Last updated: December 11, 2021
Article
Katmai National Park and Preserve Wilderness Character Narrative
A land of unpredictable contrasts, Katmai is known for its plentiful wildlife, harsh weather, dramatic geologic processes, and remoteness. The Katmai Wilderness is a dynamic, remote, and challenging land of spectacular scenic beauty. This wilderness encompasses 3.4 million acres on the Alaska Peninsula, stretching from the Bristol Bay lowlands to the volcanic heartland of the Aleutian Range to the coastline of the Pacific Ocean. The Katmai Wilderness contains fascinating scientific, geologic, cultural, and biological features. Katmai has 15 active volcanoes that pierce the sky, forming a dramatic piece of the Circum-Pacific “Ring of Fire” that rises nearly 7,000 feet from the Pacific Ocean. Within this wilderness is the site of the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century and whose size, scope, and influence play a key role in the ongoing study of past, present, and future volcanology. This vast landscape also contains many pristine large lakes and rivers. Multi-lake watersheds extend from the heart of rugged mountains to expansive tundra. A productive sockeye salmon run draws more than 2,000 brown bears to feast in Katmai’s streams and rivers. The Katmai Wilderness preserves a 9,000-year-old record of human adaptation to this changing environment and ecology that continues today.
This narrative describes five tangible qualities of wilderness character: (1) natural, (2) untrammeled, (3) undeveloped, (4) provides solitude or primitive and unconfined recreation, and (5) other features of value that collectively comprise the Katmai Wilderness. Understanding and accurately describing Katmai’s Wilderness qualities will provide a basis for making the informed decisions required for park planning, management, monitoring, and stewardship.
The Katmai Wilderness is influenced by both the Bering Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. It is known for tempestuous weather shaped by varied topography and the persistent action of the Aleutian Low—a semipermanent, subpolar area of low pressure located in the Gulf of Alaska near the Aleutian Islands. This immense landscape is home to active volcanoes draped with glaciers and mountains from part of the Aleutian Range that form an imposing barrier to travel. The resulting remoteness and isolation of the Katmai Wilderness has helped preserve the flow of natural ecological processes. Unmarred by light pollution, visitors can view abundant stars and the northern lights on cloudless fall, winter, and spring nights.
The lifeblood of Katmai is the Bristol Bay salmon run. All five species of Pacific salmon—king, sockeye, silver, pink and chum—thrive in fresh and coastal waters. The sheer numbers of fish that spawn and rear in these Bristol Bay waters make Katmai’s wilderness a part of the largest wild salmon fishery in the world. Flowing freely and unimpeded by engineered barriers, the creeks and rivers most years are densely concentrated with fish moving upstream to spawn. Salmon provide vital sustenance not only for the huge populations of coastal brown bear but also for other animals as varied as rainbow trout, gulls, mergansers, seals, otters, and wolves. The nutrients released from decomposing salmon cycle through all the Katmai ecosystem, and traces of salmon DNA can be found in trees and shrubs that line the myriad waterways as well as in the plants that survive on the tundra. This nutrient-rich environment is also home to other migratory animals, including arctic terns, tundra swans, many types of ducks and geese, and mammals such as caribou.
Above the lowlands looms the snow-capped Aleutian Range. Forming the spine of the Katmai Wilderness, this upheaval is caused by the interplay of tectonic plates along the Aleutian Trench. The Katmai Wilderness encompasses 15 active volcanoes, including the dense Katmai group consisting of Mount Katmai, Trident Volcano, Mount Mageik, Mount Martin, and Fourpeaked Mountain. Mount Katmai and the Novarupta Dome are of particular interest. Created by the eruption of Novarupta—the largest volcanic eruption in the 20th century—the Valley of 10,000 Smokes is a landscape unlike any other. The beauty, scale, wildness, and mystery of the valley make it one of the best places in the world to study the violence of volcanic eruptions and sense the raw power of nature.
Stretching to the north and east of the Valley of 10,000 Smokes are massive, glacier-shrouded peaks, some of which are adorned with jewel-like lakes. The aptly named Serpent Tongue Glacier stretches from the remnants of the Katmai Crater to a rocky landmark called Devil’s Desk. Fourpeaked Glacier covers the landscape from Fourpeaked Mountain to Douglas Mountain. The Rainbow, Savonoski, and Ukak Rivers run gray with glacial silt, and the brown and blue Mageik Lakes reflect their glacial origins.
Other waters tell a different story. Clear running waterfalls plunge from remote heights. Tarns and kettles—lakes left behind as glaciers melted—dot glacial valleys and the tundra. Hundreds of miles of rivers, streams, and associated wetlands link the freshwater and marine aquatic systems in the wilderness, providing critical habitat for fish and wildlife. The abundant rainbow trout throughout Katmai’s freshwater areas make Katmai a world-class trout fishery. The creeks and streams are also breeding and rearing grounds for salmon, arctic char, and arctic grayling. Katmai’s watersheds provide veins of riparian habitat for moose, caribou, beaver, wolves, lynx, wolverines, red-backed voles, and ptarmigan. Several inland lakes support populations of a land-locked sockeye salmon called kokanee; a relic of times when water levels were higher and inland lakes and streams were connected. Many of these remnant waterways have turned into tundra ponds, creating potholes of water where insects thrive. Beaver ponds are also prevalent. Bats and tree swallows feed upon various insects that swarm the landscape in the summer.
The Katmai Wilderness boasts 491 miles of marine coastline, one of the longest coastlines of any national park. Today, large populations of marine mammals, including Steller sea lions, seals, sea otters, and orcas swim in the waters off the coast. The coastal environment is quite diverse: bone-white beaches of ash and sand, rocky, inaccessible cliffs and islands, tidewater glaciers, freshwater waterfalls, and sedge meadows comprise the landscape. These diverse habitats support a variety of birds, including common murres, bald eagles, American dippers, horned puffins, black oystercatchers, and many types of passerines, including golden-crowned sparrows and yellow Wilson’s warblers. The abundant food also attracts and supports populations of wolves and bears.
A number of anthropogenic threats could have potential long-term effects on the natural character of the Katmai Wilderness. Increased human presence in certain areas of the wilderness, including the Valley of 10,000 Smokes and coastal areas like Hallo Bay, has contributed to improper disposal of human waste, social trails, and impacts to natural wildlife behavior patterns. The potential proliferation of nearby human developments could influence the Katmai Wilderness in the future. Potential offshore oil and gas exploration and its transport could impact natural processes, especially the flora and fauna that depend directly on a clean marine environment. Should the proposed Pebble Mine gain approval, possible downwind depositions from the mine site could affect the natural quality of parts of the Katmai Wilderness. Any effects to Bristol Bay’s water quality may adversely affect salmon that return to Katmai’s waters to spawn, with a cascading impact throughout the watershed ecosystem. Long-term impacts from improperly managed commercial fishing could change the natural fluctuations of salmon populations in Bristol Bay, which, in turn, could affect salmon populations in the wilderness. The effects of climate change could have effects to numerous components of the natural wilderness quality.
