Climate Change Toll in Alaska
Between 3,000 and 5,000 visitors a day arrive at Alaska’s Denali National Park during the week of Independence Day. They find lodging at “Glitter Gulch” across the Nenana River, board park tour buses, use binoculars to scan slopes for grizzly bears, and swat mosquitos.
Not this year. The park has been closed and many staff evacuated due to a fire burning less than a mile from park headquarters. The Alaska Railroad suspended service to the popular park. The 49th state has experienced a dry June, with fires burning more than 400,000 acres, from tundra above the Arctic Circle to boreal forests further south.
The Arctic is warming faster than any other place on the planet. The carbon economy is a massive presence in Alaska — a source of revenue that dominates state politics — but its footprints are on display. Come to Denali when it reopens and you’ll see.
A 92-mile road extends westward from park headquarters to the old mining encampment of Kantishna. It gives access to Camp Denali, the legendary backcountry retreat and learning center.
https://www.postalley.org/2024/07/11/climate-change-toll-in-alaska/