Historical Background of Denali National park

Alaska in the United States of America is home to Denali National Park. It was founded in the beginning of the 20th century. Due to the presence of the tallest mountain in northern America, it was first known as Mt. McKinley National Park. It rises to a height of about 20,000 feet. The national park had a smaller initial footprint until it was enlarged and given a new name in 1980. Currently, it covers an area of sixty million acres in Alaska’s interior (Heacox, 2016). In 1902 a United States Geologist called Alfred Brooks explored the area of mapping Expedition. In 1903 a team of five members attempted to climb Mt McKinley managing 10,000. In 1906 Dr. Cook claimed to have reached the peak of the mountain in just 8 days. This was however received with a lot of skepticism (Heacox, 2016). In the year 1907, a hunter and conservationist by the name Charles Sheldon was attracted to Denali by the mountain’s white Dall sheep. He witnessed the taking of over 2000 Dall sheep from Denali by commercial hunters. Sheldon, despite being a hunter realized that such hunting would negatively affect the ecosystem. He returned to Washington, D. C. and petitioned the Congress to protect the forest and its ecosystem by establishing it as Mt McKinley National park (Heacox, 2016). Early 1917, President Wilson signed into law a bill that recognized it as a 2 million acre wildlife preserve. In 1957, the Alaska Legislature renamed it from Mt McKinley to Denali National park and later in 1980 Congress tripled its size to the current 9492 square miles (Heacox, 2016).

Denali’s Uniqueness and Interesting Facts

Denali is one of the best wonderlands to visit and experience the beauty and attractions of Nature. It is too large of a wilderness that it exceeds the whole state of New Hampshire. Denali National Park has two different worlds; the raw alpine areas with high peak mountains and the lowlands covered with tundra. These two worlds are connected by great glaciers flowing down the peaks and summits of Mt McKinley. Denali has a natural, intact, and complex ecosystem. Surprisingly, the mountain is resistant to withering due to its granite composition. The mountain still grows at a rate of 1 millimeter annually (Pitcher, 2014).

The Muldrow glacier has in two occurrences surged forward for reasons not yet fully understood. It extended for a distance of 2.5 miles into the tundra during its first surge producing the sound of breaking ice and rushing water. It has braided rivers that shift channel location, turbidity and volume depending on the season and time of the day (Pitcher, 2014). Denali lies on the Denali fault system that spreads to almost 720 miles. This subjects it to great tectonic forces which have led to the crumple terranes, ranges, frequent earthquakes and landslides. The park tells a tale of the prehistoric past displaying fossils that suggest dinosaurs lived and roamed there (Pitcher, 2014).

Description of Denali National Park

Denali National Park is a vast unspoiled land in the south Central Alaska. It has two adjoined parts; the park and a preserve which are 19,187 and 2,085 square kilometers respectively (Anderson & Anderson, 2016). The park was an idea conceived by the conservationist Charles Sheldon and shared with Boone and the Crockett Club and together they tirelessly fought for its establishment. The park host a number of Mountains, ranges, Glaciers, rivers, gorges, and other naturally occurring geographical features. There is a 92-mile long road into the park with only 15 miles of it paved (Anderson & Anderson, 2016). Denali has a topography whose formation was and is influenced by tectonic and geographical forces. Some of the iconic animals coexisting in Denali include; the Grizzly Bears, Moose, Caribou, Wolves and Dall’s sheep (Heacox, 2016).

Park Attractions and Activities

Denali has 169 bird species, 39 mammal species and one amphibian in the park. It is a home to around 1500 plant species. Some of the Key attractive geographical features include Mt McKinley, Mount Foraker, Mt Huntington and Mt Russell. Mt Russell is a peak of the Alaska Range. The mountain has a sense of size and steepness rising a mile vertically to the northwest and two miles two the south (Winans, 2014). The Tokositna Glacier is also a beautiful scenery with a 25-mile long river with blue colored ice. The blue color is because of the high density of the ice reflecting only blue light. Another one is the great Gorge of Ruth glacier. This gorge is deepest ever in the world with a 3700 feet deep of ancient ice. The ice melts to form a beautiful spectacle. The gorge is a mile wide and two miles high. It is made up of granite monoliths which resemble animal teeth (Winans, 2014). The savage river is a braided river carved by glaciers. Also the Ruth Amphitheatre and Glacier Landing which has a layer of one-mile thick layer of ice.

Activities and excursions in the park include wildlife watching, cross-country hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, rafting, snowmobiling, dog-sledding, hiking, helicopter flightseeing, and camping. Also, the scientific study of the wolves’ behaviors was studied at Denali National Park (Pitcher, 2014).