Changes in climate could increase ocean water temperatures, ocean acidification, and sea level rise, which would affect fish and other wildlife in the wilderness. The spread of known infestations of bark beetle and invasive plant and animal species is possible with a changing climate. Shrubification and berry crop failure have the potential to influence the concentration of coastal brown bears.
The lifeblood of Katmai is the Bristol Bay salmon run. All five species of Pacific salmon—king, sockeye, silver, pink and chum—thrive in fresh and coastal waters. The sheer numbers of fish that spawn and rear in these Bristol Bay waters make Katmai’s wilderness a part of the largest wild salmon fishery in the world. Flowing freely and unimpeded by engineered barriers, the creeks and rivers most years are densely concentrated with fish moving upstream to spawn. Salmon provide vital sustenance not only for the huge populations of coastal brown bear but also for other animals as varied as rainbow trout, gulls, mergansers, seals, otters, and wolves. The nutrients released from decomposing salmon cycle through all the Katmai ecosystem, and traces of salmon DNA can be found in trees and shrubs that line the myriad waterways as well as in the plants that survive on the tundra. This nutrient-rich environment is also home to other migratory animals, including arctic terns, tundra swans, many types of ducks and geese, and mammals such as caribou.
Above the lowlands looms the snow-capped Aleutian Range. Forming the spine of the Katmai Wilderness, this upheaval is caused by the interplay of tectonic plates along the Aleutian Trench. The Katmai Wilderness encompasses 15 active volcanoes, including the dense Katmai group consisting of Mount Katmai, Trident Volcano, Mount Mageik, Mount Martin, and Fourpeaked Mountain. Mount Katmai and the Novarupta Dome are of particular interest. Created by the eruption of Novarupta—the largest volcanic eruption in the 20th century—the Valley of 10,000 Smokes is a landscape unlike any other. The beauty, scale, wildness, and mystery of the valley make it one of the best places in the world to study the violence of volcanic eruptions and sense the raw power of nature.
Stretching to the north and east of the Valley of 10,000 Smokes are massive, glacier-shrouded peaks, some of which are adorned with jewel-like lakes. The aptly named Serpent Tongue Glacier stretches from the remnants of the Katmai Crater to a rocky landmark called Devil’s Desk. Fourpeaked Glacier covers the landscape from Fourpeaked Mountain to Douglas Mountain. The Rainbow, Savonoski, and Ukak Rivers run gray with glacial silt, and the brown and blue Mageik Lakes reflect their glacial origins.
Other waters tell a different story. Clear running waterfalls plunge from remote heights. Tarns and kettles—lakes left behind as glaciers melted—dot glacial valleys and the tundra. Hundreds of miles of rivers, streams, and associated wetlands link the freshwater and marine aquatic systems in the wilderness, providing critical habitat for fish and wildlife. The abundant rainbow trout throughout Katmai’s freshwater areas make Katmai a world-class trout fishery. The creeks and streams are also breeding and rearing grounds for salmon, arctic char, and arctic grayling. Katmai’s watersheds provide veins of riparian habitat for moose, caribou, beaver, wolves, lynx, wolverines, red-backed voles, and ptarmigan. Several inland lakes support populations of a land-locked sockeye salmon called kokanee; a relic of times when water levels were higher and inland lakes and streams were connected. Many of these remnant waterways have turned into tundra ponds, creating potholes of water where insects thrive. Beaver ponds are also prevalent. Bats and tree swallows feed upon various insects that swarm the landscape in the summer.
The Katmai Wilderness boasts 491 miles of marine coastline, one of the longest coastlines of any national park. Today, large populations of marine mammals, including Steller sea lions, seals, sea otters, and orcas swim in the waters off the coast. The coastal environment is quite diverse: bone-white beaches of ash and sand, rocky, inaccessible cliffs and islands, tidewater glaciers, freshwater waterfalls, and sedge meadows comprise the landscape. These diverse habitats support a variety of birds, including common murres, bald eagles, American dippers, horned puffins, black oystercatchers, and many types of passerines, including golden-crowned sparrows and yellow Wilson’s warblers. The abundant food also attracts and supports populations of wolves and bears.
A number of anthropogenic threats could have potential long-term effects on the natural character of the Katmai Wilderness. Increased human presence in certain areas of the wilderness, including the Valley of 10,000 Smokes and coastal areas like Hallo Bay, has contributed to improper disposal of human waste, social trails, and impacts to natural wildlife behavior patterns. The potential proliferation of nearby human developments could influence the Katmai Wilderness in the future. Potential offshore oil and gas exploration and its transport could impact natural processes, especially the flora and fauna that depend directly on a clean marine environment. Should the proposed Pebble Mine gain approval, possible downwind depositions from the mine site could affect the natural quality of parts of the Katmai Wilderness. Any effects to Bristol Bay’s water quality may adversely affect salmon that return to Katmai’s waters to spawn, with a cascading impact throughout the watershed ecosystem. Long-term impacts from improperly managed commercial fishing could change the natural fluctuations of salmon populations in Bristol Bay, which, in turn, could affect salmon populations in the wilderness. The effects of climate change could have effects to numerous components of the natural wilderness quality.
Changes in climate could increase ocean water temperatures, ocean acidification, and sea level rise, which would affect fish and other wildlife in the wilderness. The spread of known infestations of bark beetle and invasive plant and animal species is possible with a changing climate. Shrubification and berry crop failure have the potential to influence the concentration of coastal brown bears.
Wilderness ecological systems are essentially unhindered and free from the actions of modern human control.
The Katmai Wilderness affords a special opportunity for visitors to witness the progression of the natural world without human influence or interference. Here, natural processes such as fire, erosion, population dynamics, and insect infestations may be monitored but are not controlled by management actions. Inside the wilderness, there have been no manipulations to animal populations that favor one species over another and no introduction or removal of nonnative animal species. Water movement or animal populations in rivers and creeks have not been modified by dams or weirs. Very limited wildlife collaring, trapping, and tranquilizing activities take place.
One trammeling action that park management performs is the rigorous management of nonnative plant species throughout the wilderness. Nonnative species such as common dandelion and prostrate knotweed are manually pulled or sprayed with herbicide. The few known sites in wilderness with these nonnative species are in areas with heavier concentrations of visitors. Without aggressive efforts to counter nonnative plant species, seeds could easily spread and establish new populations in disturbed soils. Exotic plant removal impacts the untrammeled value but ultimately enhances the natural value, as the exotic species are removed and native species reestablish their natural populations.
