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Frontier Š Art Director: Jessica Scott Art Contributors: Matthew Scott, www.adfg. alaska.gov, www.nps.gov Created in Adobe CC 2020 Condor, Space Cadet, Baskerville Printed on Cover: 80# Semi-gloss (216 GSM) for heft and protection Paper: 80# Matte text (115 GSM) paper Printed at blurb.com Follow me @blackdogartgallery on instagram 5
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Table of Contents Denali National Preserve
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Denali National Park
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Wolves
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Black Bears
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Flattop Portage Pass
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Hello Readers, This magazine was created by Jessica Scott for her Graphic Design I class. This issue focuses on wild Alaska and all the beauty it beholds. All the photographs used throughout the spread were taken by Jessica’s older brother Matthew Scott during his trips to Alaska. Thank you for reading!
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DENALI NATIONAL PRESERVE Origin of Denali National Park and Preserve More than a century ago, two remarkable men spent the winter in a cabin not far from the Toklat River. Their experience and interaction with the wild landscape changed them. In turn, they came to have a profound influence on preserving the landscape for generations to come. Charles Sheldon, an early conservationist and gentleman hunter from Vermont, along with Harry Karstens, a legendary outdoorsman and dog musher, struck upon an idea over the long winter to make of the place the world’s first national park established to conserve wildlife. By 1917, after almost a decade of hard work, Sheldon and others persuaded Congress to create Mount McKinley National Park. Four years later, in 1921, Karstens was hired on as its first superintendent.
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Denali National Park Did you know Denali (also known as Mount McKinley) is the highest mountain peak in North America? It has a summit elevation of 20,310 feet above sea level. It is also the third most prominent and isolated peak on the planet. Access to Denali Peak can be reached through Denali National Park. There is only one road that cuts through Denali, and only one way to access the entrance to the road. Denali National Park is abundant with wild lands and animals. Private vehicles are allowed up to Savage River, but then using the National Parks busses and shuttles is required. Home to North America’s tallest peak, Denali has been a mecca for mountaineering and adventuring for more than a century. Today, the park continues to enchant climbers, pack-rafters, skiers, dog mushers and athletes seeking to test themselves against the raw, unchecked power of a truly wild landscape. The Koyukon people who inhabit the region have been calling it Denali for centuries. However, during the late 1800’s a gold digger named it Mount McKinley, which remained its name from 1917-2015. In 2015 the National Park Service decided to rename (or give it it’s traditional name back) and begin to call it Denali once again. The first attempt to climb Denali was in 1903 by James Wickersham. The climb was not successful. The first verified successful climb happened on June 7, 1913. This climb was completed by a group of climbers who called themselves the South Summit (Hudson Stuck, Harry Karstens, Walter Harper, and Robert Tatum). Bradford Washburn was the one who forged what is now known as the easiest, and safest route to climb in 1951.
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Wolves Wolves are social animals and usually live in packs that include parents and pups of the year. The average pack size is six or seven animals, and pack members often include some yearlings and other adults. Packs of 20 to 30 wolves sometimes occur, and these larger packs may have two or three litters of pups from more than one female. The social order in the pack is characterized by a separate dominance hierarchy among females and males. In most areas wolf packs tend to remain within a territory used almost exclusively by pack members, with only occasional overlap in the ranges of neighboring packs. Despite a generally high birth rate, wolves rarely become abundant because mortality is also high. In much of Alaska, the major sources of mortality are: predation by other wolves; hunting; and trapping. Diseases, malnutrition, and accidents also help regulate wolf numbers. Predation by other wolves is a major cause of death because wolves defend their territories from other wolves. Dispersing wolves (e.g., young adults) are common but they typically find little suitable habitat that is not already occupied by other wolves.
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Reproduction Typically one female wolf in a pack has a litter of about seven pups each year. This varies, in some packs more than one female may bring off a litter. In some cases a pair of wolves may not form a pack or belong to a pack, and will bring off a litter of pups.Â
Diet Wolves are carnivores, and in most of mainland Alaska moose and/or caribou are their primary food, with Dall sheep, squirrels, snowshoe hares, beaver, and occasionally birds and fish as supplements in the diet. The rate at which wolves kill large mammals varies with prey availability and environmental conditions. A pack may kill a deer or moose every few days during the winter. At other times, they may go for several days with almost no food. Since wolves are opportunistic, young, old, or debilitated animals are preyed upon more heavily than healthy middle-age animals. Under some circumstances, however, such as when snow is unusually deep or prey is scarce, even animals in their prime may be vulnerable to wolves. In Southeast Alaska, Sitka black-tailed deer, mountain goats, and beaver are the most important sources of food. Research indicates that salmon are important seasonally where they are available, especially to young wolves. During summer, small mammals including voles, lemmings and ground squirrels are taken. Wolves also scavenge, and coastal wolves will beach comb.
