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  • Eagle Glacier as seen from Favorite Channel just outside Juneau.
    Eagle Glacier-2.jpg
  • Moss covers the forest floor along the Trail of Time Trail near the Mendenhall Lake and Mendhenall Visitor Center just outside Juneau, Alaska.
    Moss along Trail of Time Trail.jpg
  • A spectacular display of the Aurora Borealis or as it is commonly called, the northern lights, occurred the evening of November 8 through the early morning of November 9, 2013 over Haines, Alaska. The luminous glow of the aurora borealis dances in the upper atmosphere above Mt. Emmerich and other peaks in the Chilkat Range at the Chilkat Inlet for the Chilkat River just outside Haines, Alaska. The bottom edge of an aurora is typically 60 miles high with the top edge at an altitude of 120 to 200 miles, though sometimes high altitude aurora can be as high as 350 miles. The collision of sun storm electrons and protons with different types of gas particles in Earth’s atmosphere cause the different colors. Green, the most common color, is caused by the collision of electrons with atoms of with atomic oxygen.
    Aurora Borealis over Haines, Alaska-...jpg
  • A spectacular display of the Aurora Borealis or as it is commonly called, the northern lights, occurred the evening of November 8 through the early morning of November 9, 2013 over Haines, Alaska. The luminous glow of the aurora borealis dances in the upper atmosphere above Mt. Emmerich and other peaks in the Chilkat Range at the Chilkat Inlet for the Chilkat River just outside Haines, Alaska. The bottom edge of an aurora is typically 60 miles high with the top edge at an altitude of 120 to 200 miles, though sometimes high altitude aurora can be as high as 350 miles. The collision of sun storm electrons and protons with different types of gas particles in Earth’s atmosphere cause the different colors. Green, the most common color, is caused by the collision of electrons with atoms of with atomic oxygen.
    Aurora Borealis over Haines, Alaska-...jpg
  • A grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) disturbs glaucous-winged gulls (Lars glaucescens) on a beach near an unnamed stream next to Tlingit Point in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Grizzly bears can be found in every part of Glacier Bay. It is common to see bear activity of bears along the park’s 1,100 miles of coastline. Bear-resistant food canisters (BFRC) are required to store food for backcountry campers. The use of BRFCs has greatly reduced human-bear incidents in the park. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales, which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Grizzly bear with gulls.jpg
  • The forest edges of the Beardslee Islands appear to be impenetrable with bushes and shrubs, but once you get past them, the island's forests open up to a moss-carpeted and lichen-rich landscape. This image is from an island once the site of a fox farm.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Interior forest of a Beardslee Islan...jpg
  • Passengers on the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry M/V LeConte sleep in the solarium on the top deck of the ship, missing the spectacular views on the Lynn Canal. The Alaska Marine Highway System ships are a vital mode of transportation for residents and tourists in southeast Alaska.
    Sleeping LeConte passengers.jpg
  • Humpback whales blow out air as they breathe in Favorite Channel near Juneau in southeast Alaska. The "blow" or spray is partially caused by water resting on top of the whale's blowholes (nostrils). A humpback whale has two blow holes, whereas some other species of whales only have one.
    Humpback whales blow.jpg
  • This abandoned cabin sits in the rainforest at the site of a historic fox farm on an unnamed island in the Beardslee Islands in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Several significantly damaged small cabin-like buildings are all that remain of the operation. Fox farming in Southeast Alaska began in the early 1900s with the introduction of Russian arctic foxes, which were prized for their snow-white fur. The Great Depression caused most of the fox farms to cease operations. The National Park Service reminds visitors not to take or move historical objects, and that weather-damaged structures like those found at this site should not be entered due to the likelihood of imminent collapse.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller's sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Fox farm cabin-4.jpg
  • The Forest Loop Trail passes by several ponds as it passes through the lush spruce and hemlock rainforest in Bartlett Cove of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. The easy 1.1-mile loop trail through the forest that sits on a glacial moraine is popular for birding, wildflowers, and other wildlife.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales, which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Forest Loop Trail pond-2.jpg
  • This abandoned cabin sits in the rainforest at the site of a historic fox farm on an unnamed island in the Beardslee Islands in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Several significantly damaged small cabin-like buildings are all that remain of the operation. Fox farming in Southeast Alaska began in the early 1900s with the introduction of Russian arctic foxes, which were prized for their snow-white fur. The Great Depression caused most of the fox farms to cease operations. The National Park Service reminds visitors not to take or move historical objects, and that weather-damaged structures like those found at this site should not be entered due to the likelihood of imminent collapse.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller's sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Fox farm cabin-7.jpg
  • Rainbow Glacier as seen from the Lynn Canal near Haines, Alaska.
    Rainbow Glacier.jpg
  • This spent Nuttall’s cockle (Clinocardium nuttallii) shell was photographed in the intertidal zone of a beach in Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Nuttall’s cockle is native to the coastlines of the Pacific Northwest and California. Indigenous peoples consider the clam as a food source.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park a popular destination for cruise ships is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Nuttall’s cockle.jpg
  • A kayaker displays a piece of glacial ice found floating in the Muir Inlet of Glacier Bay National Park. The piece of ice is from the retreating McBride Glacier. Recent research determined that there is 11% less glacial ice in Glacier Bay than in the 1950s. Still even with the earth’s rapidly changing climate, Glacier Bay is home to a few stable glaciers due to heavy snowfall in the nearby Fairweather Mountains. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales, which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Glacial ice.jpg
  • Trees along the Chilkoot Indian Association Trail in Haines, Alaska.
    trees still-life.jpg
  • These interstadial tree stumps in the Muir Inlet of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve may look unimpressive, but they are important witnesses to the park's glacial history. Glacier Bay National Park in Southeast Alaska is the largest known repository in North America of interstadial wood from the Holocene period, which began about 11,700 years ago and continues today. Interstadial wood is not fossilized; rather, it was frozen and unfrozen when glaciers advanced and receded in the bay. The forest was sheared off when the glacier advanced but left the stumps behind. Scientists can study the rings of these trees for clues to the glacial timeline of the park. Some stumps in the park date to over 9,000 years ago, and twigs date to 13,700 years ago.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales, which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Interstadial tree stumps.jpg
  • Glaciers flow from Mount Bertha (upper left) and Mount Crillon (upper right) to form the upper portion of Johns Hopkins Glacier in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. Known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall costal mountains, the park is also an important marine wilderness area. The park a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller's sea lions and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Johns Hopkins Glacier.jpg
  • Scott Clem, a student from Auburn University, fishes for salmon at sunset on the Chilkoot River outlet from Chilkoot Lake near Haines, Alaska. The river offers some of the best salmon fishing in Southeast Alaska, with four salmon runs, starting in mid-June and ending in mid-October. The area is part of the Chilkoot Lake State Recreational Site located at the head of the Lutak Inlet in the Lynn Canal. It is managed by Alaska State Parks. In the upper reaches of the Chilkoot River Valley (not pictured) Alaska Power and Telephone Company (AP&T) proposes to dam the outlet of Connelly Lake, a high alpine lake above the Chilkoot River, for a hydroelectric project. Water from Connelly Lake would be delivered down the mountain to a powerhouse near the Chilkoot River into which the lake water would be discharged. Environmental concerns include the impact construction and project operation would have on fish spawning and rearing habitat (water turbidity issues), and bald eagles. Some of the main features of the proposed Connelly Lake project would be located in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve and the Haines State Forest. The Connelly Lake Hydro Aquatic Studies Report for 2012 prepared by the Shipley Group for AP&T states that according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, 41 percent of the sockeye salmon in the upper Lynn Canal come from the Chilkoot River with 25 percent of those salmon spawning in the Chilkoot River drainage above Chilkoot Lake. The value of the fishery is estimated at more than $1,000,000 annually. AP&T wants to build the project to replace the undersea cable that supplies Haines with electricity from Skagway.