Within the Katmai Wilderness lies a major portion of the headwaters to one of the most productive salmon fisheries in the world. The State of Alaska manages salmon through actions that could affect the untrammeled Katmai Wilderness. On the west side of the park is the Bristol Bay sockeye fishery and on the east side of the park is the North Pacific salmon fishery, both of which are intensely managed by the State of Alaska downstream of the park. Coastal streams and rivers see large runs of chum, pink, and silver salmon. Salmon runs are manipulated in order to meet the needs of the commercial and subsistence fisheries, as well as to allow enough escapement to support future fisheries and perpetuate the run.
Another issue occurring outside the wilderness is increased hunting pressures on predators that could affect predator/prey relationships and alter individual bear behavior within wilderness. The State of Alaska allows the use of bear bait stations in some areas where hunting is allowed. This practice could change bear behavior by attracting bears to areas open to hunting and to foods that are not naturally in their diets. While NPS policy provides that wildlife will be managed for natural abundance and behaviors, data are limited regarding whether the recent hunting authorizations would impact natural predator-prey relationships and bear behaviors.
The Katmai Wilderness affords a special opportunity for visitors to witness the progression of the natural world without human influence or interference. Here, natural processes such as fire, erosion, population dynamics, and insect infestations may be monitored but are not controlled by management actions. Inside the wilderness, there have been no manipulations to animal populations that favor one species over another and no introduction or removal of nonnative animal species. Water movement or animal populations in rivers and creeks have not been modified by dams or weirs. Very limited wildlife collaring, trapping, and tranquilizing activities take place.
One trammeling action that park management performs is the rigorous management of nonnative plant species throughout the wilderness. Nonnative species such as common dandelion and prostrate knotweed are manually pulled or sprayed with herbicide. The few known sites in wilderness with these nonnative species are in areas with heavier concentrations of visitors. Without aggressive efforts to counter nonnative plant species, seeds could easily spread and establish new populations in disturbed soils. Exotic plant removal impacts the untrammeled value but ultimately enhances the natural value, as the exotic species are removed and native species reestablish their natural populations.
Within the Katmai Wilderness lies a major portion of the headwaters to one of the most productive salmon fisheries in the world. The State of Alaska manages salmon through actions that could affect the untrammeled Katmai Wilderness. On the west side of the park is the Bristol Bay sockeye fishery and on the east side of the park is the North Pacific salmon fishery, both of which are intensely managed by the State of Alaska downstream of the park. Coastal streams and rivers see large runs of chum, pink, and silver salmon. Salmon runs are manipulated in order to meet the needs of the commercial and subsistence fisheries, as well as to allow enough escapement to support future fisheries and perpetuate the run.
Another issue occurring outside the wilderness is increased hunting pressures on predators that could affect predator/prey relationships and alter individual bear behavior within wilderness. The State of Alaska allows the use of bear bait stations in some areas where hunting is allowed. This practice could change bear behavior by attracting bears to areas open to hunting and to foods that are not naturally in their diets. While NPS policy provides that wildlife will be managed for natural abundance and behaviors, data are limited regarding whether the recent hunting authorizations would impact natural predator-prey relationships and bear behaviors.
Wilderness retains its primeval character and influence and is essentially without permanent improvement or modern human.
Development within the Katmai Wilderness exists mostly in a small number of concentrated sites. The eruption of Novarupta in 1912 caused the abandonment of at least four historical Alaska Native villages found on lands currently within Katmai’s wilderness. Since 1912, no permanent settlements have been established. However, some isolated, permanent habitations existed into the mid-20th century, such as trappers like Roy Fure, who lived seasonally within the current park boundaries, and native seasonal fish camps at the mouth of the Brooks River and immediately south of the Brooks River (and at Johnny’s Lake). Some of these buildings remain today as managed historic structures.
Overall, the wilderness in Katmai is free from the signs of permanent human development. Because of its remoteness and limited access by plane and/or boat, minimal infrastructure exists in the Katmai Wilderness. The designated wilderness area has no maintained roads or campgrounds and only three maintained trails. (The Katmai Wilderness surrounds the Brooks Camp developed area that includes buildings, roads, and installations.) Three administrative-use cabins and one public-use cabin are maintained in the wilderness. A research cabin (referred to as Baked Mountain Huts) in the Valley of 10,000 Smokes, which is owned by the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and managed by the Alaska Volcano Observatory, is heavily used by the public as well.
Five privately owned lodges on private inholdings are surrounded by wilderness. These facilities are heavily used in the late spring through late fall but are not occupied year-round. One airstrip is in Katmai National Park near the Kulik River, which is situated on both a private inholding and on NPS lands. Although other areas exist where wheeled planes may land on cinder blow outs, gravel bars on rivers, or on the floor of the Valley of 10,000 Smokes, these areas remain undeveloped and are open because of natural processes, not human improvements.
The Katmai Wilderness also has other installations/structures throughout. On the coast, radio repeaters are operated by both the National Park Service and the US Coast Guard. There are several Remote Automated Weather Stations operating in wilderness areas. The US Geological Service and Alaska Volcanic Observatory have several installations and structures that support their long-term geological and volcanic monitoring and studies. And above Brooks Camp, co-located with another radio repeater, is the infrastructure that supports the popular Brooks River Bear Cams. While these installations/structures can be found in several areas in the wilderness, most park visitors would not be aware of their presence. For the purposes of commercial use, authorization to store boats along American Creek was provided through concessions contracts to accommodate guided sport fishing and to reduce further impacts to natural wilderness quality and resources.
Although the Katmai Wilderness is largely undeveloped, several potential threats to its undeveloped character exist. Increased visitation and commercial use activity in wilderness could stimulate demands for increased infrastructure to meet visitor use demands. The remoteness of Katmai means visitors often must use motorized boats or fixed-wing aircraft to reach portions of the wilderness. Although the use of motorized boats and fixed-wing aircraft is permitted under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, pressure exists to expand access to the wilderness via helicopter. If trails and other infrastructure are provided, as urged by some, off-road vehicle use for subsistence hunting and recreational bicycle use could result. While the act allows snowmachine use for traditional activities, park management continues to grapple with this usage, as it allows for greater access into the Katmai Wilderness and degrades the undeveloped quality. Authorized and unauthorized use of chainsaws occur as well.
