National Park areas are special conservation areas set aside for the use and enjoyment of the public in a fashion that will leave them unimpaired for future generations.
Think of these areas as "outdoor" museums... where you can wander through, interact with the exhibits and experience natural processes firsthand. Not unlike museums, national park areas do not allow activities that would mar or destroy the "collection": taking natural or cultural objects, cutting trees, befouling water, leaving trash or digging up vegetation.
Lake Clark National Park and Preserve has two "museums" adjacent to one another: the park and the preserve. They differ only in that the preserve allows for sport hunting and trapping, the park does not allow these activities.
Common violations include:
- Destroying vegetation: cutting down trees for structures or firewood and removing tundra for tent pads. Firewood must be dead or down.
- Taking objects: removing antlers/horns, skulls, historical objects, artifacts, plants, rocks, etc...
- Failing to deal with human waste properly: insufficient distance from water/campsite, not burying it.
- Littering/trash: not packing it out, leaving it in campfire rings.
- Improper food storage: not following the park's food storage requirements in designated areas of the park.
- Hunting violations: hunting in the park, failing to salvage the meat, taking undersized game.
- Harassing or disturbing wildlife.
Regulations that apply to all parks in Alaska can be found here. The list of Lake Clark-specific regulations is called the park compendium. To download the compendium as a pdf file, click here.
For more information about regulations, please contact park rangers in Port Alsworth (907-781-2218) or Anchorage (907-644-3626).
Please help us as land stewards to preserve and protect these resources for future generations.