    Chilkoot River fisherman at sunset 1.jpg
  • A pelagic cormorant (Phalacrocorax pelagicus) stretches its wings on boulders at South Marble Island in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Pelagic cormorants can hold their breath for 2 minutes and dive as deep as 138 feet to catch fish. They use their wings to steer while diving.<br />
<br />
South Marble Island is also known for its colonies of nesting birds, including tufted puffin, pelagic cormorant, black-legged kittiwake, pigeon guillemot, and common murre.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Pelagic cormorant.jpg
  • The skull of a sea otter (Enhydra lutris) lies in the moss of an unnamed island in the Beardslee Islands of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Sea otters, a keystone species of the North Pacific, were almost entirely eliminated by commercial fur hunters in the early 1900s. While they received wildlife protection in 1911, it wasn’t until the early 1990s that sea otters were observed to inhabit Glacier Bay for the first time. As the most abundant marine mammal in Glacier Bay, current estimates put the number of sea otters at 8,000. While orcas are the primary predator of adult sea otters, newborns are preyed upon by bald eagles. Sea otters are positively impacting the kelp forests as the otters protect the kelp forests from excessive grazing by the sea otters’ prey.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller's sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Sea otter skull-2.jpg
  • A silhouetted kayaker glides across the calm waters surrounding the Beardslee Islands on a foggy day in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. In the background is Eider Island<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller's sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Silhouetted kayaker.jpg
  • The scar from a December 2020 landslide in which two people were killed can be seen in this 2022 photo. Researchers from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, estimate that 187,000 cubic meters of material moved during the slide along Beach Road in Haines, Alaska. This is the equivalent of filling 48 dump trucks, each carrying 14 tons of debris, every day for an entire year.
    Beach Road landslide.jpg
  • In 2001, a 44-year-old pregnant whale was struck by and killed by a cruise ship in the waters of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. As part of a legal settlement with the cruise line, her skeleton was used to make one of the world’s largest humpback interpretive displays. The whale, given the name “Snow”, was 45.5 feet long and weighed 35 tons at the time of her death. Snow’s death contributed to research that helped settle the scientific question of how long humpbacks can live, now believed to be up to 96 years.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales, which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Whale skeleton exhibit,.jpg
  • The Forest Loop Trail passes by several ponds as it passes through the lush spruce and hemlock rainforest in Bartlett Cove of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. The easy 1.1-mile loop trail through the forest that sits on a glacial moraine is popular for birding, wildflowers, and other wildlife.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales, which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Forest Loop Trail pond.jpg
  • A kayaker kayaks past a small iceberg floating in the Muir Inlet of Glacier Bay National Park. This piece of glacial ice is technically not an iceberg due to its small size. The size category for an iceberg is huge, with the height of the ice must be greater than 16 feet above sea level, a thickness of 98-164 feet, with a coverage area greater than 5,382 square feet. Next size down is bergy bits (height less than 16 feet above sea level but greater than three feet), then growlers (less than three feet above sea level - the size of a truck or grand piano), and then brash ice.<br />
<br />
The piece of ice is from the retreating McBride Glacier. Recent research determined that there is 11% less glacial ice in Glacier Bay than in the 1950s. Still, even with the earth’s rapidly changing climate, Glacier Bay is home to a few stable glaciers due to heavy snowfall in the nearby Fairweather Mountains. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales, which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Kayaker and iceberg.jpg
  • The acorn barnacle (Balanus glandula) is one of the most common species of the barnacle found on the Pacific Coast, including these that were photographed in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in Alaska. Acorn barnacles are typically found in the upper intertidal zone attached to rocks, mussels, and pier pilings. Adult acorn barnacles are hermaphroditic (both male and female) but must mate with other individuals to reproduce.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park a popular destination for cruise ships is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Acorn barnacle.jpg
  • Fall colors are on display at Echo Bluff State Park in this view on the Painter Ridge Trail. In addition to hiking, the Painter Ridge Trail is also popular with mountain bikers with several mountain-bike-specific side trails containing curvy boardwalks and jumps. <br />
<br />
Sinking Creek which flows through Echo Bluff State Park is the second-largest tributary to the nearby Current River which is part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. <br />
<br />
Opening to the public in 2016 Echo Bluff is one of the state's newer parks. Echo Bluff State Park, located in Shannon County occupies the site of the former Camp Zoe. This summer camp for children operated for more than 85 years.<br />
<br />
Echo Bluff State Park is a popular hiking, mountain biking, floating, swimming, and fishing destination. A herd of wild horses can sometimes be seen in the area of the park. There are lodge rooms and full-service cabins available along with primitive to full-service campsites.
    Fall colors on Painter Ridge Trail.jpg
  • Little remains of the Tlingit village located in the area of the Chilkoot River now known as the Chilkoot River Corridor, between Chilkoot Lake and Lutak Inlet. In the 1860’s there were 30 houses on the west bank of the river, with additional houses on the east bank, near what is know known today as the Chilkoot Cultural Camp. Landslides and Western diseases took its toll on inhabitants. Only four tribal houses and nine smaller houses remained by 1895. <br />
<br />
In the 1950’s a road was constructed through the village to Chilkoot Lake. Today the area is known as the Chilkoot Lake State Recreation Area. <br />
<br />
This image is of a tombstone in a cemetery near the cultural camp. Today, forest keeps this tombstone and others like it in this cemetery hidden. Another cemetery near the entrance to the the corridor is more visible. In 1971, Tlingit people were outraged when the Alaska Department of Transportation bulldozed a roadway that unearthed remains. That work included the dynamiting of a scared site known as Deer Rock.
    Chilkoot River cemetery tombstone.jpg
  • Devil's club.jpg
  • Clouds swirl around unnamed mountain peaks near Sinclair Mountain in the Kakuhan Range bask in this view seen from Picture Point in Haines, Alaska.
    Clouds and Kakuhan Range mountain pe...jpg
  • A fishing boat slowly makes its way through the fog in Auke Bay near Juneau, Alaska.
