The MAB Program United States of America
Biosphere Reserve Information - General Description
Denali
General Description
Denali Biosphere Reserve and
National Park is situated in south-central Alaska centered on the Alaska Range
which separates the coastal lowland from the interior. Denali comprises Mount
McKinley, the highest peak in North America towering 4,800 meters above the
surrounding landscape as well as Denali fault system, the largest crustal break
in North America.
Warm dry south-facing slopes adjacent to rivers have white spruce (Picea glauca)
with paper birch (Betula papyrifera), balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera) and
quaking aspen (P. tremuloides) and a ground cover of ericaceous shrubs and
mosses. North-facing permafrost-underlain slopes and lowlands have black spruce
(P. mariana) with paper birch, white spruce, tamarack (Larix laricina) and
ericaceous shrubs, mosses, sedges and grasses. Moist foothill tundra comprises
cottongrass (Eriophorum sp.) with dwarf shrubs, green alder (Alnus crispa) and
dwarf birch (Betula nana). Drier tundra has mats of mountain avens (Dryas spp.),
grasses and sedges. Above the alpine tundra, rock, snow and ice dominate.
Mammal species in the area include wolf (Canis lupus), grizzly bear (Ursus
arctos), Canadian lynx (Lynx canadensis), Alaska moose (Alces alces),
barrenground caribou (Rangifer tarandus), and beavers (Castor canadensis).
There are some subsistence and sport hunting, trapping and mining activities
within the biosphere reserve. Research projects in the area include the ecology
of large mammals, raptor biology, vegetation mapping, human recreational impact
on resources, geology and archaeology and several continuous monitoring
programmes.
Last updated: 06/27/2005