Welcome to the MedLibrary.org Wikipedia Supplement on Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve -- Please Click to Return to Front Page

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve
IUCN Category II (National Park)
Location	Valdez-Cordova Census Area, Yakutat City and Borough, and Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska,  United States
Nearest city	Anchorage
Coordinates	61°0′0″N 142°00′0″W / 61, -142
Area	13,175,901 acres (53,321 km²)
Established	December 2, 1980
Visitors	61,085 (in 20071)
Governing body	National Park Service
World Heritage Site	1979

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve is a United States National Park in southern Alaska. It was established in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. The park area is included in an International Biosphere Reserve and is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the largest national park in the United States by area, covering an area of 20,587 mi² (53,321 km²), or over 13 million acres (53,000 km²). The Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness is the largest designated wilderness in the United States. It includes the second-highest peak in the country, Mount Saint Elias, at 18,008 feet (5,489 m). It borders on Canada's Kluane National Park and Reserve. The vast majority of the park is designated as wilderness.

The park is accessible by highway from Anchorage; two rough gravel roads (the McCarthy Road and the Nabesna Road) wind through the park, making much of the interior accessible for backcountry camping and hiking. Chartered aircraft also fly into the park. Wrangell-St. Elias received 61,085 visitors in 2007 and is quickly gaining popularity through its combination of size, remoteness, and accessibility.

World Heritage Site

The transborder park system Kluane-Wrangell-St. Elias-Glacier Bay-Tatshenshini-Alsek (comprising Kluane, Wrangell-St Elias, Glacier Bay and Tatshenshini-Alsek parks) was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979 for the spectacular glacier and icefield landscapes as well as for the importance of grizzly bears, caribou and Dall sheep habitat.

Gallery

Mount Sanford

Hikers on a pass between Mt. Sanford and Mt. Drum

Mount Sanford

Welcome sign at the entrance to Wrangell-St. Elias visitor center.

See also

• Kennecott, Alaska, a historic mining town found within the park
• Ferdinand von Wrangel — Russian explorer & admiral for whom Mount Wrangell (sic) volcano is named; more accurately transliterated as Vrangel (sic).

• Mount Saint Elias — How mapmakers may have settled on this proper noun.

References

External links

• Official NPS site
• World Heritage Site
• Largest National Park information

Further reading

• Eppinger, R.G., et al. (2000). Environmental geochemical studies of selected mineral deposits in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska [U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1619]. Reston, VA: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
• Winkler, G.R. (2000). A geologic guide to Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska : a tectonic collage of northbound terranes [U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1616]. Denver: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.

v • d • e National parks of the United States Acadia • American Samoa • Arches • Badlands • Big Bend • Biscayne • Black Canyon of the Gunnison • Bryce Canyon • Canyonlands • Capitol Reef • Carlsbad Caverns • Channel Islands • Congaree • Crater Lake • Cuyahoga Valley • Death Valley • Denali • Dry Tortugas • Everglades • Gates of the Arctic • Glacier • Glacier Bay • Grand Canyon • Grand Teton • Great Basin • Great Sand Dunes • Great Smoky Mountains • Guadalupe Mountains • Haleakala • Hawaii Volcanoes • Hot Springs • Isle Royale • Joshua Tree • Katmai • Kenai Fjords • Kings Canyon • Kobuk Valley • Lake Clark • Lassen Volcanic • Mammoth Cave • Mesa Verde • Mount Rainier • North Cascades • Olympic • Petrified Forest • Redwood • Rocky Mountain • Saguaro • Sequoia • Shenandoah • Theodore Roosevelt • Virgin Islands • Voyageurs • Wind Cave • Wrangell-St. Elias • Yellowstone • Yosemite • Zion                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     List by: date established, state, elevation

v • d • e World Heritage Sites in the United States Cahokia · Carlsbad Caverns · Chaco Culture · Everglades · Grand Canyon · Great Smoky Mountains · Hawaii Volcanoes · Independence Hall · Kluane-Wrangell-St. Elias-Glacier Bay-Tatshenshini-Alsek (with Canada) · La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site · Mammoth Cave · Mesa Verde · Monticello and the University of Virginia · Olympic National Park · Pueblo de Taos · Redwood · Statue of Liberty · Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park (with Canada) · Yellowstone · Yosemite

This Alaska location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This article related to a protected area in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Wikipedia content modification information:

• This page was last modified on 2 November 2008, at 16:59.

Wikipedia Authorship and Review

Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.

Wikipedia Usage Guidelines

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve".

The URL for this specific entry is:

• http://medlibrary.org/medwiki/Wrangell-St._Elias_National_Park_and_Preserve

All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.