    Fishing boat in fog.jpg
  • The conflict over putting in a hard-rock mine near the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve near Haines, Alaska took a new turn recently with the filing of a lawsuit by an Alaska Native Tlingit tribe and three environmental groups. The group is suing the Bureau of Land Management, saying that the agency granted mineral exploration permits without considering how a mine could affect the Chilkat River's salmon and the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve.<br />
<br />
Constantine Metal Resources and investment partner Dowa Metals & Mining Co., Ltd. of Japan are exploring a potential site for a mine on the steep mountain slopes pictured above Glacier Creek. This area is known as the Palmer Deposit.<br />
<br />
Joining the Tlingit village of Klukwan in the lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management are the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, Lynn Canal Conservation and Rivers Without Borders. They are represented by Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law firm. The group is asking for mining permits to be revoked.<br />
<br />
In August 2015, Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. of Vancouver, British Columbia submitted a plan with the BLM to extend their existing access road by 2.5 miles including a switchback road leading to a staging area at the 800 ft. level on the side of the 1,700 ft. mountainside (left). A proposed bridge crossing Glacier Creek would be located in the shadow area in the lower center of the photo with a switchback road leading from the Glacier Creek to the staging area for helicopter and ground-supported activities on the left. The road would also provide access for up to 40 new exploration drill sites. Pictured in the background is the Klehini River. A map showing exactly how this road would appear can be found here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/projects/nepa/54990/65845/71485/Figure_6.4_accessible.pdf<br />
<br />
The group suing is concerned that copper and other heavy metals in mine waste might leech into the nearby Klehini River and the Chilkat River, 14 miles down
    Constantine Palmer Deposit aerial -3.jpg
  • The Saksaia Glacier sits at the top of the Glacier Creek valley near the location of the potential mine site being explored by Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. of Vancouver, British Columbia along with investment partner Dowa Metals & Mining Co., Ltd. of Japan. The area of exploration, known as the Palmer Deposit is located near mile 40 of the Haines Highway and the Porcupine placer gold mining area near Haines, Alaska.<br />
<br />
The minerals that Constantine’s drilling explorations have found are primarily copper and zinc, with significant amounts of gold and silver. Exploratory drilling to refine the location and mineral amounts are the current focus of the company.<br />
<br />
If approved and developed, the mine would be an underground mine. Besides the actual ore deposits, having the nearby highway access for transporting ore to the deepwater port at Haines is also attractive to Constantine.<br />
<br />
Support for a large scale mine such as the Constantine project is divided among residents of Haines, a small community in Southeast Alaska 75 miles northwest of Juneau. The community’s needed economic boost from jobs, development and other mine support that a large-scale mine brings is tempting to some. To others, anything that might put the salmon spawning and rearing habitat and watershed resources at risk is simply unimaginable and unacceptable. Of particular concern is copper and other heavy metals in mine waste leaching into the Klehini and Chilkat River. Copper and heavy metals are toxic to salmon and bald eagles.<br />
<br />
The Chilkat River chum salmon are the primary food source for one of the largest gatherings of bald eagles in the world. Each fall, bald eagles congregate in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, located only three miles downriver from the area of current exploration. At times more than 3,000 eagles have been recorded at the primary gathering area for the fall chum salmon run.
    Saksaia Glacier 3.jpg
  • The daily tour boat, Baranof Wind, picks up an unidentified kayaker on the beach at Sebree Island in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in southeast Alaska. The Baranof Wind drops off and picks up wilderness kayakers at several set locations in the park.
    Sebree Island pickup 1.jpg
  • A kayaker examines an iceberg from the McBride Glacier on a Muir Inlet beach near Van Horn Ridge in Glacier National Park and Preserve in southeast Alaska.
    Kayaker with McBride Glacier iceberg...jpg
  • Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) relax at their haul-out on South Marble Island in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Large male sea lions will compete to mate with females at outer coast locations in the park, with the unsuccessful or immature bulls gathering at haul-out areas like South Marble Island.<br />
<br />
South Marble Island is also known for its colonies of nesting birds, including tufted puffin, pelagic cormorant, black-legged kittiwake, pigeon guillemot, and common murre.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
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The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Steller sea lions.jpg
  • The skull of a sea otter (Enhydra lutris) lies in the moss of an unnamed island in the Beardslee Islands of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Sea otters, a keystone species of the North Pacific, were almost entirely eliminated by commercial fur hunters in the early 1900s. While they received wildlife protection in 1911, it wasn’t until the early 1990s that sea otters were observed to inhabit Glacier Bay for the first time. As the most abundant marine mammal in Glacier Bay, current estimates put the number of sea otters at 8,000. While orcas are the primary predator of adult sea otters, newborns are preyed upon by bald eagles. Sea otters are positively impacting the kelp forests as the otters protect the kelp forests from excessive grazing by the sea otters’ prey.<br />
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Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller's sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Sea otter skull.jpg
  • This abandoned building sits in the rainforest at the site of a historic fox farm on an unnamed island in the Beardslee Islands in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Several significantly damaged small cabin-like buildings are all that remain of the operation. Fox farming in Southeast Alaska began in the early 1900s with the introduction of Russian arctic foxes, which were prized for their snow-white fur. The Great Depression caused most of the fox farms to cease operations. The National Park Service reminds visitors not to take or move historical objects, and that weather-damaged structures like those found at this site should not be entered due to the likelihood of imminent collapse.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller's sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Fox farm building.jpg
  • A Canada goose (Branta canadensis) flaps its wings to dry after rolling in the waters of Lake Springfield in Springfield, Missouri. Canada geese will roll in water, then flatly bang their wings on the water, then finish by waving the wings back and forth to dry, with a good ruffling of feathers for good measure.<br />
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Canada geese are particularly fastidious about keeping their feathers clean and dry, pulling dirt and water off each feather using the ridges on their mandibles. A good shake and ruffling of their feathers will get them dry. That is followed by oiling their feathers with their bill with oil from the base of their tail. The oil keeps the feathers insulated, dry, and free of parasites.
    Canada goose bathing-5.jpg
  • A Canada goose (Branta canadensis) flaps its wings to dry after rolling in the waters of Lake Springfield in Springfield, Missouri. Canada geese will roll in water, then flatly bang their wings on the water, then finish by waving the wings back and forth to dry, with a good ruffling of feathers for good measure.<br />
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Canada geese are particularly fastidious about keeping their feathers clean and dry, pulling dirt and water off each feather using the ridges on their mandibles. A good shake and ruffling of their feathers will get them dry. That is followed by oiling their feathers with their bill with oil from the base of their tail. The oil keeps the feathers insulated, dry, and free of parasites.
    Canada goose bathing.jpg
  • Fall colors are on display at Echo Bluff State Park in this view on the Painter Ridge Trail. In addition to hiking, the Painter Ridge Trail is also popular with mountain bikers with several mountain-bike-specific side trails containing curvy boardwalks and jumps. <br />
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Sinking Creek which flows through Echo Bluff State Park is the second-largest tributary to the nearby Current River which is part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. <br />
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Opening to the public in 2016 Echo Bluff is one of the state's newer parks. Echo Bluff State Park, located in Shannon County occupies the site of the former Camp Zoe. This summer camp for children operated for more than 85 years.<br />
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Echo Bluff State Park is a popular hiking, mountain biking, floating, swimming, and fishing destination. A herd of wild horses can sometimes be seen in the area of the park. There are lodge rooms and full-service cabins available along with primitive to full-service campsites.
    Fall colors on Painter Ridge Trail-2.jpg
  • Boulders from a landslide sprawl across a glacier that descends from Coleman Peak in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. This glacier eventually joins the McBride Glacier.<br />
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Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. Known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall costal mountains, the park is also an important marine wilderness area. The park a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller's sea lions and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Landslide near Coleman Peak.jpg
  • A glacier descends from Coleman Peak in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve to eventually join the McBride Glacier. Note the landslide in upper reaches of the glaicer.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. Known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall costal mountains, the park is also an important marine wilderness area. The park a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller's sea lions and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Glacier near Coleman Peak.jpg
  • Haines Brewing Company owners Paul Wheeler and Jeanne Kitayama recently moved their tasking room to Main St. (pictured) in Haines, Alaska. Their craft beers are revered by southeast Alaska locals and tourists alike.