Development within the Katmai Wilderness exists mostly in a small number of concentrated sites. The eruption of Novarupta in 1912 caused the abandonment of at least four historical Alaska Native villages found on lands currently within Katmai’s wilderness. Since 1912, no permanent settlements have been established. However, some isolated, permanent habitations existed into the mid-20th century, such as trappers like Roy Fure, who lived seasonally within the current park boundaries, and native seasonal fish camps at the mouth of the Brooks River and immediately south of the Brooks River (and at Johnny’s Lake). Some of these buildings remain today as managed historic structures.
Overall, the wilderness in Katmai is free from the signs of permanent human development. Because of its remoteness and limited access by plane and/or boat, minimal infrastructure exists in the Katmai Wilderness. The designated wilderness area has no maintained roads or campgrounds and only three maintained trails. (The Katmai Wilderness surrounds the Brooks Camp developed area that includes buildings, roads, and installations.) Three administrative-use cabins and one public-use cabin are maintained in the wilderness. A research cabin (referred to as Baked Mountain Huts) in the Valley of 10,000 Smokes, which is owned by the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and managed by the Alaska Volcano Observatory, is heavily used by the public as well.
Five privately owned lodges on private inholdings are surrounded by wilderness. These facilities are heavily used in the late spring through late fall but are not occupied year-round. One airstrip is in Katmai National Park near the Kulik River, which is situated on both a private inholding and on NPS lands. Although other areas exist where wheeled planes may land on cinder blow outs, gravel bars on rivers, or on the floor of the Valley of 10,000 Smokes, these areas remain undeveloped and are open because of natural processes, not human improvements.
The Katmai Wilderness also has other installations/structures throughout. On the coast, radio repeaters are operated by both the National Park Service and the US Coast Guard. There are several Remote Automated Weather Stations operating in wilderness areas. The US Geological Service and Alaska Volcanic Observatory have several installations and structures that support their long-term geological and volcanic monitoring and studies. And above Brooks Camp, co-located with another radio repeater, is the infrastructure that supports the popular Brooks River Bear Cams. While these installations/structures can be found in several areas in the wilderness, most park visitors would not be aware of their presence. For the purposes of commercial use, authorization to store boats along American Creek was provided through concessions contracts to accommodate guided sport fishing and to reduce further impacts to natural wilderness quality and resources.
Although the Katmai Wilderness is largely undeveloped, several potential threats to its undeveloped character exist. Increased visitation and commercial use activity in wilderness could stimulate demands for increased infrastructure to meet visitor use demands. The remoteness of Katmai means visitors often must use motorized boats or fixed-wing aircraft to reach portions of the wilderness. Although the use of motorized boats and fixed-wing aircraft is permitted under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, pressure exists to expand access to the wilderness via helicopter. If trails and other infrastructure are provided, as urged by some, off-road vehicle use for subsistence hunting and recreational bicycle use could result. While the act allows snowmachine use for traditional activities, park management continues to grapple with this usage, as it allows for greater access into the Katmai Wilderness and degrades the undeveloped quality. Authorized and unauthorized use of chainsaws occur as well.
Wilderness provides outstanding opportunities for solitude or primitive and unconfined recreation.
Opportunities to explore the wide open and expansive landscape within Katmai Wilderness are limitless, and for much of the year, few, if any visitors are in most of the wilderness. Its remoteness and isolation contribute to solitude and discovery, away from the ties that bind humans to modern life. Roaming through Katmai’s mostly trailless wilderness affords visitors a broad spectrum of challenges as well as rewards for those willing to step into a wild landscape that tests mental and physical endurance.
The Katmai Wilderness is a place where senses can be heightened and sharpened and visitors become more aware of their surroundings, as there are few reminders from the modern world to distract them. The technology of modern life—digital devices such as cell phones and computers—are shed, as no infrastructure services exist to support them. Although visitors may hear the whine of an occasional airplane or motorboat, in much of the wilderness, natural sounds and natural silence abound.
In the Katmai Wilderness, the risks of exploring the remote backcountry are high. A fall into the Lethe River has claimed more than one life. Megafauna such as brown bears and moose far outnumber visitors. Blinding ash storms happen not only in the Valley of 10,000 Smokes, but in any place within the park where volcanic ash lies exposed. Fierce winds known as williwaws blow the unconglomerated ash into blinding clouds of particulates, stinging the eyes and throats of those caught in the gale. A walk across the floor of the Valley of 10,000 Smokes can leave one feeling uncomfortably exposed and insignificant. Water in the many rivers and streams is fast and cold, making crossings hazardous. Weather changes constantly—a hot windless day on the coast can turn quickly into sideways rain and winds more than 45 miles per hour. Some backcountry visitors choose to take this challenge on, foregoing a guide and trusting their skills and instincts in the wilderness. Most visitors, however, choose a more structured type of experience, hiring commercial outfitters to help guide them in their wilderness exploration.
An irony of the Katmai Wilderness is that most of the wilderness use is day use. Visitors fly in from one of the local communities, participate in wildlife viewing and/or fishing, then fly out that same day. The upside to this activity for the overnight wilderness user is that after the last plane of the day has flown away or the whir of the last motorized boat has faded, the feeling of solitude intensifies as the stillness and natural sounds fill the void. In the Valley of 10,000 Smokes, the intensity of the silence is powerful.
As is typical in many Alaskan wilderness areas, most of the Katmai Wilderness receives little visitation. Once visitors get away from the coastal areas such as Hallo and Amalik Bays or popular fishing areas on American and Moraine Creeks, they are awarded with the prospect of true solitude. These are the places waiting for those seeking opportunities for self-discovery, the challenge of physical and mental skills, or a landscape seen by those who lived here in precontact times.
Other than three far-flung patrol cabins and several temporary summer camps, the administrative presence in the Katmai Wilderness is minimal. Park staff patrols of the wilderness tend to concentrate on the heavily used areas, and many of these patrols are short-term in nature. Staff have a larger presence in Hallo Bay, Amalik Bay, and the Crosswind Lake areas of the wilderness, and their major role is to contact authorized commercial guides and visitors and monitor use (e.g., number of visitors, number of aircraft in an area, and physical impacts such as social trails and fire rings).
The Katmai Wilderness has few management restrictions on visitors. The area does not have a backcountry permit system (as of 2021) and has few restrictions for backcountry hiking and camping locations. In contrast, environmental conditions can thwart visitors from their planned destinations—winds in the Valley of 10,000 Smokes can deter hikers, low clouds can keep flights from taking off from airports and coastal beaches, and unpredictable water levels in creeks can discourage the use of kayaks, rafts, and other nonmotorized watercraft. However, the lack of maintained trails is probably the biggest deterrent to using much of the Katmai Wilderness.
