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Weather: Anchorage
City Guides and maps: Alaska
The Birds and the Bears -
29 sec./1.4M QT movie
February 19, 1997
(CNN) -- Sprawling herds of caribou graze through meadows. Grizzly bears splash in streams. Bald eagles soar above towering glaciers and glistening fjords.
Welcome to Alaska. Though most people come to see its ice-cloaked cliffs, this vast state offers one of the most fascinating wildlife treasures in North America: 365 million acres of protected landscape.
In fact, Alaska has more land set aside for national parks, wildlife refuges and wilderness areas than all the other U.S. states combined.
More than 300 species of birds, ranging from loons to puffins to wild ducks, fly the brilliant Alaskan skies. Nearly 30,000 grizzlies roam the land with such colorful cohorts as reindeer, musk oxen and caribou.
Travelers hoping to view Alaska's splendid wildlife will have to venture off the beaten track, leaving behind their cruise ships or rental cars. However, you don't have to be a weathered hiking veteran to take in the sites. Tour organizers offer package deals that bring even the most inexperienced nature lovers face-to-face with the wild.
One of the most popular destinations is Katmai National Park, about 290 miles (467 km) southwest of Anchorage. Katmai was declared a national monument in 1918, following a cataclysmic 1912 volcanic eruption that left 46,000 square miles (120,000 square km) covered in more than an inch of ash. It was the worst volcanic eruption in North America this century.
Today, the park is known as one of the best places in the world to view grizzly bears, commonly known as Alaskan brown bears, and migrating salmon. To protect the brown bear and its varied habitat, Katmai was designated a national park and preserve in 1980.
The park's boundaries extend so far that a successful trip requires the most precise and logistical planning.
Companies like Katmai Wilderness Lodge and Brooks Lodge fly tourists to the park, provide them with housing and offer various Katmai tours. The rates run anywhere from $800 to about $1,800. Most wildlife tours are offered only during the summer, but a few agencies have winter itineraries.
Lifetime Adventures organizes trips in March to coincide with the renowned Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Also this March, the agency is planning an unprecedented expedition in search of polar bears on Alaska's northern coast.
For a somewhat tamer wildlife experience, there's the large Animal Research Station in Fairbanks where visitors can join biologists in studying the behavior of musk oxen, caribou and reindeer.
Prized for their cashmere-like wool called qiviut (KEE-vee-uht), musk oxen were hunted to extinction in Alaska last century. They were re-introduced to the region from Greenland in 1930, and their population has slowly begun to rise.
The Animal Research Station and other animal farms across the state collect qiviut by combing it off the musk oxen when they shed each spring. Native Indians and Eskimos then spin the wool into scarves, hats and tunics which are sold at local boutiques.
Though the items are expensive, the qiviut fashions provide a
warm reminder of Alaskan wildlife long after you've left the
U.S.' 49th state.
Weather: Anchorage
City guides and maps: Alaska
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