    Haines Brewing Company.jpg
  • The 19-mile long Fairweather Glacier flows past the Lituya Mountain (left) in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. Known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall costal mountains, the park is also an important marine wilderness area. The park a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller's sea lions and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Fairweather Glacier.jpg
  • Two large glaciers come together to form the main flow of the McBride Glacier in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. The dark lines of rock debris are called medial moraines. A medial moraine is formed when two glaciers meet and the debris on the edges of the adjacent valley sides join and are carried on top of the glacier. <br />
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The McBride Glacier, the most active glacier and only tidewater glacier in the Muir Inlet, is retreating.<br />
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Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. Known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall costal mountains, the park is also an important marine wilderness area. The park a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller's sea lions and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Medial moraines, McBride Glacier.jpg
  • A 4,000-foot-high mountainside released approximately 120 million metric tons of rock in 60 seconds during a landslide onto the Lamplugh Glacier in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. In an interview with the Anchorage Dispatch News, geophysicist Colin Stark of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, described the slide as “exceptionally large.” He compared the massive landslide to roughly 60 million medium SUVs tumbling down a mountainside.<br />
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The slide occurred on the morning of June 28  in a remote area of Glacier Bay National Park in southeast Alaska. It was first observed by Paul Swanstrom, pilot and owner of Haines-based Mountain Flying Service. Swanstrom noticed a huge cloud of dust over the Lamplugh Glacier during a flightseeing tour of Glacier Bay National Park several hours after the slide occurred. Swanstrom estimates the debris field to be 6.5 miles long, and one to two miles in width.<br />
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This aerial photo of the Lamplugh Glacier landslide was taken two days after the landslide.
    Lamplugh Glacier landslide-8.jpg
  • Male chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) make their way up the special spawning channel of Herman Creek to spawn with female chum salmon during the fall chum salmon run. The nonprofit Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association, Inc. (NSRAA) built the channel to collect wild broodstock by harvesting spawning female and male salmon for their eggs and milt. <br />
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These chum salmon are returning to freshwater Herman Creek near Haines, Alaska after three to five years in the saltwater ocean. Spawning only once, chum salmon die approximately two weeks after they spawn. Both sexes of adult chum salmon change colors and appearance upon returning to freshwater. Unlike male sockeye salmon which turn bright red for spawning, male chum salmon change color to an olive green with purple and green vertical stripes. These vertical stripes are not as noticeable in females, who also have a dark horizontal band. Both male and female chum salmon develop hooked snout (type) and large canine teeth. These features in female salmon are less pronounced. <br />
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Herman Creek is a tributary of the Klehini River and is only 10 miles downstream of the area currently being explored as a potential site of a copper and zinc mine. The exploration is being conducted by Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. of Vancouver, British Columbia along with investment partner Dowa Metals & Mining Co., Ltd. of Japan. Some local residents and environmental groups are concerned that a mine might threaten the area’s salmon. Of particular concern is copper and other heavy metals, found in mine waste, leaching into the Klehini River and the Chilkat River further downstream. Copper and heavy metals are toxic to salmon and bald eagles.<br />
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Chilkat River and Klehini River chum salmon are the primary food source for one of the largest gatherings of bald eagles in the world. Each fall, bald eagles congregate in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, located only three miles downriver from the area of current exploration.
    Chum salmon -3.jpg
  • Workmen install the metal roof of the fire tower of the fire hall located on the grounds of the former Fort William H. Seward in Haines, Alaska.<br />
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After being absent from the historic Fort Seward skyline since approximately the 1930s, the 60-foot tower of the fort’s fire hall has been restored to its original height. The building and tower, built around 1904 in Haines, Alaska, was shortened to approximately half its height in the 1930s for unknown reasons. The restoration included rebuilding a missing 35-foot section of the 60-foot tower whose purpose was to dry fire hoses. The tower restoration was completed by building its four sections on the ground and then hoisting those sections with a crane into place on top of each other.<br />
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Through the years, the historic Fort Seward area, a former U.S. Army post, has been referred to as Fort William H. Seward, Chilkoot Barracks, and Port Chilkoot. The National Historic Landmarks listing record for the fort says that "Fort Seward was the last of 11 military posts established in Alaska during the territory's gold rushes between 1897 and 1904. Founded for the purpose of preserving law and order among the gold seekers, the fort also provided a U.S. military presence in Alaska during boundary disputes with Canada. The only active military post in Alaska between 1925 and 1940, the fort was closed at the end of World War II.” <br />
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The bottom portion of the fire hall is being leased as commercial space. Due to fire code restrictions there is no public access to the upper portion of the tower. <br />
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The fire hall was restored over a two-year period by owners Joanne Waterman and Phyllis Sage who also own the fort’s original guardhouse located next door to the fire hall (right). That building, now known as the Alaska Guardhouse, is a bed and breakfast.
    Fort Seward fire hall-8.jpg
  • Fall colors and a scenic view of Mt. Emmerich greet visitors to Haines, Alaska. Haines is a cruise ship destination on the Lynn Canal in southeast Alaska. The Haines Highway provides road access to the continental highway system. The photograph was taken at Picture Point on AK-7 (Lutak Road).<br />
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Haines, Alaska, a picturesque town in southeast Alaska, is located on the Lynn Canal between the towns of Skagway and Juneau. Haines is one of the few towns in southeast Alaska that is connected with the North American highway system. The Haines Highway (Alaska Route 7 or AK-7) travels through British Columbia and the Yukon (Yukon Highway 3) to connect with the Alaska Highway in Haines Junction, Yukon.<br />
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Haines is also a stop on the Alaska Marine Highway System with ferries arriving from Skagway and Juneau.<br />
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Wildlife viewing opportunities are abundant. The Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve on the Chilkat River, near the confluence with the Tsirku River near Klukwan, is famous for its large concentration of bald eagles in the fall. At its peak in November, the American Bald Eagle Foundation sponsors the Alaska Bald Eagle Festival.
    Haines and Mt. Emmerich in fall.jpg
  • Fishing boats slowly make their way through the fog in Auke Bay near Juneau, Alaska.
    Fishing boats in fog.jpg
  • Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. of Vancouver, British Columbia along with investment partner Dowa Metals & Mining Co., Ltd. of Japan is exploring a potential site for a mine on the steep mountain slopes shown in this photo. This area above Glacier Greek known as the Palmer Deposit, is located near mile 40 of the Haines Highway.<br />
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The minerals that Constantine’s drilling explorations have found are primarily copper and zinc, with significant amounts of gold and silver. Exploratory drilling to refine the location and mineral amounts are the current focus of the company.<br />
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If approved and developed, the mine, near Haines, Alaska would be an underground mine. Besides the actual ore deposits, having the nearby highway access for transporting ore to the deepwater port at Haines is also attractive to Constantine. The Haines Highway can be seen in photo on the right.<br />
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Support for a large scale mine such as the Constantine project is divided among residents of Haines, a small community in Southeast Alaska 75 miles northwest of Juneau. The community’s needed economic boost from jobs, development and other mine support that a large-scale mine brings is tempting to some. To others, anything that might put the salmon spawning and rearing habitat and watershed resources at risk is simply unimaginable and unacceptable. Of particular concern is copper and other heavy metals in mine waste leaching into the Klehini River and the Chilkat River 14 miles downstream. Copper and heavy metals are toxic to salmon and bald eagles.<br />
<br />
The Chilkat River chum salmon are the primary food source for one of the largest gatherings of bald eagles in the world. Each fall, bald eagles congregate in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, located only three miles downriver from the area of current exploration.
