Bald eagles, moose, wolves
and Alaskan brown bears inhabitKENAI
NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE'Sboreal forests and river
valleys. Slideshow: Alaskan
Brown Bears
K E N
A
I N
A T I O N A
L W I L D L
I F E R E F
U G E
KENAI - A WILDERNESS
CLOSE TO ANCHORAGE
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.
WILDLIFE
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 reintroduced 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. For more information about Kenai
and the wildlife it supports, watch the NPS video shown via
YouTube below or visit the National
Fish and WIldlife Service website. A bird check list is available at
this USGS site.
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.
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Wildlifehotspots.com 2008 -
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Birding and Wildlife Hotspots, Wildlife Photography Tips and Wildlife
Slideshows Images of Alaskan Brown Bears copyright
Steven
Holt/stockpix.com. All rights reserved. Images of Kenai NWR credit Steve Hildebrand/USFWS.