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BLACK BEARS
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Black Bears
Behavior
The black bear is the smallest of the North American bears. Adults stand about 29 inches at the shoulders and are about 60 inches from nose to tail. Males are larger than females, and weigh about 180-200 pounds in the spring. They are considerably lighter when they emerge from winter hibernation and may be about 20 percent heavier in the fall when they’re fat.
As with brown bears, black bears spend the winter months in a state of hibernation. Their body temperatures drop, their metabolic rate is reduced, and they sleep for long periods. Bears enter this dormancy period in the fall, after most food items become hard to find. They emerge in the spring when food is again available. Occasionally, in the more southern ranges, bears will emerge from their dens during winter. In the northern part of their range, bears may be dormant for as long as seven to eight months. Females with cubs usually emerge later than lone bears. Dens may be found from sea level to alpine areas. They may be located in rock cavities, hollow trees, self-made excavations, even on the ground.
Black bears (Ursus americanus) are the most abundant and widely distributed of the three species of North American bears. An estimated 100,000 black bears inhabit Alaska.
Black bears can vary in color from jet black to white. Black is the color encountered most frequently across the state, but brown or cinnamon-colored black bears are sometimes seen in Southcentral Alaska and on the southeastern mainland. Cinnamon-colored black bears are also common in Alaska’s Interior. Some bluish-colored bears called glacier bears may be found in the Yakutat area and in other parts of Southeast Alaska. Black bears often have brown muzzles and some also have a patch of white hair on their chest. Black bears are most easily distinguished from brown bears by their straight facial profile and their claws, which rarely grow more than 1 ½ inches in length. Black bears have adequate sense of sight and hearing, but have an outstanding sense of smell.
Life History Growth and Reproduction For most of the year, black bears are solitary creatures, except from June through July when mating takes place. The cubs are born in their dens following a gestation period of about seven months. The cubs are born blind and nearly hairless, weighing in under a pound. One to four cubs may be born, but two is most common. Cubs remain with their mothers through the first winter following birth. Black bears mature sexually at 3 to 6 years of age, depending upon their environment. In the more southern parts of their range, bears will breed every other year; however, if a litter is lost early during the first summer, the sow will breed again that year. In more marginal environments such as northern Alaska, black bears keep their cubs with them an extra year and will breed every third year.
Feeding Ecology When it comes to food, black bears are creatures of opportunity. There are certain patterns of food-seeking which they follow. Upon emerging in the spring, freshly sprouted green vegetation is their main food item, but they will eat nearly anything they encounter. Winter-killed animals are readily eaten, and in some areas black bears have been found to be effective predators on new-born moose calves. As summer progresses, feeding shifts to salmon if they are available, but in areas without salmon, bears rely on vegetation throughout the year. Berries, especially blueberries, ants, grubs, and other insects help to round out the black bear’s diet. · · · · ·
Description Life History Range and Habitat Status, Trends, and Threats Fast Facts
Range and Habitat In Alaska, black bears occur over most of the forested areas of the state; depending on the season of the year, they may be found from sea level to alpine areas. They are not found on the Seward Peninsula, on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, or north of the Brooks Range. They are also absent from some of the large islands of the Gulf of Alaska, notably Kodiak, Montague, Hinchinbrook and others, and from the Alaska Peninsula south of the Lake Iliamna area. In Southeast Alaska, black bears occupy most islands with the
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Seasonal Distribution · Spring: In spring, black and brown bears
are usually found on low elevation south-facing slopes, and in riparian forests and wetlands for early green vegetation and moose. · Summer: During summer, brown and black bears are most commonly found in mid-elevation herbaceous habitats, in low elevation river bottoms and fluvial benches for early berries, and in high elevation burns and openings for berries. In some areas they also focus on anadromous waters for salmon. · Fall: In fall, brown and black bears are most commonly found on large rivers for salmon and associated riparian forest areas for roots, late berries and fruits. In the Interior, bears focus on alpine and subalpine berry patches. · Winter: In winter, most brown bears are in hibernation dens in alpine and sub-alpine areas; most black bears are in dens in forests.