    Constantine Palmer Deposit aerial -5.jpg
  • This aerial photograph of a portion of the "Council Grounds" is the primary area where bald eagles gather on the Chilkat River in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve near Haines, Alaska. Bald eagles come to the alluvial delta area at the confluence of the Tsirku (center) and Chilkat (upper left to right) Rivers because of the availability of spawned-out salmon and open waters in late fall and early winter. The open water is due to a deep accumulation of gravel and sand that acts as a large water reservoir whose water temperature remains 10 to 20 degrees warmer than the surrounding water temperature. This warmer water seeps into the Chilkat River, keeping a five mile stretch of the river from freezing. Photographers come to the Chilkat River in November and December to photograph one of the largest gatherings of bald eagles in the world. In 1982, the 48,000 acre area was designated as the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. In the background are the mountains that make of the Takshanuk Mountains. Chilkat Lake is pictured in the foreground. River on the left above the Tsirku River is the Klehini River which joins the Chilkat River right before the Tsirku River alluvial fan. Also pictured is Klutshah Mountain (top center), Iron Mountain and the village of Klukwan (in front of the left side of the alluvial fan).
    Tsirku River alluvial fan with Chilk...jpg
  • The conflict over putting in a hard-rock mine near the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve near Haines, Alaska took a new turn recently with the filing of a lawsuit by an Alaska Native Tlingit tribe and three environmental groups. The group is suing the Bureau of Land Management, saying that the agency granted mineral exploration permits without considering how a mine could affect the Chilkat River's salmon and the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve.<br />
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Constantine Metal Resources and investment partner Dowa Metals & Mining Co., Ltd. of Japan are exploring a potential site for a mine on the steep mountain slopes pictured above Glacier Creek. This area is known as the Palmer Deposit.<br />
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Joining the Tlingit village of Klukwan in the lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management are the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, Lynn Canal Conservation and Rivers Without Borders. They are represented by Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law firm. The group is asking for mining permits to be revoked.<br />
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In August 2015, Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. of Vancouver, British Columbia submitted a plan with the BLM to extend their existing access road by 2.5 miles including a switchback road leading to a staging area at the 800 ft. level on the side of the 1,700 ft. mountainside. A proposed bridge crossing Glacier Creek would be located in the shadow area in the lower center of the photo with a switchback road leading from the Glacier Creek to the staging area for helicopter and ground-supported activities on the left. The road would also provide access for up to 40 new exploration drill sites. Pictured in the background is the Klehini River. A map showing exactly how this road would appear can be found here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/projects/nepa/54990/65845/71485/Figure_6.4_accessible.pdf<br />
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The group suing is concerned that copper and other heavy metals in mine waste might leech into the nearby Klehini River and the Chilkat River, 14 miles downstream.
    Constantine Palmer Deposit aerial -2.jpg
  • The conflict over putting in a hard-rock mine near the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve near Haines, Alaska took a new turn recently with the filing of a lawsuit by an Alaska Native Tlingit tribe and three environmental groups. The group is suing the Bureau of Land Management, saying that the agency granted mineral exploration permits without considering how a mine could affect the Chilkat River's salmon and the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. <br />
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Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. of Vancouver, British Columbia along with investment partner Dowa Metals & Mining Co., Ltd. of Japan is exploring a potential site for a mine (located on the upper left side of image) just above Glacier Creek (foreground) and the Klehini River (right side of image). The border with British Columbia is at the upper right. The area above Glacier Greek, known as the Palmer Deposit is located near mile 40 of the Haines Highway.<br />
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The minerals that Constantine’s drilling explorations have found are primarily copper and zinc, with significant amounts of gold and silver.<br />
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Support for a large scale mine such as the Constantine project is divided among residents of Haines, a small community in Southeast Alaska 75 miles northwest of Juneau. The community’s needed economic boost from jobs, development and other mine support that a large-scale mine brings is tempting to some. To others, anything that might put the salmon spawning and rearing habitat and watershed resources at risk is simply unimaginable and unacceptable. Of particular concern is copper and other heavy metals in mine waste leaching into the Klehini River (shown) and the Chilkat River 14 miles downstream. Copper and heavy metals are toxic to salmon and bald eagles.<br />
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The Chilkat River chum salmon are the primary food source for one of the largest gatherings of bald eagles in the world. Each fall, bald eagles congregate in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, located only three miles downriver from the area of current exploration
    Constantine Palmer Deposit aerial.jpg
  • Among the concerns related to the proposed Juneau Access Improvements Project is the Steller sea lion haulout at Gran Point (pictured). The haulout at Gran Point is a designated Steller sea lion Critical Habitat Area. According to the Alaska Department of Transportation’s 2014 Juneau Access Improvements Project: Draft Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement, more than one hundred Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) have been counted at the haulout during the spring and fall. As currently proposed the proposed highway would be built just uphill from the haulout area, approximately 100 to 600 feet horizontally and 50 to 100 feet vertically.<br />
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Highway plans near the haulout includes blasting steep rock-cut embankments and several tunnels with one tunnel entrance only 550 feet away from the haulout. There is concern for haulout abandonment by the sea lions during highway construction as studies have shown Steller sea lions are very sensitive to noise, both in and out of water. Because Steller sea lions frequent Gran Point nearly year round, the use of explosives and helicopters will be challenging during construction.<br />
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There are two distinct populations of Steller sea lions in Alaska. The majority of Stellar sea lions that frequent the Lynn Canal are part of the eastern population of Steller sea lions which are not listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act; unlike the western population of Steller sea lions which are listed as endangered. That said however, there have been confirmed sightings of the western population Steller sea lions at Gran Point.<br />
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The Juneau Access Improvements Project is a proposed $570-million highway project to extend Glacier Highway out of Juneau for closer road access to the southeast Alaska towns of Haines and Skagway. Juneau’s roads do not connect with the continental road network.<br />
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Editors note: This is a cropped version of image# I00007z0NNeMhXeA
    Steller sea lions -6c.jpg
  • A spectacular display of the Aurora Borealis or as it is commonly called, the northern lights, occurred the evening of November 8 through the early morning of November 9, 2013 over Sinclair Mountain and other mountains in the Kakuhan Range at Haines, Alaska. The luminous glow in the upper atmosphere stretched across the skies above the Lynn Canal from Skagway to Juneau. The bottom edge of an aurora is typically 60 miles high with the top edge at an altitude of 120 to 200 miles, though sometimes high altitude aurora can be as high as 350 miles. The collision of sun storm electrons and protons with different types of gas particles in Earth’s atmosphere cause the different colors. Green, the most common color, is caused by the collision of electrons with atoms of with atomic oxygen.
    Aurora Borealis over Haines, Alaska-...jpg
  • A spectacular display of the Aurora Borealis or as it is commonly called, the northern lights, occurred the evening of November 8 through the early morning of November 9, 2013 over Haines, Alaska. The luminous glow in the upper atmosphere stretched across the skies above the Lynn Canal from Skagway to Juneau. The bottom edge of an aurora is typically 60 miles high with the top edge at an altitude of 120 to 200 miles, though sometimes high altitude aurora can be as high as 350 miles. The collision of sun storm electrons and protons with different types of gas particles in Earth’s atmosphere cause the different colors. Green, the most common color, is caused by the collision of electrons with atoms of with atomic oxygen.
