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    Park Statistics

     

    Contact Info

    • Mail:
      Denali National Park and Preserve
      P.O. Box 9, Denali Park, AK 99755-0009
    • Telephone: 907-683-9532
    • Fax:907-683-9612
    • Email us
    • Superintendent: Brooke Merrell

    Visitation and Budget

    YearVisitationBase Budget
    2000364,019$9,189,000
    2001360,271$9,792,000
    2002353,560$10,144,000
    2003359,838$10,949,000
    2004404,234$10,687,000
    2005403,520$10,842,000
    2006415,935$10,547,000
    2007458,307$10,644,000
    2008432,301$11,910,000
    2009358,040$12,642,000
    2010378,885$13,976,000
    2011406,581$13,881,000
    2012388,433$13,777,000
    2013530,911$13,540,800
    2014531,315$13,527,200
    2015589,450$14,354,793
    2016599,822$14,631,000
    2017642,809$14,663,300
    2018594,660$14,883,000
    2019601,152$14,799,000
    202054,850$15,102,000
    2021229,521$15,556,000
    2022427,562$15,924,000
    2023498,722$16,603,000

    Check out older visitation data

    Effects of Visitor Spending

    YearSpendingJobsEconomic Output
    2016$605 million7,744$864 million
    2017$632 million8,154$924 million
    2018$602 million7,370$859 million
    2019$613 million7,490$874 million
    2020$58 million703$83 million
    2021$255 million3,585$384 million
    2022$475 million6,641$714 million
    2023$559 million7,785$840 million

    Dates & Numbers

    Quick history

    • February 26, 1917 - Established (as "Mount McKinley National Park"). Park was around 2,146,000 acres at that time.
    • 1976 - Designated an International Biosphere Reserve
    • December 2, 1980 - Renamed Denali National Park and Preserve, park roughly tripled in size.
    • Learn more about park history

    Size

    • Park: 4,740,091 acres (including 2,146,270 acres of Federally-designatedWilderness)
    • Preserve: 1,334,118 acres
    • Total area: 6,075,030 acres (9,492 square miles)
    • Perimeter: 606 miles
    • Comparison: New Hampshire is 9,351 square miles in area, Massachusetts is 10,555 square miles.

    Staffing

    • 129 permanent employees
    • 135 seasonal employees
    • 24 interns
    • 272 volunteers

    Infrastructure

    Landmarks and Elevation

    • Denali Visitor Center: 1,746 feet above sea level (asl)
    • Sable Pass: 3,900 feet asl
    • Polychrome Overlook: 3,700 feet asl
    • Highway Pass (highest point on the Denali Park Road): 3,980 feet asl
    • Eielson Visitor Center: 3,733 feet asl
    • Wonder Lake Campground: 2,055 feet asl
    • Mount Foraker: 17,400 feet asl
    • Mount McKinley – South Peak (highest point in North America): 20,310 feet asl
    • Mount McKinley – North Peak: 19,470 feet asl
    • Yentna River, at the Denali boundary (lowest point in the park): 223 feet asl
     

    Plants and Animals

    • Amphibians - 1 species (the wood frog!)
    • Mammals - 38 species
    • Birds - 172 recorded species (160 breeding or resident + 12 incidentals)
    • Fish - 19 species (including 5 salmon species)
    • Reptiles - none
    • Vascular plants - 758 species
    • Trees - 8 species
    • Mosses - 380 species documented to date
    • Liverworts - 119 species documented to date
    • Lichens - 442 species documented to date

    Species Lists

     

    Species Attribute Definitions

    Definitions

    Occurrence

    Occurrence values are defined below. One or moreOccurrence Tags may be associated with each Occurrence value.

    Present: Species occurs in park; current, reliable evidence available.

    Probably Present: High confidence species occurs in park but current, verified evidence needed.

    Unconfirmed: Species is attributed to park but evidence is weak or absent.

    Not In Park: Species is not known to occur in park.

    Occurrence Tags

    Adjacent: Species is known to occur in areas near to or contiguous with park boundaries.

    False Report: Species was reported to occur within the park, but current evidence indicates the report was based on misidentification, a taxonomic concept no longer accepted, or other similar problem of error or interpretation.

    Historical: Species' historical occurrence in park is documented. Assigned based on judgment as opposed to determination based on age of the most recent evidence.

    Abundance

    Abundant:

    • Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, and counted in relatively large numbers.
    • Plants: Large number of individuals; wide ecological amplitude or occurring in habitats covering a large portion of the park.

    Common:

    • Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, but not in large numbers.
    • Plants: Large numbers of individuals predictably occurring in commonly encountered habitats but not those covering a large portion of the park.

    Uncommon:

    • Animals: Likely to be seen monthly in appropriate habitat and season. May be locally common.
    • Plants: Few to moderate numbers of individuals; occurring either sporadically in commonly encountered habitats or in uncommon habitats.

    Rare:

    • Animals: Present, but usually seen only a few times each year.
    • Plants: Few individuals, usually restricted to small areas of rare habitat.

    Occasional:

    • Animals: Occurs in the park at least once every few years, varying in numbers, but not necessarily every year.
    • Plants: Abundance variable from year to year (e.g., desert plants).

