 Denali National Park and Reserve
 Early in the twentieth century, the uniqueness, of Denali's large mammal population, vast subarctic ecosystem, and spectacular geologic wonders were recognized as being worthy of protection under the auspices of the National Park Service. In 1917, Congress set aside the original two million acre park, Mount McKinley National Park, as a wildlife preserve. The 1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act [ANILCA] expanded the park by four million acres to provide critical range necessary to support populations of moose, wolf, and caribou as part of an integral ecosystem and to include the entire McKinley massif into the park's boundaries. The newly expanded six million acre park was renamed Denali National Park and Preserve. Currently there is a single, restricted access road into Denali, which runs 90-miles west into the Park from the George Parks Highway.
Denali National Park and Preserve contains resources of international significance - the highest mountain on the North American continent and the largest continuously protected ecosystem in the world. For this reason it has gained international recognition through its designation as a biosphere reserve under the Man and the Biosphere program of the United Nations.
Denali National Park and Preserve faces wide-ranging threats to the integrity of its intact sub-arctic ecosystems. The multifaceted and numerous management mandates for Denali National Park and Preserve present tough challenges to conservationists. Unchecked development, on lands surrounding the park, and mounting political pressures, to increase access to the Park's Road and to undeveloped areas within the park, compound the issues facing Park Administrators and the conservation community.
 Park-wide Issues
Inholdings - Federal appropriations for the purchase of Kantishna mining claims from willing sellers has been obtained, but legal disputes over ownership and government appraisals that were considered too low, have resulted in delays in purchasing these properties. In addition to the threat of industrial-sized tourism development in the heart of the park, access rights of inholders presents another threat to the integrity of the park and administrative decisions regarding road limits.
Second North Access Route - The concept of creating a loop corridor, to connect Wonder Lake from the Park Road to the George Parks Highway, has been on the books for decades. Park Administrators have repudiated this plan as being counterproductive to the Park's General Management Plan and in direct conflict with the purposes for which the Northern Additions were incorporated into the park by ANILCA in 1980.
 This past legislative session, 2001, saw a revived push for this access. House Bill 244, the Denali railroad land transfer bill, passed through the legislature. Governor Knowles vetoed the bill, but on January 23, 2002, the Alaska Legislature voted to override the veto. The bill grants the Denali Borough 3,500 acres of state land, through the Wolf Townships for a railroad development project. The premise of the bill is to build a 30-mile route from Healy to the eastern boundary of the park. The intent of the bill is to push a railroad across state land and into the National Park to Wonder Lake.
On a separate front, a state match, to funds secured by Senator Murkowski to construct a second north access into the park, was granted via the Capital Budget Bill, which was signed into law. The monies have been appropriated to the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, which will negotiate an agreement with and assign the money, $1.65 million, to the Denali Borough.
The revived pressure for increasing access on the north side of Denali has resulted in a renewed interest, on the part of park administrators, for South Side Development.
Snowmobiles in the National Park - The National Park Service promulgated Final Regulations in June of 2000, which define traditional activity, as interpreted from ANILA, and close the Old Park, original two million acres, to all snowmobile access. The Alaska State Snowmobile Association and the International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association filed a lawsuit, against the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior, which contested the ban on riding inside the original park boundaries and the interpretation of traditional activity. The lawsuit has since been dropped. Snowmobile proponents plan a new tactic to resolve the legal and political fight for the right to snowmobile in the park through Congress, most likely in the form of an appropriations rider.
Coming Soon -
Backcountry Management Plan -
Park Road Limits -
Front Country Development Plan
South Side Development Plan
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