    Aurora Borealis over Haines, Alaska.jpg
  • Scott Clem, a student from Auburn University, fishes for salmon at sunset on the Chilkoot River outlet from Chilkoot Lake near Haines, Alaska. The river offers some of the best salmon fishing in Southeast Alaska, with four salmon runs, starting in mid-June and ending in mid-October. The area is part of the Chilkoot Lake State Recreational Site located at the head of the Lutak Inlet in the Lynn Canal. It is managed by Alaska State Parks. In the upper reaches of the Chilkoot River Valley (not pictured) Alaska Power and Telephone Company (AP&T) proposes to dam the outlet of Connelly Lake, a high alpine lake above the Chilkoot River, for a hydroelectric project. Water from Connelly Lake would be delivered down the mountain to a powerhouse near the Chilkoot River into which the lake water would be discharged. Environmental concerns include the impact construction and project operation would have on fish spawning and rearing habitat (water turbidity issues), and bald eagles. Some of the main features of the proposed Connelly Lake project would be located in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve and the Haines State Forest. The Connelly Lake Hydro Aquatic Studies Report for 2012 prepared by the Shipley Group for AP&T states that according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, 41 percent of the sockeye salmon in the upper Lynn Canal come from the Chilkoot River with 25 percent of those salmon spawning in the Chilkoot River drainage above Chilkoot Lake. The value of the fishery is estimated at more than $1,000,000 annually. AP&T wants to build the project to replace the undersea cable that supplies Haines with electricity from Skagway.
    Chilkoot River fisherman at sunset 2.jpg
  • A group of kayakers paddle pass the glacier-scoured base of Mount Brock on Muir Inlet near the Riggs Glacier in Glacier National Park and Reserve in southeast Alaska.
    Rigg Glacier kayakers.jpg
  • A kayaker checks their kayak at their wilderness campsite on Young Island in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve located in the Beardslee Islands of the park in southeast Alaska. In the background is the Sitakaday Narrows of the main bay of the park.
    Young Island camp.jpg
  • A kiteboarder uses his kite to surf the Chilkat Inlet near Haines, Alaska.
    Kiteboarder.jpg
  • Passengers on the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry M/V LeConte enjoy the solarium on the top deck of the ship as it travels in the Icy Strait near Hoonah, Alaska. The Alaska Marine Highway System ships are a vital mode of transportation for residents and tourists in southeast Alaska.
    LeConte top deck passengers.jpg
  • Mount Golub, a 4194 foot peak in the Chilkat Range as seen from the Favorite Channel near Juneau, Alaska.
    Mount Golub.jpg
  • A humpback whales blows out air as it breathes in Favorite Channel near Juneau in southeast Alaska. The "blow" or spray is partially caused by water resting on top of the whale's blowholes (nostrils). A humpback whale has two blow holes, whereas some other species of whales only have one.
    Humpback whale blows.jpg
  • Eagle Glacier looms over the light station (lighthouse) at Point Retreat, near Juneau, Alaska.
    Eagle Glacier.jpg
  • The conflict over putting in a hard-rock mine near the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve near Haines, Alaska took a new turn recently with the filing of an appeal on November 3, 2022, by an Alaska Native Tlingit tribe and five environmental groups. The group’s appeal is to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation regarding the waste management permit for the Palmer Project’s exploration project in the watershed of the Chilkat River.<br />
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The Palmer Project plan calls for contaminated wastewater to be discharged near Glacier Creek (pictured), a tributary of the Chilkat River. The pictured mountainside is the proposed site of a mile-long exploration tunnel. Environmental groups fear that the tunnel would intercept groundwater contaminated by blasting activities and drain into the headwaters of Glacier Creek.<br />
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The appeal was filed by Earthjustice, which is representing the Chilkat Indian Village of Klukwan, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, the Takshanuk Watershed Council, Lynn Canal Conservation, Audubon, and Rivers Without Borders.<br />
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Recently, shareholders of Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. of Vancouver, British Columbia approved the company’s acquisition by American Pacific Mining of British Columbia. Under the acquisition, American Pacific Mining would own 45% of the project, and investment partner Dowa Metals & Mining Co., Ltd. of Japan owning the majority. <br />
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Support for a large-scale mine such as the Palmer project is divided among residents of Haines, a small community in Southeast Alaska 75 miles northwest of Juneau. The community’s needed economic boost from jobs, development, and other mine support that a large-scale mine brings is tempting to some. To others, anything that might put the salmon spawning and rearing habitat and watershed resources at risk is simply unimaginable and unacceptable. Of particular concern is copper and other heavy metals in mine waste leaching into the Klehini River and the Chilkat River 14 miles downstream. Co
    Glaicer Creek.jpg
  • Common horsetail (Equisetum arvense) along the Chilkoot Indian Association Trail in Haines, Alaska. Common horsetail is a fern. Moose, caribou, sheep and bears eat this plant.
    Common horsetail.jpg
  • Unnamed peaks (left) in the Tongass National Forest rise above Yeldagalga Creek next to the edge of Sinclair Mountain (right) as seen from the Lynn Canal near Haines, Alaska.
    Peaks next to Sinclair Mountain.jpg
  • Panorama of Haines, Alaska townsite area (center), including the Lynn Canal (right), Mount Villard (right). Mount Ripinski (center) and the Chilkat River (left). EDITOR’S NOTE: The image is a panoramic composite made up of several overlapping images.
    Haines, Lynn Canal panorama.jpg
  • The main bay of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is vast, stretching 69 miles from its mouth to the furthest extent. It is hard to imagine that the area pictured (a small portion of the bay) was a single large glacier of solid ice only a little over 200 years ago. In the mid-1700s, this view (and quite a bit beyond) would have been covered by a glacier nearly a mile in thickness. Since then, the massive glacier that filled the bay has retreated 69 miles to the heads of various inlets. <br />
<br />
Recent research determined that there is 11% less glacial ice in Glacier Bay  than in the 1950s. Still, even with the earth’s rapidly changing climate, Glacier Bay is home to a few stable glaciers due to heavy snowfall in the nearby Fairweather Mountains. <br />
<br />
The pictured view is of the Beartrack Mountains looking from Tlingit Point on the left to North Marble Island and South Marble Island on the far right.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales, which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.<br />
<br />
EDITOR’S NOTE: The image is a panoramic composite of several overlapping images.