Current management restrictions include reservations for the only public-use cabin (Fure’s cabin) in the park and limitations on the number of nights visitors can camp in certain areas. At Hallo and Amalik Bays, areas are closed to camping to protect both the bears using the sedge meadows and the viewsheds, promoting the feeling of wildness and solitude even in places where human use is relatively high. Much of the overnight use is conducted by guiding services, which have limitations on group size and numbers of nights allowed in one camping location to help encourage protection of the wilderness values. However, this limitation can also be viewed as a restriction on unconfined use.
A change in the economy could have a range of effects on the visitation to Katmai and the solitude, primitiveness, and unconfined recreation quality. Because of the cost of travel to the remote reaches of this wilderness, an upturn in the economy could result in increased visitation. As visitation increases, pressure may increase for park managers to provide infrastructure to support visitors’ modern technology, which in turn would detract from the experience of solitude and self-reliance in wilderness. The cabins where some visitors stay reduces the opportunity for solitude because of the presence of the facilities and other visitors. Increased visitor use also can mean increased intervention of park staff to protect wilderness character, which can erode solitude and primitive, unconfined recreational values.
Commercial filming in Alaska’s wilderness has gained great popularity. Any increase in demand for commercial filming at Katmai can increase the number of people and equipment in the wilderness, which would degrade solitude. Long-term effects of the exposure of the Katmai wilderness to commercial film making is unknown. Recent rulings in the courts may make commercial filming in the wilderness a difficult management issue as the National Park Service strives to maintain First Amendment rights while also scrutinizing commercial use. Aerial filming over the wilderness, which the National Park Service does not have jurisdiction over, also can adversely affect opportunities for solitude.
Scientific research and monitoring, though necessary for understanding Katmai ecosystems, can also affect solitude. Both helicopters and fixed wing planes, which are used for research and park operations, can impact visitors’ sense of solitude, as these aircraft can often be seen and heard over large areas in the wilderness. While the sights and sounds of aircraft being used for research purposes would be temporary, as visitation rises, more people could be affected by these aircraft.
Opportunities to explore the wide open and expansive landscape within Katmai Wilderness are limitless, and for much of the year, few, if any visitors are in most of the wilderness. Its remoteness and isolation contribute to solitude and discovery, away from the ties that bind humans to modern life. Roaming through Katmai’s mostly trailless wilderness affords visitors a broad spectrum of challenges as well as rewards for those willing to step into a wild landscape that tests mental and physical endurance.
The Katmai Wilderness is a place where senses can be heightened and sharpened and visitors become more aware of their surroundings, as there are few reminders from the modern world to distract them. The technology of modern life—digital devices such as cell phones and computers—are shed, as no infrastructure services exist to support them. Although visitors may hear the whine of an occasional airplane or motorboat, in much of the wilderness, natural sounds and natural silence abound.
In the Katmai Wilderness, the risks of exploring the remote backcountry are high. A fall into the Lethe River has claimed more than one life. Megafauna such as brown bears and moose far outnumber visitors. Blinding ash storms happen not only in the Valley of 10,000 Smokes, but in any place within the park where volcanic ash lies exposed. Fierce winds known as williwaws blow the unconglomerated ash into blinding clouds of particulates, stinging the eyes and throats of those caught in the gale. A walk across the floor of the Valley of 10,000 Smokes can leave one feeling uncomfortably exposed and insignificant. Water in the many rivers and streams is fast and cold, making crossings hazardous. Weather changes constantly—a hot windless day on the coast can turn quickly into sideways rain and winds more than 45 miles per hour. Some backcountry visitors choose to take this challenge on, foregoing a guide and trusting their skills and instincts in the wilderness. Most visitors, however, choose a more structured type of experience, hiring commercial outfitters to help guide them in their wilderness exploration.
An irony of the Katmai Wilderness is that most of the wilderness use is day use. Visitors fly in from one of the local communities, participate in wildlife viewing and/or fishing, then fly out that same day. The upside to this activity for the overnight wilderness user is that after the last plane of the day has flown away or the whir of the last motorized boat has faded, the feeling of solitude intensifies as the stillness and natural sounds fill the void. In the Valley of 10,000 Smokes, the intensity of the silence is powerful.
As is typical in many Alaskan wilderness areas, most of the Katmai Wilderness receives little visitation. Once visitors get away from the coastal areas such as Hallo and Amalik Bays or popular fishing areas on American and Moraine Creeks, they are awarded with the prospect of true solitude. These are the places waiting for those seeking opportunities for self-discovery, the challenge of physical and mental skills, or a landscape seen by those who lived here in precontact times.
Other than three far-flung patrol cabins and several temporary summer camps, the administrative presence in the Katmai Wilderness is minimal. Park staff patrols of the wilderness tend to concentrate on the heavily used areas, and many of these patrols are short-term in nature. Staff have a larger presence in Hallo Bay, Amalik Bay, and the Crosswind Lake areas of the wilderness, and their major role is to contact authorized commercial guides and visitors and monitor use (e.g., number of visitors, number of aircraft in an area, and physical impacts such as social trails and fire rings).
The Katmai Wilderness has few management restrictions on visitors. The area does not have a backcountry permit system (as of 2021) and has few restrictions for backcountry hiking and camping locations. In contrast, environmental conditions can thwart visitors from their planned destinations—winds in the Valley of 10,000 Smokes can deter hikers, low clouds can keep flights from taking off from airports and coastal beaches, and unpredictable water levels in creeks can discourage the use of kayaks, rafts, and other nonmotorized watercraft. However, the lack of maintained trails is probably the biggest deterrent to using much of the Katmai Wilderness.
Current management restrictions include reservations for the only public-use cabin (Fure’s cabin) in the park and limitations on the number of nights visitors can camp in certain areas. At Hallo and Amalik Bays, areas are closed to camping to protect both the bears using the sedge meadows and the viewsheds, promoting the feeling of wildness and solitude even in places where human use is relatively high. Much of the overnight use is conducted by guiding services, which have limitations on group size and numbers of nights allowed in one camping location to help encourage protection of the wilderness values. However, this limitation can also be viewed as a restriction on unconfined use.
A change in the economy could have a range of effects on the visitation to Katmai and the solitude, primitiveness, and unconfined recreation quality. Because of the cost of travel to the remote reaches of this wilderness, an upturn in the economy could result in increased visitation. As visitation increases, pressure may increase for park managers to provide infrastructure to support visitors’ modern technology, which in turn would detract from the experience of solitude and self-reliance in wilderness. The cabins where some visitors stay reduces the opportunity for solitude because of the presence of the facilities and other visitors. Increased visitor use also can mean increased intervention of park staff to protect wilderness character, which can erode solitude and primitive, unconfined recreational values.
