Although the majority of the waters we frequent are considered part of the greater Bristol Bay watershed, three of our operations are located within a truly unique area of the Bristol Bay region, Katmai National Park and Preserve.
President Woodrow Wilson declared Katmai a national monument in 1918 to preserve the living laboratory of its cataclysmic 1912 volcanic eruption, particularly the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. The boundaries have expanded over the years and in 1980 Congress granted the area national park status.
The park’s natural wonders confront us most visibly in its brown bears, North America’s largest land predators. Each summer, the bears gather along streams to feast on salmon in preparation for the long winter ahead, delighting visitors with their antics and fishing skills.
Protein rich sockeye salmon are plentiful, bursting into the park waters from the Pacific Ocean each year like clockwork, providing forage for numerous resident game fish and land-based animals alike. The salmon run begins in mid to late June and by the end of July more than a million salmon have moved through the park’s rivers, lakes and streams, to spawn before eventually dying shortly thereafter.
Katmai National Park & Preserve also provides a protected home to moose, caribou, red fox, wolf, lynx, wolverine, river otter, mink, marten, weasel, porcupine, snowshoe hare, red squirrel, and beaver. Marine mammals include; sea lions, sea otters, and hair seals. Beluga, killer, and gray whales can also be seen along the coast of the park.