• Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park

    Kenai Fjords

    National Park Alaska

Natural Features & Ecosystems

aerial view of Aialik Bay in Kenai Fjords National Park

Kenai Fjords National Park - a place where mountains, ice and oceans meet.

© Ron Niebrugge—www.wildnatureimages.com

Kenai Fjords National Park was established in 1980 to "maintain unimpaired the scenic and environmental integrity of the Harding Icefield, its outflowing glaciers and coastal fjords and islands…" Within the enabling legislation lies the thrust of the park's natural features. This park is about ice and its legacy: glaciers, icefields and coastal fjords. The steady movement of glaciers shapes the shoreline. Intertidal and subtidal zones along the coast are fed by rich nutrient cycling in the Gulf of Alaska. As climate changes and glaciers recede, pioneer plants move in to prepare the land for the forests to come.

Did You Know?

Orca whales

There are 3 distinct types of Orca whale that roam the waters around Kenai Fjords National Park: residents that eat fish, transients that eat marine mammals, and less frequently viewed offshore orcas that stay in open water eating fish - including sharks.