Commercial filming in Alaska’s wilderness has gained great popularity. Any increase in demand for commercial filming at Katmai can increase the number of people and equipment in the wilderness, which would degrade solitude. Long-term effects of the exposure of the Katmai wilderness to commercial film making is unknown. Recent rulings in the courts may make commercial filming in the wilderness a difficult management issue as the National Park Service strives to maintain First Amendment rights while also scrutinizing commercial use. Aerial filming over the wilderness, which the National Park Service does not have jurisdiction over, also can adversely affect opportunities for solitude.
Scientific research and monitoring, though necessary for understanding Katmai ecosystems, can also affect solitude. Both helicopters and fixed wing planes, which are used for research and park operations, can impact visitors’ sense of solitude, as these aircraft can often be seen and heard over large areas in the wilderness. While the sights and sounds of aircraft being used for research purposes would be temporary, as visitation rises, more people could be affected by these aircraft.
Wilderness preserves other tangible features that are of ecological, geological, scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value.
Historical and Cultural Value
The Katmai Wilderness is rich in cultural and historic significance. The wilderness preserves ancestral and contact era sites representing 9,000 years of human history, which has cultural and historic value to several groups of Alaska Native people who trace their ancestral home to the parklands. Evidence of native sod house villages, subsistence camps, and hunting blinds/drive lines are found throughout the Katmai Wilderness. While most of the ancestral sod house village sites have returned to natural vegetation, scattered occurrences of wooden structures (ruins) associated with historic Russian Orthodox Alutiit-Sugpiat villages and early Euro-American industry sites remain.
Historic resources within the Katmai Wilderness chronicle continuous use by Alaska Natives and the later introduction of researchers, explorers, trappers, miners, anglers, tourists, clammers, and fox farmers. These resources include at least 30 trapping complexes and associated caches all along Naknek Lake and the Katmai coast, a reindeer station on Naknek Lake, and fox farms on Kiukpalik Island and other islands in Amalik Bay. Both Kaflia Bay and Swikshak Lagoon house the ruins of clamming and salmon processing and saltery structures. A historical district at Kukak Bay is the site of a 1920s cannery. Before the 1912 Mount Novarupta eruption, the area in what is now the Katmai Wilderness had at least four year-round villages and many fish or game-based subsistence camps. Because of the heavy ash fall of the 1912 eruption, the village residents left and resettled elsewhere along the Alaska Peninsula; however, people associated with these villages, particularly those who resettled in Perryville, New Savonoski, South Naknek, and King Salmon, still recall their parents and grandparents continuing their subsistence-based traditions (including hunting, fishing, and gathering) in what is now the present-day Katmai Wilderness. Sediment and ash profiles in the Katmai Wilderness record at least 10 major eruptions during the past 9,000 years that likely caused people to evacuate their immediate homelands, possibly for long periods of time. Several ancestral Alaska Native communities occupied Katmai before modern Sugpiat-Alutiiq, Dena’ina, and Yup’ik communities inhabited the area. These ancestral communities include people hailing from the Bering Sea and Kodiak Archipelago regions, evinced by deeply excavated single-room houses, and “asterisk-shaped” multi-room houses, respectively.
The archeological resources of the Brooks River Archeological District National Historic Landmark and Savonoski Archeological District represent roughly 5,000 years of intensive human settlement, use and management of natural resources. Amalik Bay Archeological District National Historic Landmark is an area of extensive human settlement and use with archeological sites concentrated on the many small islands. American period ore claims are also within the bay. The archeological resources of the Katmai Wilderness include cairns marking caribou drive lines, ancient travel routes predating the contact era through Big River and Katmai Passes, villages marked by the depressions of semisubterranean sod houses known as ciqlluaq in the Alutiiq language, remnant subsistence camps, and lithic scatters dating to as early as the Paleo-arctic tradition.
The abandoned village of Katmai preserves the ruins of a Russian-era trading post and chapel, now covered by redeposited 1912 ash. The abandoned settlements of Douglas-Kaguyak and Kukak have few remaining structures standing but were once home to 19th century Russian Orthodox chapels and American Commercial Company stores. Seasonal fish and caribou camps and associated fish racks and caches dot the shores of the Katmai coast, Savonoski River, Ukak River, Lake Grosvenor, Lake Coville, and the Brooks River. The Russians referred to sod houses as barabaras, while the local Alutiiq called the wooden frame houses Engluq. Sod homes were purposefully designed to insulate and shelter families from the subarctic environment. Rock cairns and their remains resulting from the post-1912 National Geographic Society expeditions are scattered in the wilderness.
Today, subsistence use within Katmai National Park wilderness is prohibited under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. However, subsistence access is allowable within Katmai National Preserve to federally qualified subsistence users.
Although not technically defined as “subsistence,” in 1996, Congress mandated that residents who are descendants of Katmai residents who originally lived in villages along Naknek Drainage could continue their traditional and ceremonially significant fishery for “redfish” (spawn cycle sockeye salmon) within the Naknek watershed. The redfish harvest is authorized to occur in the western end of Naknek Lake near the outlet to the Naknek River, and the outlet of Idavain Creek, both of which are in designated wilderness, as well as Johnny’s Lake and the mouth of Brooks River where it enters Naknek Lake (also surrounded by eligible wilderness).
Natural processes in the Katmai Wilderness, such as erosion, volcanic activity, and sea level rise threaten historic and cultural resources, which are also vulnerable to looting. Increased erosion from visitor use along riverbanks can accelerate loss of cultural resources to be unearthed, collected, damaged, or swept into the streams.
The traditional practice of ambushing game resting on high-elevation ice patches on ridges and passes may have left organic hunting artifacts on relic ice patches. Such unique places are vulnerable to climate change, which accelerates the melt of the ancient ice patches.
Anything that would adversely affect the population densities of subsistence species, such as changes to habitat, food distribution, or occurrence, could also threaten this quality of wilderness character. Additional impacts to this wilderness quality can result from camping in areas where cultural resources occur, as well as improper disposal of human waste at cultural sites.
Scenic Value
The environments of the Katmai Wilderness offer a scenic landscape with stark contrasts from the Valley of 10,000 Smokes to coastal meadows. From the air or among one of the park’s many vantage points, unfettered views for miles are unlike those found anywhere else. The diverse geographical and geologic features of the landscape reflect thousands of years of glacial and volcanic activity, blanketed with a wide variety of vegetation zones ranging from bare rock to alpine tundra to expansive spruce forests. Crater lakes like those in Katmai Crater and Kaguyak Crater provide exceptional scenic value unique to Katmai with their clear blue aquamarine waters encircled by craggy volcanic ridgelines.
The impacts of visitor use on the scenic landscape are mostly visible in areas where low-lying vegetation predominates—readily exposing tents from visitors overnighting in wilderness. In the Valley of 10,000 Smokes, footprints are recognizable throughout some of the more frequently visited areas. Influences outside the Katmai Wilderness such as marine debris, concentrations of airplanes in the skies, and motorized boats on the waterways have impacts on the scenic values as well as other wilderness values.