    Unknown: Abundance unknown

    Nativeness

    Native: Species naturally occurs in park or region.

    Non-native: Species occurs on park lands as a result of deliberate or accidental human activities.

    Unknown: Nativeness status is unknown or ambiguous.

    List Differences

    TheChecklist contains only those species that are designated as "present" or "probably present" in the park.

    TheFull List includes all the checklist species in addition to species that are unconfirmed, historically detected, or incorrectly reported as being found in the park. The full list also contains species that are "in review" because their status in the park hasn't been fully determined. Additional details about the status of each species is included in the full list.

    The checklist will almost always contain fewer species than the full list.

    Select a Park:

    Select a Species Category (optional):

    List Differences

    Species attribute definitions

    Search results will be displayed here.


    VisitNPSpecies for more comprehensive information and advanced search capability. Have a suggestion or comment on this list?Let us know.

     

    Natural History

    Paleontology

    Thousands of trace fossils (tracks, footprints, or body prints) have been found since the first discovery of dinosaur prints in 2005, all dating from 65-72 million years ago. They include theropods, hadrosaurs, ceratopsians, and pterosaurs, as well as bird tracks, fish traces, crayfish burrows, and insect trackways. Myirospirifer breasei, a species of extinct marine brachiopod that has been found only in Denali, is named after Phil Brease, park geologist from 1986 until his untimely death in May 2010.Learn more about paleontology in the park.

    Lakes and Streams

    • Chilchukabena Lake: 2.6 miles long, 2 miles wide, 2056 acres (largest in the park)
    • Wonder Lake: 2.7 miles long, 1/2 mile wide, 649 acres, 280 feet maximum depth
    • Approximately 12,206 lakes and ponds in the park and preserve; 18,679 miles of streams

    Glaciers

    • 15% of park's land area is covered with glaciers (approx. 1,422 sq. miles).
    • Loss of 8% from 1950 - 2010.
    • Largest glacier: Kahiltna Glacier on the south side of Alaska Range (45 miles or 72.4 km long)
    • Largest glacier on north side of Alaska Range: Muldrow Glacier (34 miles or 54.7 km long)
    • Deepest measured glacier: Ruth Glacier, 3805 feet or 1160 meters
    • Learn more about glaciers in the park

    Earthquakes

    • Average number per year within park boundaries: about 3,000
    • Depth: 60% between 0-20 km – deepest are at about 200 km
    • Largest recent earthquake is magnitude 5.2 (January 23, 2011).
    • Earthquakes as small as magnitude 0.5 are routinely detected.
    • The 7.9 quake on November 3, 2002 was largest recorded interior Alaska earthquake.
    • Most events occur within the Kantishna seismic cluster, in the foothills north of Mount McKinley.

    Weather

    • Average annual precipitation = 15 inches / 381mm (park headquarters)
    • Wettest months are July, August, and June (in that order)
    • Average annual snowfall = 80 inches / 202 cm (park headquarters)
    • Coldest temperature recorded at headquarters: -54° F / -48ºC, February 5, 1999
    • Coldest year on record: 1956
    • Highest temperature recorded at headquarters: 91° F / 33ºC, June 22, 1991
    • Warmest year on record: 1926
    • Average January temperature: 2.0°F / -17ºC
    • Average July temperature: 55°F / 13ºC
    • Shortest day (December 21): 4 hours, 21 minutes of daylight
    • Longest day (June 21): 20 hours, 49 minutes of daylight
    • Number of years in cooperation with the National Weather Service: 90
    • Learn more about park weather

    Uniquely Denali

    Sled Dogs

    • Average number of miles patrolled by sled each winter: 3,000
    • Kennels building constructed in 1929
    • Sled dog demonstrations inaugurated in 1939
    • Average yearly dog demonstration attendance: over 50,000
    • Learn more about the sled dogs

    Mountaineering

    • Check out detailedannual mountaineering statistics, including total climbers and narrative summaries of each climbing season since 1978.
    • Notable Ascents First summit of South Peak (true summit of Mount McKinley): June 7, 1913; W. Harper, H. Karstens, H. Stuck, R. Tatum
    • First summit of North Peak: April 3, 1910; Pete Anderson, Billy Taylor
    • First woman to summit: June 6, 1947; Barbara Polk Washburn
    • First solo ascent: August 26, 1970; Naomi Uemura
    • First winter ascent: February 28, 1967; Dave Johnston, Art Davidson, Ray Genet
    • First solo winter ascent: February 12, 1984; Naomi Uemura (died on descent)
    • First successful winter solo ascent completed: March 7, 1988; Vern Tejas
    • Oldest person to summit: June 28, 2013; Tom Choate, 78 years old
    • Youngest person to summit: June 17, 2001; Galen Johnston, 11 years old

    Last updated: April 14, 2025

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    Contact Info

    Mailing Address:

    PO Box 9
    Denali Park,AK99755

    Phone:

    907 683-9532
    A ranger is available 9 am to 4 pm daily (except on major holidays). If you reach the voicemail, please leave a message and we'll call you back as soon as we finish with the previous caller.

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