Alaska Region Activities and Events

National Park Service
2005 Park Visitor Information

Alaska Region

Denali National Park and Preserve
Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska:
New Visitor Center – The $30 million renovation of the park’s entrance area will be completed this year, with the opening of the park’s new 14,000 square foot visitor center. The complex includes a theater, interpretive exhibits, food court and bookstore. Earlier improvements to the frontcountry have included a science and learning center (which also serves as a winter visitor center), a camper convenience store, campground renovations, additional parking, better traffic flow and an expanded railroad depot. Two dozen new buses will be on the road this year, providing cleaner, quieter rides into the park. Contact: Kris Fister, 907-683-9583.

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, Alaska:
New Visitor Center – Lake Clark will open a new, small visitor center at Port Alsworth this summer. Port Alsworth is a community of lodges and air taxi operators that serves as the jumping off point for the 4 million acre park and preserve, and has a base for hiking and kayaking in the surrounding park.

Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska:
New Nature Center – The park has completed several visitor improvements at the Exit Glacier area, including a new nature center. Just nine miles off the Seward Highway, the area offers visitors an easy walk to the face of a glacier, a nature trail and a more challenging trail to the Harding Ice Field. Contact: John Quinley, 907-644-3512.

Glacier Bay

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska:
Junior Ranger/Teen Explorer – What does junior do when the family goes on a cruise in Southeast Alaska? Thousands of school-age children take part in a NPS Junior Ranger or Teen Explorer program offered on board ships plying the Inside Passage. In a partnership between Glacier Bay National Park and cruise lines, kids learn about the marine environment they’re traveling through, about national parks and forests, and the history of Alaska. The program has quickly become one of the most popular on-board activities for families. In the bay, park rangers also board each cruise ship going into bay to provide interpretive talks. Contact: Kris Nemeth, 907-697-2230.

10 Alaska parks:
25^th Anniversary – 2005 marks the 25^th anniversary of 10 national park units in Alaska. The big event in 1980 was the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. Congress doubled the size of the National Park System with this one bill by adding 44 million acres (including 32 million acres of parkland wilderness), designated 10 new units, expanded three older parks, and made history with the largest conservation action ever. Twenty-five years later these parks are doing what was envisioned—providing enjoyment and education for thousands of visitors, providing habitat for astounding wildlife resources, revealing secrets of past cultures dating back to the earliest North Americans, and becoming economic engines for many Alaska communities. Contact: John Quinley, 907-644-3512.