Park Facts

Inspiring peaks, active volcanoes, braided streams, and roaming bears are just a few examples of what the vast landscapes of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve have to offer.

NPS Photo/J. Mills

Purpose

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve is located in Southwest Alaska. The park has glaciers, jagged mountains, active volcanoes and tundra landscapes. Rivers and creeks flow throughout the park's rough terrain. These ecosystems support the Bristol Bay sockeye, or red, salmon. Local people still depend on the land and water and have for the past 10,000 years. Lake Clark is wild and rugged. There are no roads to the park, and it can only be reached by traveling in a small plane.

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve is located on the ancestral homelands of the Dena'ina people. Qizhjeh Vena (Lake Clark) means 'a place where people gather lake' in the Dena'ina language.

NPS Photo/A. Lattka

Established

December 1, 1978 Designated as a National Monument by President Carter

December 2, 1980 Designated as a National Park and Preserve and enlarged through the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act

Size

Total
4,030,006 acres or about 6,297 square miles

National Park
2,619,713 acres or about 4,093 square miles

National Preserve
1,410,293 acres or about 2,204 square miles
*For comparison, the state of Hawaii is 4.11 million acres.

Land Cover

Land Cover Type	Percentage	Acres	Miles2
Sparsely Vegetated Gravel and Bedrock	24%	973,350	1,521
Snow and Glacial Ice	20%	800,419	1,251
Shrubland	19%	771,706	1,206
Tundra	15%	616,159	963
Forest	11%	440,459	688
Freshwater Rivers and Lakes	4%	151,955	237
Salt Marshes, Sedge Meadows, and Bogs	2%	93,029	145
Grassland	1%	40,640	63
Not measurable due to cloud clover	4%	142,956	223

Points of Interest

Location	Elevation	Lake Depth
Chinitna Bay	0 ft	-
Silver Salmon Creek	0 ft	-
Lake Clark	254 ft	870 ft
Telaquana Lake	599 ft	110 ft
Crescent Lake	1,219 ft	435 ft
Dick Proenneke Cabin, Upper Twin Lake	2,041 ft	276 ft
Tanalian Mountain	3,960 ft	-
Iliamna Volcano	10,016 ft	-
Redoubt Volcano	10,197 ft	-

Lake Clark National Park is a remote and wild place with varied ecosystems that support wildlife such as seabirds, caribou, moose and brown bears.

NPS Photo/D. Welty

Wilderness Landmarks

Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Area

• 2.61 million acres

National Natural Landmarks

• Redoubt Volcano listed in 1976
• Iliamna Volcano listed in 1976

National Historic Landmark

• Kijik Archeological District listed in 1994

Land cover in Lake Clark National Park ranges from salt marshes on the coast to tall peaks and rolling tundra. Here the Mulchatna National Wild River flows through the diverse landscape of the park.

NPS Photo/J. Mills

National Wild Rivers

• Chilikadrotna River - 11 miles listed in 1980
• Mulchatna River - 24 miles listed in 1980
• Tlikakila River - 51 miles listed in 1980

National Register of Historic Places

• Richard L. Proenneke Historic Site listed in 2007
• Libby’s No. 23 Bristol Bay Double-Ender listed in 2013
• Wassillie Trefon Dena’ina Fish Cache listed in 2013