Natural History Collection

Duration:

2 minutes, 26 seconds

The park's collection includes a bird nest made of natural materials, and bright pink feathers! How did this happen? The answer is linked to Skagway's long tourism history.

 

The Natural History Collection

The museum's biological items are part of the park's natural history collection. This collection consists of plant, fungi, lichen, and animal specimens.

The plant collection is the largest part of the natural history collection. It contains over 4,000 cataloged specimens. The plant collection consists of 1,817 vascular plants, 5 tree core samples, and 2,262 lichens. Many of the plant specimens came from two natural resource inventory projects in 1993 resulting in 680 specimens added to the collection. The specimens were collected from the park's Chilkoot Trail and White Pass units.

In 2008, another team gathered lichen samples to understand lichen diversity in the park. The result was over 200 types of lichen added to the collection. The variety of types collected shows that this area of Alaska has one of the most diverse lichen populations in the world. Altogether, these specimens help the natural resources team monitor plant diversity.

The animal collection houses 137 fish specimens, 30 mammal specimens, 6 bird specimens, 4 nests, and more than 600 invertebrates. Many of the birds in the collection came from the city of Skagway. Most of the fish and mammals came from outside the city. The invertebrates were collected during the 2016 park BioBlitz in Skagway and Dyea. These specimens help by acting as a control group for the natural resources team and their ongoing projects.

 

Explore the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Museum Collection and more with the National Park Service's online museum.