Geological Value
Above the land and water, people see a land pocked with ponds and lakes, cut with deep valleys, and rippled with glacial moraines—all of which sits next to the rugged spine of active volcanoes. Katmai National Monument was established in 1918 because of its geology. The stories of the rocks, volcanoes, fossils, and glaciers is the story of Katmai.
Katmai Wilderness offers a window into time and plate tectonics. Ash stratigraphy is visible from 1912 to at least 3500 BCE. The stratigraphy seen typically takes millions of years to form. The June 1912 eruption of Mount Novarupta sent ash 20 miles into the air and deposited up to 600 feet of ash on the nearby terrain. A precise timeline of the event was kept as humans witnessed the eruption. Soon after the eruption, scientists stumbled upon what came to be known as The Valley of 10,000 Smokes—an area of 7 cubic miles of ash fall deposits, punctuated by the exhalations of the earth in the form of hundreds of smoking fumaroles. Today, those 10,000 smokes have cooled, but fiery magma still lies latent beneath the valley floor, as witnessed by the smoking fissures on the Novarupta Crater. These geological features are important to the park as it is a recorded history of the volcanic activity.
Novarupta is a textbook volcanic dome and is generally more accessible than other volcanoes of a similar type. Unlawful taking of geologic resources is of concern as visitors continue to increase and explore more parts of the park. Katmai geology is still active, and changes in climate can influence the rate of natural processes like weathering and glacial retreat.
Scientific Value
The Katmai Wilderness provides unparalleled opportunities to study many unique environmental processes that have not been disturbed by humans, and “scientific interest” for the unusual volcanic activity is listed as one of the reasons for establishing Katmai National Monument in the 1918 enabling legislation. Scientists have conducted groundbreaking research on Katmai’s wildlife and environment. Katmai has attracted researchers for nearly 100 years to study and monitor volcanic features, processes, and events in the northern rim of the Pacific Ring of Fire. The park provides an outdoor laboratory for studying not only the effects of volcanism, but also those of climate change, other large-scale landscape processes, and a wide variety of plant and animal species endemic to the Katmai Peninsula. The 1978 monument expansion states that Katmai “protects the headwaters of the drainages which provide the spawning grounds for the red salmon.” Additionally, Katmai is home to several locations where freshwater kokanee salmon are prevalent. Scientists previously conducted research within the wilderness to understand the genetic diversity and origins of the kokanee at different locations within the park and their relationship to the anadromous sockeye salmon. Continuing research on the kokanee show the effects of shorter growing seasons on populations.
Scientists have also conducted a great deal of research on Katmai’s abundant brown bears. Dense concentrations of coastal brown bears exist at Hallo Bay, Geographic Harbor, and Moraine Creek—a unique situation that sets the Katmai Wilderness apart from all other lands in the national wilderness preservation system. Research related to human and bear interactions is helping to inform visitor use management.
The Katmai Wilderness is home to numerous glaciers, reminders of the distant ice ages that affected the environment and climate. Studies have shown that some glaciers are receding, while others are growing. Volcanic ash from the Novarupta eruption covers other glaciated areas and may be protecting these from melting due to climate change. How the glaciers and the surrounding ecosystems will be affected in this time of global climate change will offer an array of research opportunities.
Katmai offers many opportunities for scientific research and has its fair share of research permit requests. The park staff reviews these proposals to assess their potential impacts on wilderness character. Research proposals are modified or denied to protect wilderness values. Pressure continues to open the wilderness helicopter use for visitor access as well as for scientific access. Park staff assesses the size of research teams and closely considers their potential impact and removal of resources or artifacts for scientific study.
Historical and Cultural Value
The Katmai Wilderness is rich in cultural and historic significance. The wilderness preserves ancestral and contact era sites representing 9,000 years of human history, which has cultural and historic value to several groups of Alaska Native people who trace their ancestral home to the parklands. Evidence of native sod house villages, subsistence camps, and hunting blinds/drive lines are found throughout the Katmai Wilderness. While most of the ancestral sod house village sites have returned to natural vegetation, scattered occurrences of wooden structures (ruins) associated with historic Russian Orthodox Alutiit-Sugpiat villages and early Euro-American industry sites remain.
Historic resources within the Katmai Wilderness chronicle continuous use by Alaska Natives and the later introduction of researchers, explorers, trappers, miners, anglers, tourists, clammers, and fox farmers. These resources include at least 30 trapping complexes and associated caches all along Naknek Lake and the Katmai coast, a reindeer station on Naknek Lake, and fox farms on Kiukpalik Island and other islands in Amalik Bay. Both Kaflia Bay and Swikshak Lagoon house the ruins of clamming and salmon processing and saltery structures. A historical district at Kukak Bay is the site of a 1920s cannery. Before the 1912 Mount Novarupta eruption, the area in what is now the Katmai Wilderness had at least four year-round villages and many fish or game-based subsistence camps. Because of the heavy ash fall of the 1912 eruption, the village residents left and resettled elsewhere along the Alaska Peninsula; however, people associated with these villages, particularly those who resettled in Perryville, New Savonoski, South Naknek, and King Salmon, still recall their parents and grandparents continuing their subsistence-based traditions (including hunting, fishing, and gathering) in what is now the present-day Katmai Wilderness. Sediment and ash profiles in the Katmai Wilderness record at least 10 major eruptions during the past 9,000 years that likely caused people to evacuate their immediate homelands, possibly for long periods of time. Several ancestral Alaska Native communities occupied Katmai before modern Sugpiat-Alutiiq, Dena’ina, and Yup’ik communities inhabited the area. These ancestral communities include people hailing from the Bering Sea and Kodiak Archipelago regions, evinced by deeply excavated single-room houses, and “asterisk-shaped” multi-room houses, respectively.
The archeological resources of the Brooks River Archeological District National Historic Landmark and Savonoski Archeological District represent roughly 5,000 years of intensive human settlement, use and management of natural resources. Amalik Bay Archeological District National Historic Landmark is an area of extensive human settlement and use with archeological sites concentrated on the many small islands. American period ore claims are also within the bay. The archeological resources of the Katmai Wilderness include cairns marking caribou drive lines, ancient travel routes predating the contact era through Big River and Katmai Passes, villages marked by the depressions of semisubterranean sod houses known as ciqlluaq in the Alutiiq language, remnant subsistence camps, and lithic scatters dating to as early as the Paleo-arctic tradition.