    Beartrack Mountains panorama.jpg
  • Boats take advantage of calm waters to anchor in Bartlett Cove. The Bartlett Cove Public Use Dock is the primary entry and launch point for vessels to Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Boaters should refer to the park’s website for specific rules and regulations for operating a vessel in Glacier Bay National Park.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales, which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Bartlett Cover anchorage.jpg
  • The Tribal House (Xunaa Shuká Hít) on the shores of Bartlett Cover in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve was completed in 2015. It is an example of the traditional architectural style of Tlingit ancestral clan houses. Glacier Bay was the traditional home of the Huna Tlingit until the 1700s, when a rapidly advancing glacier pushed them out of the bay. The tribal house project was built as a collaboration between the Huna Tlingit and National Park Service. The tribal house is not only used to tell visitors the story of the Huna Tlingit but it is also used a place for tribal members to reconnect with their homeland and to pass on their traditional and ancestral knowledge to clan members.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales, which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Tribal House.jpg
  • The “Healing Pole” (Yaa Naa Néx Kootéeyaa) tells the history of the relationship of the Huna Tlingit and the National Park Service, which was fraught with hurt and misunderstanding. Glacier Bay is the traditional home of the Huna Tlingit until the 1700s when a rapidly advancing glacier tragically pushed them out of the bay.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales, which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Healing Pole.jpg
  • A grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) walks past a camper’s tent on a beach near Tlingit Point in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Grizzly bears can be found in every part of Glacier Bay. It is common to see bear activity of bears along the park’s 1,100 miles of coastline. Bear-resistant food canisters (BFRC) are required to store food for backcountry campers. The use of BRFCs has greatly reduced human-bear incidents in the park. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales, which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Grizzly bear walks past tent.jpg
  • Good navigation skills are a must when kayaking in Glacier Bay National Park.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales, which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Map with kayak.jpg
  • Unidentified fern and moss growing on the floor of the temperate rainforest along Muir Inlet in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales, which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Fern and moss.jpg
  • A flock of surf scoters in the East Arm of Glacier Bay in Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska float on the ocean. In the background are  Point George, Mount Case, and Mount Wright.<br />
<br />
According to the Cornell Ornithology Lab, “surf scoters are “molt migrants,” meaning that after nesting, adults fly to an area where they can molt their flight feathers. They briefly become flightless before continuing to their wintering range, and molting areas provide some protection from weather and predators." These spots include the sheltered waters of Southeast Alaska.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller's sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Surf scoters.jpg
  • A sea otter (Enhydra lutris) floats on its back in the Sitakaday Narrows of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Sea otters, a keystone species of the North Pacific, were almost entirely eliminated by commercial fur hunters in the early 1900s. While they received wildlife protection in 1911, it wasn’t until the early 1990s that sea otters were observed to inhabit Glacier Bay for the first time. As the most abundant marine mammal in Glacier Bay, current estimates put the number of sea otters at 8,000. While orcas are the primary predator of adult sea otters, newborns are preyed upon by bald eagles. Sea otters are positively impacting the kelp forests as the otters protect the kelp forests from excessive grazing by the sea otters’ prey.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller's sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Sea otter.jpg
  • This abandoned cabin sits in the rainforest at the site of a historic fox farm on an unnamed island in the Beardslee Islands in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Several significantly damaged small cabin-like buildings are all that remain of the operation. Fox farming in Southeast Alaska began in the early 1900s with the introduction of Russian arctic foxes, which were prized for their snow-white fur. The Great Depression caused most of the fox farms to cease operations. The National Park Service reminds visitors not to take or move historical objects, and that weather-damaged structures like those found at this site should not be entered due to the likelihood of imminent collapse.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller's sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Fox farm cabin-5.jpg
  • This abandoned cabin sits in the rainforest at the site of a historic fox farm on an unnamed island in the Beardslee Islands in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Several significantly damaged small cabin-like buildings are all that remain of the operation. Fox farming in Southeast Alaska began in the early 1900s with the introduction of Russian arctic foxes, which were prized for their snow-white fur. The Great Depression caused most of the fox farms to cease operations. The National Park Service reminds visitors not to take or move historical objects, and that weather-damaged structures like those found at this site should not be entered due to the likelihood of imminent collapse.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller's sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Fox farm cabin-3.jpg
  • A kayaker silently glides across the calm waters surrounding the Beardslee Islands on a foggy day in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park a popular destination for cruise ships is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Kayaker in fog.jpg
  • Campers in the Glacier Bay National Park backcountry are encouraged to cook and eat in the intertidal zone at least 100 yards from their tent and food storage area. In addition, food and other scented items should be stored in a bear-resistant food container (BRFC).<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park a popular destination for cruise ships is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Intertidal zone cooking.jpg
  • Devil’s club (Oplopanax horridus) is the bane of hikers due to its needle-like prickly stems. Known to Tlingit as S’áxt’, the plant can be seen along the Forest Trail in the Bartlett Cove area of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. The plant, a member of the ginseng family, has many medical and herbal uses by the Tlingit. In the autumn, devil’s club berries are a favorite of bears and thrushes.<br />
<br />
The Forest Loop Trail passes through the lush spruce and hemlock rainforest in Bartlett Cove. The easy 1.1-mile loop trail through the forest that sits on a glacial moraine is popular for birding, wildflowers, and other wildlife.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. The park is also an important marine wilderness area known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall coastal mountains. The park, a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales, which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Devil's Club.jpg
  • A Canada goose (Branta canadensis) ruffles its feathers to help dry them after rolling in the waters of Lake Springfield in Springfield, Missouri. Canada geese will roll in water, then flatly bang their wings on the water, then finish by waving the wings back and forth to dry, with a good ruffling of feathers for good measure.<br />
<br />
Canada geese are particularly fastidious about keeping their feathers clean and dry, pulling dirt and water off each feather using the ridges on their mandibles. A good shake and ruffling of their feathers will get them dry. That is followed by oiling their feathers with their bill with oil from the base of their tail. The oil keeps the feathers insulated, dry, and free of parasites.
    Canada goose bathing-7.jpg
  • A Canada goose (Branta canadensis) flaps its wings to dry after rolling in the waters of Lake Springfield in Springfield, Missouri. Canada geese will roll in water, then flatly bang their wings on the water, then finish by waving the wings back and forth to dry, with a good ruffling of feathers for good measure.<br />
<br />
Canada geese are particularly fastidious about keeping their feathers clean and dry, pulling dirt and water off each feather using the ridges on their mandibles. A good shake and ruffling of their feathers will get them dry. That is followed by oiling their feathers with their bill with oil from the base of their tail. The oil keeps the feathers insulated, dry, and free of parasites.
    Canada goose bathing-6.jpg
  • A Canada goose (Branta canadensis) flaps its wings to dry after rolling in the waters of Lake Springfield in Springfield, Missouri. Canada geese will roll in water, then flatly bang their wings on the water, then finish by waving the wings back and forth to dry, with a good ruffling of feathers for good measure.<br />
<br />
Canada geese are particularly fastidious about keeping their feathers clean and dry, pulling dirt and water off each feather using the ridges on their mandibles. A good shake and ruffling of their feathers will get them dry. That is followed by oiling their feathers with their bill with oil from the base of their tail. The oil keeps the feathers insulated, dry, and free of parasites.
