A Living Laboratory

To reduce road dust created by vehicular traffic, maintenance crews apply an aqueous solution of calcium chloride (CaCl2) to the surface of the Denali Park Road. This application reduces visually displeasing dust clouds and the subsequent need to replace fine materials lost from the road as dust, but also has the potential to adversely affect ecosystems adjacent to the road. Learn how botany program staff assess and monitor the possible effects of CaCl2 applications.

In the summer of 1928, an unlikely person emerged as Denali's first botanist. At the time, Ynes Mexia had only recently started her journey as one of the great plant collectors in the world.

National park units in Alaska precede the establishment of the National Park Service in 1916. The first park unit, Sitka National Monument, was conceived in 1908, and by the mid-1920s four national monuments along with Alaska’s first national park were part of the growing park system. Discover how the early 1900s and observations of a few helped to establish the National Park Service in Alaska.

The boreal forest is a dynamic place. Disturbances such as fire, flooding, fungal infection, and insect infestation regularly affect individual plant species, or entire plant communities. Learn more about the symptoms of such disturbances, as seen across the Denali landscape.

Annual Research Updates (2016) - While hiking through six million acres of Alaska's pristine wilderness, it is likely that you may come across a plant or two that you don't know. Learn what it is using Denali's new plant identification app.

Will spruce beetles, an insect native to Alaska, cause widespread spruce die-back in Denali's boreal forest, or will they remain primarily south of the Alaska Range?

Annual Research Update (2016) - Denali's museum collection hold a variety of intriguing items ranging from mountaineering equipment from the first ascent of Denali to the pen that President Woodrow Wilson used to sign the park into existence. Learn more about the items in the collection.

Science Summary (2012) - Invasive plants, usually introduced accidentally by people, often crowd out native species and may destroy food sources or habitat for native wildlife. Denali has relatively few non-native plant species (28) compared to parks in the Lower 48 states. By aggressively eradicating invasives now, while their numbers are manageable, we can avoid exotic species compounding the ecological challenges posed by factors like climate change.

Annual Research Updates (2016) - How does off-road vehicle use impact areas that are beyond the extent of already established trails?

Annual Research Updates (2016) - Native seed collection is important to help make revegetation projects possible. Learn more about which invasive plants were eradicated and what native seeds were collected over the past few years.