Lake Clark National Park, Alaska, USA Photograph by John Morrison   Northwestern North America: Western United States (Alaska) into western Canada Tundra   58,600 square miles (151,800 square kilometers) -- slightly larger than Georgia Relatively Stable/Intact

· Tall Snowy Peaks
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
More Photos

Tall Snowy Peaks

This ecoregion is a long belt of high, rugged mountains made up of great masses of ice and snow. Mountain peaks, covered with permanent snow above 7,000 feet (2150 m) in elevation, are separated by broad ice fields and valley glaciers. Where permanent ice and snow fields do not dominate, alpine tundra vegetation is present. Much of this ecoregion remains under permanent ice.

Special Features

Mt. McKinley, the highest point in North America with an elevation of over 20,000 feet (6,100 m), is located in this ecoregion. Precipitation ranges from 15 inches (40 cm) in lower elevations to more than 6 and a half inches (2 m) per year in the high elevations.

	Bears are the largest living terrestrial animals classified in the order Carnivora (even though most are omnivores). The average weight of a brown bear in Alaska is about 860 pounds. They give birth to one to three cubs each year. The brown bears of this ecoregion eat salmon, as well as many berries, leaves, roots, and small animals.

Wild Side

Mountain goat, caribou, moose, Dall's sheep, beaver, snowshoe hare, and salmon are able to live in this challenging ecoregion. Rock and willow ptarmigan, Siberian tit, wheatear, Wilson's warblers, and boreal chickadees are some of the birds that can be found. Slopes sheltered from the elements support scrub communities including dwarf birch, willows, and alder. The lower valleys that have drier soil support forests of white and black spruce or paper birch and quaking aspen. Cottongrass and sedge are the main plants in wet lowland areas. Significant brown bear populations live in Denali Park, Prairie Creek, and in the southwestern coastal part of the ecoregion, near Lake Iliamna and Kamishak Bay.

Cause for Concern

This ecoregion has suffered very little habitat loss, degradation, or fragmentation. Minor disturbance is associated with development at the entrance to Denali National Park and recreational use of the ecoregion continues to pose a minor threat. Habitat has been disturbed around the abandoned Kennicott copper mine in the Wrangell Mountains, and coal mining at Healy has also caused some habitat loss. The ecoregion contains many extractable mineral resources, including gold, silver, lead, copper, coal, uranium, and molybdenum, and expanded mineral exploration and exploitation poses a threat.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.