The abandoned village of Katmai preserves the ruins of a Russian-era trading post and chapel, now covered by redeposited 1912 ash. The abandoned settlements of Douglas-Kaguyak and Kukak have few remaining structures standing but were once home to 19th century Russian Orthodox chapels and American Commercial Company stores. Seasonal fish and caribou camps and associated fish racks and caches dot the shores of the Katmai coast, Savonoski River, Ukak River, Lake Grosvenor, Lake Coville, and the Brooks River. The Russians referred to sod houses as barabaras, while the local Alutiiq called the wooden frame houses Engluq. Sod homes were purposefully designed to insulate and shelter families from the subarctic environment. Rock cairns and their remains resulting from the post-1912 National Geographic Society expeditions are scattered in the wilderness.
Today, subsistence use within Katmai National Park wilderness is prohibited under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. However, subsistence access is allowable within Katmai National Preserve to federally qualified subsistence users.
Although not technically defined as “subsistence,” in 1996, Congress mandated that residents who are descendants of Katmai residents who originally lived in villages along Naknek Drainage could continue their traditional and ceremonially significant fishery for “redfish” (spawn cycle sockeye salmon) within the Naknek watershed. The redfish harvest is authorized to occur in the western end of Naknek Lake near the outlet to the Naknek River, and the outlet of Idavain Creek, both of which are in designated wilderness, as well as Johnny’s Lake and the mouth of Brooks River where it enters Naknek Lake (also surrounded by eligible wilderness).
Natural processes in the Katmai Wilderness, such as erosion, volcanic activity, and sea level rise threaten historic and cultural resources, which are also vulnerable to looting. Increased erosion from visitor use along riverbanks can accelerate loss of cultural resources to be unearthed, collected, damaged, or swept into the streams.
The traditional practice of ambushing game resting on high-elevation ice patches on ridges and passes may have left organic hunting artifacts on relic ice patches. Such unique places are vulnerable to climate change, which accelerates the melt of the ancient ice patches.
Anything that would adversely affect the population densities of subsistence species, such as changes to habitat, food distribution, or occurrence, could also threaten this quality of wilderness character. Additional impacts to this wilderness quality can result from camping in areas where cultural resources occur, as well as improper disposal of human waste at cultural sites.
Scenic Value
The environments of the Katmai Wilderness offer a scenic landscape with stark contrasts from the Valley of 10,000 Smokes to coastal meadows. From the air or among one of the park’s many vantage points, unfettered views for miles are unlike those found anywhere else. The diverse geographical and geologic features of the landscape reflect thousands of years of glacial and volcanic activity, blanketed with a wide variety of vegetation zones ranging from bare rock to alpine tundra to expansive spruce forests. Crater lakes like those in Katmai Crater and Kaguyak Crater provide exceptional scenic value unique to Katmai with their clear blue aquamarine waters encircled by craggy volcanic ridgelines.
The impacts of visitor use on the scenic landscape are mostly visible in areas where low-lying vegetation predominates—readily exposing tents from visitors overnighting in wilderness. In the Valley of 10,000 Smokes, footprints are recognizable throughout some of the more frequently visited areas. Influences outside the Katmai Wilderness such as marine debris, concentrations of airplanes in the skies, and motorized boats on the waterways have impacts on the scenic values as well as other wilderness values.
Geological Value
Above the land and water, people see a land pocked with ponds and lakes, cut with deep valleys, and rippled with glacial moraines—all of which sits next to the rugged spine of active volcanoes. Katmai National Monument was established in 1918 because of its geology. The stories of the rocks, volcanoes, fossils, and glaciers is the story of Katmai.
Katmai Wilderness offers a window into time and plate tectonics. Ash stratigraphy is visible from 1912 to at least 3500 BCE. The stratigraphy seen typically takes millions of years to form. The June 1912 eruption of Mount Novarupta sent ash 20 miles into the air and deposited up to 600 feet of ash on the nearby terrain. A precise timeline of the event was kept as humans witnessed the eruption. Soon after the eruption, scientists stumbled upon what came to be known as The Valley of 10,000 Smokes—an area of 7 cubic miles of ash fall deposits, punctuated by the exhalations of the earth in the form of hundreds of smoking fumaroles. Today, those 10,000 smokes have cooled, but fiery magma still lies latent beneath the valley floor, as witnessed by the smoking fissures on the Novarupta Crater. These geological features are important to the park as it is a recorded history of the volcanic activity.
Novarupta is a textbook volcanic dome and is generally more accessible than other volcanoes of a similar type. Unlawful taking of geologic resources is of concern as visitors continue to increase and explore more parts of the park. Katmai geology is still active, and changes in climate can influence the rate of natural processes like weathering and glacial retreat.
Scientific Value
The Katmai Wilderness provides unparalleled opportunities to study many unique environmental processes that have not been disturbed by humans, and “scientific interest” for the unusual volcanic activity is listed as one of the reasons for establishing Katmai National Monument in the 1918 enabling legislation. Scientists have conducted groundbreaking research on Katmai’s wildlife and environment. Katmai has attracted researchers for nearly 100 years to study and monitor volcanic features, processes, and events in the northern rim of the Pacific Ring of Fire. The park provides an outdoor laboratory for studying not only the effects of volcanism, but also those of climate change, other large-scale landscape processes, and a wide variety of plant and animal species endemic to the Katmai Peninsula. The 1978 monument expansion states that Katmai “protects the headwaters of the drainages which provide the spawning grounds for the red salmon.” Additionally, Katmai is home to several locations where freshwater kokanee salmon are prevalent. Scientists previously conducted research within the wilderness to understand the genetic diversity and origins of the kokanee at different locations within the park and their relationship to the anadromous sockeye salmon. Continuing research on the kokanee show the effects of shorter growing seasons on populations.
Scientists have also conducted a great deal of research on Katmai’s abundant brown bears. Dense concentrations of coastal brown bears exist at Hallo Bay, Geographic Harbor, and Moraine Creek—a unique situation that sets the Katmai Wilderness apart from all other lands in the national wilderness preservation system. Research related to human and bear interactions is helping to inform visitor use management.
The Katmai Wilderness is home to numerous glaciers, reminders of the distant ice ages that affected the environment and climate. Studies have shown that some glaciers are receding, while others are growing. Volcanic ash from the Novarupta eruption covers other glaciated areas and may be protecting these from melting due to climate change. How the glaciers and the surrounding ecosystems will be affected in this time of global climate change will offer an array of research opportunities.
Katmai offers many opportunities for scientific research and has its fair share of research permit requests. The park staff reviews these proposals to assess their potential impacts on wilderness character. Research proposals are modified or denied to protect wilderness values. Pressure continues to open the wilderness helicopter use for visitor access as well as for scientific access. Park staff assesses the size of research teams and closely considers their potential impact and removal of resources or artifacts for scientific study.