Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve

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Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve
IUCN Category II (National Park)

Location:	Alaska USA
Nearest city:	Juneau, AK
Coordinates:	58°30′0″N, 137°00′0″W
Area:	3,283,246 acres (13,287 km²)
Established:	December 2, 1980
Visitation:	367,771 (in 2003)
Governing body:	National Park Service

The area around Glacier Bay in southeastern Alaska was first proclaimed a U.S. National Monument on February 25, 1925. It was changed to Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is a United States National Park in the southern part of Alaska near Juneau. The park area was included in an International Biosphere Reserve in 1986 and is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park covers 5,130 mi² (13,287 km²). Most of the park is a designated wilderness area which covers 4,164 mi² (10,784 km²) of the park.

Lamplugh Glacier, in the Western Arm of Glacier Bay National Park

No roads lead to the park and it is most easily reached by a variety of National Park Service ferries or by air travel to the small community of Gustavus. Despite the lack of roads, the park averages 380,000 visitors per year.

Glaciers descending from high snow capped mountains into the bay create one of the world’s most spectacular displays of ice and iceberg formation. The bay’s most famous glacier is probably the Muir Glacier, about 3 km (2 miles) wide and about 80 m (265 feet) tall. All of Glacier Bay was glacier-bound as recently as 1750.

The explorer Captain George Vancouver found Icy Strait, at the south end of Glacier Bay, choked with ice in 1794. Glacier Bay itself was almost entirely iced over. In 1879 naturalist John Muir found that the ice had retreated almost all the way up the bay. By 1916 the Grand Pacific Glacier was at the head of Tarr Inlet about 100 km (65 miles) from Glacier Bay's mouth. This is the fastest documented glacier retreat ever. Scientists are hoping to learn how glacial activity relates to climate changes from the retreat.

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve includes 16 tidewater glaciers. 12 actively calve (shed) icebergs into the bay.

Wildlife in the area includes bears, deer, mountain goats, whales, and waterfowl.

Visualization of Glacier Bay, based on Landsat imagery and USGS elevation data

[edit] World Heritage Site

The transborder park system comprising Kluane, Wrangell-St Elias, Glacier Bay and Tatshenshini-Alsek parks, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979 for the spectacular glacier and icefield landscapes as well as for the importance of grizzly bears, caribou and Dall sheep habitat.