This gem of a refuge located in
south- central Alaska is only two and a half hours by car from
Anchorage. In Kenai National Wildlife
Refuge's almost 2 million acres, you can hike, birdwatch, fish, pick
berries or kayak on inland lakes and rivers. Created in 1941 to
protect the Kenai moose, sixty-five percent of refuge lands are
designated wilderness.
But Kenai is not without its problems.
Oil discoveries in
1957 led to drilling and industrial development on some refuge
lands. Over the years toxins - including polychlorinated
biphenyls, triethylene glycol, xylene and benzene - were released
into the soil. Today wood frogs born on refuge oil fields have an
abnormally high rate of deformities - the largest ever recorded in
Alaska or in any of the other
43 US refuges sampled - and contaminants
are suspected as the cause. Kenai, however, remains one of
Alaska's most beautiful and most accessible wildernesses.
EXPLORING
KENAI NWR:
Hiking:
Kenai offers many opportunities for hiking. Trails range from
easy, relatively level hikes along
the Upper and Lower Kenai River to a short, steep hike on Skyline
Trail.
Camping:
The
Skilak Wildlife Recreation Area has ten campgrounds. The smallest
has three spaces; the largest, at Hidden Lake, has
forty-four. There
are also three small free campgrounds on Swanson
River Road. Backcountry camping is permitted, but you must be at
least 1/4 mile from the Sterling
Highway, Ski Hill Road or Skilak Lake Road.
USFWS VIDEO: Kenai National Wildlife Refuge
'Where Wildlife Comes First'
T
H
E W I L D
L I F E
In Kenai's river valleys and
boreal forests, listen for the howls of wolves and watch Alaskan
brown bears and bald eagles fish for salmon. You may also see
black bears, coyotes,
porcupines, weasels, snowshoe hares and the ever elusive lynx.
And keep an eye out for moose: Reaching heights of up to 7 1/2
feet at the shoulder and weighing up to 1800 pounds, Kenai's moose are
the largest herbivores in North America.Resident birds include great horned
owls, spruce
grouse, hairy and downy woodpeckers and boreal chickadees.
In the hundreds of small lakes and
wetlands found in Kenai's
northeastern section, watch for common and Pacific loons,
beautiful trumpeter swans, sandhill cranes and shorebirds. You
may also see aquatic mammals - beavers, muskrats and mink. Fish
include rainbow trout, Arctic char and red
and silver salmon.
Portions of
the Harding Ice Field
also border Kenai NWR. And there is
life even in the glacial ice: tiny ice worms feed on pollen, fern
spores and red algae.
Refuge managers have also reintro- duced caribou to the refuge, and
five herds - including a mountain herd -now roam the Kenai peninsula.
Other herbivores include Dall sheep - found in the eastern Kenai
Mountains - and mountain goats.
Directions:
From
Anchorage, Alaska take the Seward Highway south to the Sterling
Highway.
The eastern refuge boundary is at milepost 55 of the Sterling Highway.
(c) Wildlifehotspots.com
- A Guide to Some of the World's Best Birding and
Wildlife Hotspots
Thumbnail image of Kenai NWR credit
Steve Hillebrand/USFWS. Images of Alaskan Brown Bears copyright Steven
Holt/stockpix.com.
