Located on the border between Alaska and Canada, the Wrangell-St. Elias and Kluane National Parks contain a huge chain of glaciers. Here, gargantuan ice sheets continue to move, shaping and transforming the landscape. It is a phenomenon that has been occurring since the Ice Age 11,000 years ago. The icefields and the 2,000 glaciers that radiate from them are fed by 20 feet of snow each year created by the moist Pacific air running into the high coastal mountains. The glaciers grind and scour the rock beneath as they move slowly under their own weight, generally travelling only a few inches or feet a year. Glaciers that wrok their way to the ocean's edge create gigantic icebergs. Over eons of time, some glaciers have gradually retreated leaving a sculpted landscape of valleys, peaks and lakes. In addition to representing an incredible on-going geological process, this premier wilderness contains extensive bird, animal and marine mammal habitats where trumpeter swans, Daal sheep, bisons, sea lions and the like are protected. (Inscribed in 1979)
Last Modified: Fri, Sep 11 1998 04:25:50 pm EDT