Katmai National Park and Preserve is a United States National Park in southern Alaska, notable for the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and for its brown bears. The park covers 7,383 mi² (19,122 km²), being roughly the size of Wales. Most of this is a designated wilderness area, including 5,288 mi² (13,696 km²) of the park. The park is named after Mount Katmai, its centerpiece stratovolcano. The World Conservation Union or International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) is an international organization dedicated to natural resource conservation. ... Broadly, a wilderness area is a region where the land is left in a state where human modifications are minimal; that is, as a wilderness. ... For other uses, see Alaska (disambiguation). ... King Salmon is a census-designated place (CDP) in Bristol Bay Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. ... is the 336th day of the year (337th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ... The National Park Service (NPS) is the United States federal agency that manages all National Parks, many National Monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. ... The parks of the United States National Park system are one type of protected area in the United States and are operated by the U.S. National Park Service. ... For other uses, see Alaska (disambiguation). ... The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes is a valley within Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska which is filled with ash flow from the eruption of Novarupta on June 6-June 8, 1912. ... Binomial name Linnaeus, 1758 Ursus arctos range map. ... To help compare orders of magnitude of different geographical regions, we list here areas between 10,000 km² and 100,000 km². ... To help give a rough estimate of land-areas, comparisons are often made to geographic areas with which someone might be more familiar. ... Broadly, a wilderness area is a region where the land is left in a state where human modifications are minimal; that is, as a wilderness. ... This article is about Katmai, the volcano. ... A cutaway diagram of a stratovolcano Mount St. ...

Mount Katmai and its crater lake

Image File history File links Katmai Crater - Mount Katmai, Alaska Image ID: line0172, Americas Coastlines Collection Location: Katmai Crater Photo Date: 1980 September Photographer: Captain Budd Christman, NOAA Corps File links The following pages link to this file: Mount Katmai Gallery of mountains Categories: Volcanoes of Alaska ... Image File history File links Katmai Crater - Mount Katmai, Alaska Image ID: line0172, Americas Coastlines Collection Location: Katmai Crater Photo Date: 1980 September Photographer: Captain Budd Christman, NOAA Corps File links The following pages link to this file: Mount Katmai Gallery of mountains Categories: Volcanoes of Alaska ...

Park history

Satellite image of the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and surrounding area.

Established on December 2, 1980, the park is located on the Alaska Peninsula, across from Kodiak Island, with headquarters in nearby King Salmon, about 290 air miles southwest of Anchorage. Originally, on September 24, 1918, the area was designated a national monument to protect the area around the major 1912 volcanic eruption of Novarupta, which formed the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, a forty square mile (100 km²), 100 to 700 foot deep, pyroclastic flow. is the 336th day of the year (337th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ... Volcanoes on the Alaska Peninsula The Alaska Peninsula is a peninsula extending about 800 km (500 miles) to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. ... Kodiak Island is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. ... King Salmon is a census-designated place (CDP) in Bristol Bay Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. ... This article is about the city in the U.S. state of Alaska. ... is the 267th day of the year (268th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... This article discusses national monuments in the context of the United States. ... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... This article is about volcanoes in geology. ... Novarupta, meaning new eruption, is a volcano located on the Alaska Peninsula in the Katmai area, about 290 miles southwest of Anchorage. ... Pyroclastic flows sweep down the flanks of Mayon Volcano, Philippines, in 1984 A pyroclastic flow (also known as a pyroclastic density current) is a common and devastating result of some volcanic eruptions. ...

Attractions

Brown bears at Brooks Falls.

Novarupta lava dome

Activities at Katmai include hiking, backpacking, camping, backcountry skiing, fishing, kayaking, boat tours, and interpretive programs. There are at least fourteen active volcanoes within the national park, most recently Fourpeaked Volcano, which became active September 17, 2006 after more than 10,000 years of dormancy. This park contains numerous archaeological sites which indicate a long history of prehistoric occupations from the Paleoarctic tradition up to the Thule tradition. Novarupta lava dome in Katmai National Park. ... Novarupta lava dome in Katmai National Park. ... Two hikers in the Mount Hood National Forest Eagle Creek hiking Hiking is a form of walking, undertaken with the specific purpose of exploring and enjoying the scenery. ... This article is about backpacking in the wilderness. ... Car camping is camping in a tent, but nearby the car for easier access and for supply storage. ... Backcountry skiing near the Arlberg, Austria Backcountry skiing is skiing in a sparsely inhabited rural region over ungroomed and unmarked slopes (i. ... Fishing is the activity of hunting for fish by hooking, trapping, or gathering. ... Sea Kayaking at Wilsons Promontory in Victoria, Australia Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving across water. ... Cleveland Volcano in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska photographed from the International Space Station For other uses, see Volcano (disambiguation). ... Fourpeaked Mountain also known as Fourpeaked volcano is an active stratovolcano in Alaska. ... An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been investigated using the discipline of archaeology. ...

Katmai is also well known for brown bears and the salmon which attract both bears and people. Katmai contains the world's largest protected brown bear population, estimated to number in excess of 2,000. Bears are especially likely to congregate at the Brooks Falls viewing platform when the salmon are spawning, and many well known photographs of brown bears have been taken there. The coastal areas such as Hallo Bay, Kukak Bay and Chiniak host the highest population densities year-round, due to the availability of clams and edible coastal sedge as well as salmon and other fish. Binomial name Linnaeus, 1758 Ursus arctos range map. ... For other uses, see Salmon (disambiguation). ... Genera See text The family Cyperaceae, or the Sedge family, is a taxon of monocot flowering plants that superficially resemble grasses or rushes. ...

The vast majority of Katmai visitors come to Brooks Camp, one of the only developed areas of the park, and few venture further than the bear viewing platforms. Rangers at the park are extremely careful not to allow bears to obtain human food or get into confrontations with humans. As a result, bears in Katmai Park are uniquely unafraid of and uninterested in humans, and will allow people to approach (and photograph) much more closely than bears elsewhere.

See also

Pyroclastic flow deposits in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes

• List of nationally protected areas of the United States
• Timothy Treadwell

Pyroclastic flow deposits at Katmai National Park Photo by Jay Robinson, National Park Service. ... Pyroclastic flow deposits at Katmai National Park Photo by Jay Robinson, National Park Service. ... Pyroclastic flows sweep down the flanks of Mayon Volcano, Philippines, in 1984 A pyroclastic flow (also known as a pyroclastic density current) is a common and devastating result of some volcanic eruptions. ... All United States parks designated National Parks and most National Monuments are maintained by the United States National Park Service which also maintains several other types of protected areas of the United States: Acadia National Park Arches National Park Badlands National Park Big Bend National Park Biscayne National Park Black... Timothy Treadwell (April 29, 1957–October 5, 2003), born Timothy Dexter, was an American bear enthusiast, environmentalist, amateur naturalist, and documentary film maker, who lived among the coastal grizzly bears of Katmai National Park in Alaska for approximately 13 seasons. ...

External links

• Official site: Katmai National Park
• Photos of Katmai National Park - Terra Galleria
• Seattle to Aleutian Islands Expedition
• Alaska Peninsula Trek