    Canada goose bathing-4.jpg
  • The conflict over putting in a hard-rock mine near the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve near Haines, Alaska took a new turn recently with the filing of an appeal on November 3, 2022, by an Alaska Native Tlingit tribe and five environmental groups. The group’s appeal is to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation regarding the waste management permit for the Palmer Project’s exploration project in the watershed of the Chilkat River.<br />
<br />
The Palmer Project plan calls for contaminated wastewater to be discharged near Glacier Creek (pictured), a tributary of the Chilkat River. The pictured mountainside is the proposed site of a mile-long exploration tunnel. Environmental groups fear that the tunnel would intercept groundwater contaminated by blasting activities and drain into the headwaters of Glacier Creek.<br />
<br />
The appeal was filed by Earthjustice, which is representing the Chilkat Indian Village of Klukwan, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, the Takshanuk Watershed Council, Lynn Canal Conservation, Audubon, and Rivers Without Borders.<br />
<br />
Recently, shareholders of Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. of Vancouver, British Columbia approved the company’s acquisition by American Pacific Mining of British Columbia. Under the acquisition, American Pacific Mining would own 45% of the project, and investment partner Dowa Metals & Mining Co., Ltd. of Japan owning the majority. <br />
<br />
Support for a large-scale mine such as the Palmer project is divided among residents of Haines, a small community in Southeast Alaska 75 miles northwest of Juneau. The community’s needed economic boost from jobs, development, and other mine support that a large-scale mine brings is tempting to some. To others, anything that might put the salmon spawning and rearing habitat and watershed resources at risk is simply unimaginable and unacceptable. Of particular concern is copper and other heavy metals in mine waste leaching into the Klehini River and the Chilkat River 14 miles downstream. Co
    Glaicer Creek.jpg
  • Christmas ferns poke through the forest leaf litter in Echo Bluff State Park on the Painter Ridge Trail. Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) is one of the most common ferns in Missouri forests. Its leaves are evergreen, and pioneers used it for making Christmas wreaths.<br />
<br />
In addition to hiking, the Painter Ridge Trail is also popular with mountain bikers with several mountain-bike-specific side trails containing curvy boardwalks and jumps. <br />
<br />
Sinking Creek which flows through Echo Bluff State Park is the second-largest tributary to the nearby Current River which is part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. <br />
<br />
Opening to the public in 2016 Echo Bluff is one of the state's newer parks. Echo Bluff State Park, located in Shannon County occupies the site of the former Camp Zoe. This summer camp for children operated for more than 85 years.<br />
<br />
Echo Bluff State Park is a popular hiking, mountain biking, floating, swimming, and fishing destination. A herd of wild horses can sometimes be seen in the area of the park. There are lodge rooms and full-service cabins available along with primitive to full-service campsites.
    Christmas fern.jpg
  • Fall colors are on display at Echo Bluff State Park in this view from the Painter Ridge Trail near the Bluff Top Pavilion. In addition to hiking, the Painter Ridge Trail is also popular with mountain bikers with several mountain-bike-specific side trails containing curvy boardwalks and jumps. <br />
<br />
Sinking Creek which flows through Echo Bluff State Park is the second-largest tributary to the nearby Current River which is part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. <br />
<br />
Opening to the public in 2016 Echo Bluff is one of the state's newer parks. Echo Bluff State Park, located in Shannon County occupies the site of the former Camp Zoe. This summer camp for children operated for more than 85 years.<br />
<br />
Echo Bluff State Park is a popular hiking, mountain biking, floating, swimming, and fishing destination. A herd of wild horses can sometimes be seen in the area of the park. There are lodge rooms and full-service cabins available along with primitive to full-service campsites.
    Fall leaves.jpg
  • Fall colors are on display at Echo Bluff State Park in this view from the Painter Ridge Trail near the Bluff Top Pavilion. The park’s namesake, Echo Bluff (upper right) overlooks Sinking Creek. Sinking Creek which flows through Echo Bluff State Park is the second-largest tributary to the nearby Current River which is part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. <br />
<br />
In addition to hiking, the Painter Ridge Trail is also popular with mountain bikers with several mountain-bike-specific side trails containing curvy boardwalks and jumps. <br />
<br />
Opening to the public in 2016 Echo Bluff is one of the state's newer parks. Echo Bluff State Park, located in Shannon County occupies the site of the former Camp Zoe. This summer camp for children operated for more than 85 years.<br />
<br />
Echo Bluff State Park is a popular hiking, mountain biking, floating, swimming, and fishing destination. A herd of wild horses can sometimes be seen in the area of the park. There are lodge rooms and full-service cabins available along with primitive to full-service campsites.
    Echo Bluff and Sinking Creek-2.jpg
  • A spectacular display of the Aurora Borealis or as it is commonly called, the northern lights, occurred the evening of November 8 through the early morning of November 9, 2013 over Sinclair Mountain and other mountains in the Kakuhan Range at Haines, Alaska. The luminous glow in the upper atmosphere stretched across the skies above the Lynn Canal from Skagway to Juneau. The bottom edge of an aurora is typically 60 miles high with the top edge at an altitude of 120 to 200 miles, though sometimes high altitude aurora can be as high as 350 miles. The collision of sun storm electrons and protons with different types of gas particles in Earth’s atmosphere cause the different colors. Green, the most common color, is caused by the collision of electrons with atoms of with atomic oxygen. *** EDITORS NOTE: Blue rocks are result of use of tungsten white balance at time of image capture. Boulders in foreground were lit with a flashlight during time exposure***
    Aurora Borealis over Haines, Alaska-...jpg
  • A meadow of tall fireweed booms in Brotherhood Bridge Park in Juneau, Alaska. In the background is the Mendenhall Glacier, one of the most accessible glaciers in southeast Alaska. Each year, 465,000 curise ship passengers visit the Mendenhall Glacier.
    Tall fireweed and Mendenhall Glacier.jpg
  • Mount Crillon (12,726 ft.) rises above the clouds near the Johns Hopkins Glacier in Glacier in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. Known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall costal mountains, the park is also an important marine wilderness area. The park a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller's sea lions and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Mount Crillion.jpg
  • Glaciers flow  into the Wachusett Inlet of the East Arm of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.  Peak at upper left is Mount Merriam. In the very distant upper right Mount Bertha, located in the Fairweather Range, can be seen.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. Known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall costal mountains, the park is also an important marine wilderness area. The park a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller's sea lions and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Mount Merriam.jpg
  • The brass ship's bell of the M/V LeConte is positioned at the bow of the ferry. The LeConte is a ferry in the Alaska Marine Highway system. It often travels the northern Lynn Canal route between Juneau, Haines and Skagway.
    LeConte ship's bell.jpg
  • The shadow of a DeHaviland DHC-2 Beaver travels perfectly down the runway at the Haines Airport in southeast Alaska. The plane, belonging to Haines-based Mountain Flying Service was taking off for a flightseeing tour to nearby Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.
    Shadow of plane taking off.jpg
  • This aerial view shows the last portion of the McBride Glacier before it meets the ocean in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. The McBride Glacier is the most active glacier and only tidewater glacier in the Muir Inlet, is retreating. Muir Inlet can be seen in the upper right of the photo.<br />
<br />
The dark line of rock debris is called called a medial moraine. A medial moraine is formed when two glaciers meet and the debris on the edges of the adjacent valley sides join and are carried on top of the glacier.<br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is located in southeast Alaska. Known for its spectacular tidewater glaciers, icefields, and tall costal mountains, the park is also an important marine wilderness area. The park a popular destination for cruise ships, is also known for its sea kayaking and wildlife viewing opportunities. <br />
<br />
Glacier Bay National Park is home to humpback whales which feed in the park's protected waters during the summer, both black and grizzly bears, moose, wolves, sea otters, harbor seals, steller's sea lions and numerous species of sea birds. <br />
<br />
The dynamically changing park, known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, is a United Nations biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    Medial moraine, McBride Glacier.jpg
  • Nun Mountain, located in the Chilkat Range basked in the light of the sunset as seen from the Lynn Canal near Juneau, Alaska.
    Nun Mountain sunset.jpg
  • An unnamed peak in Chilkat Range near Juneau is basked in the light of the sunset as seen from the Lynn Canal near Juneau, Alaska.
    Chilkat Range peak at sunset.jpg
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