry, lady fern, cow parsnip and other plants. Herbaceous plants can grow in areas with better soils, supporting grasses, Nootka lupine, fireweed and other perennial plants. Higher alpine regions support a dwarf shrub community less than 1 foot (30 cm) high, at a very slow rate of growth. Dwarf plants in this region include bog blueberry, partridgefoot, black crowberry and Aleutian mountainheath, all of which are vulnerable to damage from foot traffic.
caption: Harding Icefield
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