Status, Trends, and Threats There are an estimated 100,000 black bears in the state of Alaska. Status and trends vary from region to region, and some highlights are provided. Information collected from hunters and harvested bears provides valuable insights into bear status and trends in Alaska. On northern Kuiu Island in southern Southeast Alaska, a population of 1,019 bears with a density of 1.51 bears/km2 is among the highest black bear densities known. Anan Creek, on the upper Cleveland Peninsula in Southeast Alaska, is closed to harvest because it has long been a popular black bear viewing area. Black bears can also been seen at the Mendenhall Glacier bear viewing area in Juneau. On the northern Southeast Alaska mainland, Ju-
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neau & Gustavus (GMU 1C): Hunters harvested an average of 97 bears/year in 2004-2006, a 13% decrease over the average harvest of 111 during the previous three-year reporting period. The stable skull size and age structure of harvest indicates that the black bear population may not have changed significantly. Prince William Sound and North Gulf of Alaska coast (GMU 6): When pooled in ecological units, bear densities ranged from 0.33 to 0.85 bears/km2 and the population is about 3,300 bears. Kenai Peninsula (GMU 7 and 15): The black bear population appears stable. Black bears appear in greater densities along the southern outer coast, probably due to healthy salmon runs coupled with low densities of competing brown bears. About 3,000–4,000 black bears are estimated in this area. The five-year average annual harvest was 410/year. Upper Cook Inlet (GMU 14): The population of black bears in Unit 14 is likely at the upper end of the range between 500 and 1,000 black bears. Harvest increased during 2004–2007 to an average annual kill of 166 bears. West Side of Cook Inlet (GMU 16): Line-transect surveys in 2007 indicated there were about 1,888 black bears in Unit 16B. The 2004–2007 average harvest of black bears was 283 animals, much greater than 2001–2004 average of 197. Most of the increase in bears harvested is from Unit 16B where there has been an emphasis on reducing the number of bears in the unit. Portions of the Kuskokwim, Nowitna, Innoko and Yukon River drainages (GMU 19, 21A, and 21E) Based on habitat and bear densities elsewhere, the population estimate for the entire 55,278-mi2 management area is approximately 8,300–16,600 black bears, based on overall densities of 150–300 bears/1000 mi2. The population was probably stable or slowly increasing during the past 10 years, based on local observations. Central–Lower Tanana and Middle Yukon River drainages (GMU 20A, 20B, 20C, and 20F): Densities of northern black bears are relatively low compared
WILDS OF ALASKA to other areas; 500–700 bears in the Tanana Flats in Unit 20A, 750–1,200 bears in Unit 20B (west of Fairbanks), 700–1,000 in the portion of Unit 20C outside Denali National Park, and 400–700 in Unit 20F (Tanana-Livengood). Central Tanana Valley near Delta Junction (GMU 20D Based on densities reported elsewhere the manager estimated that approximately 525 bears were present north of the Tanana River and 225 bears south of the Tanana River.
· Size
Fast Facts
up to 350 pounds
· Distribution
Occur over most of the forested areas of the state; not found on the Seward Peninsula, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, or north of the Brooks Range. Also absent from Kodiak, Montague, and Hinchinbrook Islands, and from the Alaska Peninsula beyond Lake Iliamna.
· Diet
Omnivorous.
· Predators
Other bears, usually brown.
· Reproduction
Twins are most common, but litters may contain 1-4 cubs.
· Remarks
Black bears are the most abundant and widely distributed of the three species of North American bears; they have been recorded in all states except Hawaii.
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Flattop Flattop Mountain at Glen Alps is a highly popular hiking destination in Alaska. In fact, it is one of the most popular peaks. It is located near Anchorage, Alaska. One of the most popular trails at Flattop is about 1.5 miles long. It is a quick and easy descent into the summit where views of Denali and Aleutian Islands can be viewed. Some more adventurous hikes at Flattop are a scenic hike to Williwaw Lakes that is 5 miles one way, or a scenic climb to Wolverine Peak which is about 5.5 miles. And, who knows maybe hikers and climbers will run into a few wolverines on the way to the top of these trails. There is a shuttle service that brings
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Portage Pass Portage Pass Trail is located near Whittier, Alaska. It is 5.4 miles out and back. Though the first mile of the trail is a bit steep and rocky, this trail is dog friendly (as long as they remain leashed), as well as kid friendly—bring the whole family along! Along the trail hikers will see an abundance of wildflowers, as well as have the opportunity for some spectacular bird watching among viewing various other wildlife. The trail leads to Portage Lake where hikers can stop to picnic before heading back. Locals recommend hikers bring an extra pair of socks, and plan to get your feet a little wet. Portage Glacier can be seen from the lookout point along the trail.
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