 Denali Watch
The Denali Region lies between the state's two major population centers, Anchorage and Fairbanks. It is accessible via private automobile, tour bus, railroad, and airplane. The project area is vast, encompassing the entire Denali Borough, which at more than 12,000 square miles is larger than the state of Maryland. In contrast to its size, the region has one of the smallest populations in the state, approximately 2,000 persons. Residents are situated mostly along a 70-mile stretch of Route 3, George Parks Highway, in the communities of Cantwell, McKinley Park, Healy, Ferry, and Anderson.
The fiscal base of the Denali region depends on three enterprises: Denali National Park and Preserve, Clear Air Force Base, and Usibelli Coal Mine. A large electric power plant and support services for Parks Highway traffic contribute to the economy. By far, the dominant player in the areas wealth is Denali National Park and Preserve, which comprises 70% of the borough's land area [9,375 square miles]. More than half of the top 20 employers in the borough are directly linked to park activity. In 1999, 81% of the workforce in the borough was either from out of state or from somewhere else in the state. The resident workforce is more heavily concentrated around the mine, the schools, power generation, and the military base. Nonetheless, the future economic growth of the Denali Borough is fundamentally linked to the National Park.
The Northern Alaska Environmental Center initiated the Denali Watch project in 2000 in order to provide environmental community oversight and stewardship in the rapidly evolving and ever-more-popular Denali National Park and Preserve environs. In particular, through Denali Watch, the Northern Center has coordinated local and regional grassroots support for protecting the wildlife and wilderness values of Denali National Park and Preserve and has promoted sustainable, conservation-based decisions for the Park and its surroundings. A longer-term goal of the project is to develop a proactive strategy to address key issues germane to national parks throughout the United States, as well as to Denali itself; such as, how to facilitate balance in choosing between wilderness protection, economic empowerment and commercial development.
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All photo's on the Denali Watch pages © copyright Michael Giannechini
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