Transportation From and Within

Visitors to Denali Park can get into the park with their private or hired cars via a road. Once in the park, there is a paved road to Savage River. However, past that, it is highly advised that the visitors use the park’s bus which can be easily booked before arrival to secure a place. There are two types of tour buses in Denali. One is the non-narrated buses which are cheaper and more flexible. The other is the Narrated buses. In this one, the driver becomes the tour guide and provides captivating details along the journey (Pitcher, 2014). The tour buses cover a duration of between 8 and 12 hours. There are also courtesy buses that offer transport to visitors who don’t have private cars. They commute on the drivable parts as well as connecting to various locations, facilities, or even to the tour buses. The courtesy buses do not require any prior booking. There is also a camper bus. This is used only by passengers who are camping. People can also hike or cycle with the company of a ranger. The courtesy buses can also be used to carry bicycles for those who prefer bike riding and can alight at their will (Pitcher, 2014).

Infrastructure and Concessions Within

The park has a number of amphitheaters, hotels, lodges, and campgrounds that are open to choose from by tourists wishing to spend the nights there. There is a picnic pavilion, food storage containers, waste containers, 25 fire gates and vault toilets for the sanitation and satisfaction of the visitors. The water systems include dug well, installed tanks, distribution water lines, and a front country water plant. Water pumps are powered by solar energy. (Pitcher, 2014). Denali also has a total of 54 trails for use by hikers, bikes, and dogs. There are more than 20 unpaved roads which are well marked with road signs to show directions. Other infrastructures include the paved roads, parking areas, bridges, tunnels, steam plant, and the Kantishna airstrip (Pitcher, 2014). The employees are hosted in Historic cabins, seasonal employee cabins, and permanent employee houses. Most of the Employees and Businesses done in Denali are from the local people from Alaska (Heacox, 2016).

Demographic of Visitors

Denali boasts an annual flow of more than 400,000 visitors of both genders and all ages from all over the world. This has been on a steady increase since 2008 when the recreational economies started recovering. However, visits to the Denali Park occur between May and September due to the extremely cold weather in the other months (Winans, 2014). Denali not only targets local residents from Alaska but also people from all America and around the globe. Despite Denali National park being the dream destination for most Americans, it records a relatively low visitation as compared to other competitor destinations such as the Great Smoky Mountains National Park which records around 9 million visitors followed at a distance by the Grand Canyon National Park with around 4 million visitations (United States, 2013).

Issues that may Affect Management and Use of the Park

Denali National park has rough terrains, mountains valleys, and broad rivers. Such features have made it very expensive to build and maintain infrastructure such as roads and bridges. The already built Denali Park Road which is slightly paved serves as the link to the heart of the park, camping grounds, and other sceneries. The road, however, experiences constant deterioration due to unavoidable climatic conditions the end of 2016, repairs and maintenance of the road and bridges required about 26 million dollars and had a total of 53.1 million dollars (United States, 2013). The management of the Park has allowed a pile-up of maintenance costs and delays in repair which leads to more wear and tear. The lack of visitors in specific months of the year gives the park an economic challenge since there is no income during such times (Winans, 2014). To overcome this it would be necessary to create an efficient system that can help cover up the lost months.

The Future of the Park

To avoid the pilling up of maintenance needs of the Denali National Park and other National parks, it is necessary for the United States Congress to ensure there are provisions for infrastructural initiatives and federal funding for all the National Parks in the country. The park management should also set aside an annual emergency fund for repairs (Heacox, 2016). The future of Denali is bright and would arouse the interest of private stakeholders and donors. In line with that, the park’s Management, the government, and other involved authorities should increase or poach for more public-private partnerships and donations to enable frequent restorations and upgrading of the park (United States, 2013).

The Park’s management should also formulate policy reforms that help avoid the escalation of deferred maintenance. Despite the park having a great potential, it still does not its full economic potential. An increase in transport and accommodation facilities in the park can also trigger an increase in the number of visitors who wish to spend more time in the park. The management should also create a promotional strategy such as advertising globally to create awareness to foreign tourists or setting up a holiday camp and conference facility to target retreats form corporates (Anderson & Anderson, 2016).

Conclusion

Denali is a spectacular destination it is a one in a lifetime dream destination for many. It is a clear picture of the manifestation of nature and creation. It boasts its vast size and being the home to the tallest mountain in the North America. The management of the park is good and ensures that the local community benefits from the tourism activities through employment and other indirect benefits. However, there is a need for improvement for the timely maintenance of the facilities as well as selling the brand of the park to the rest of the world to increase the economic output.

References

Anderson, J., & Anderson, N. (2016). 59 illustrated national parks : 100th anniversary of the National Park Service : celebrating 100 years of wilderness and wonder. Tennessee: Anderson Design Group, Inc.

Heacox, K. (2016). National Geographic the national parks. Washington: National Geographic.

Pitcher, D. (2014). Denali National Park. Berkeley: Avalon Travel.

United States. (2013). Denali National Park Improvement Act. Washington, D. C: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Winans, V. (2014). Denali has around 169 bird species in the park. Alaska: Publication Consultants.