Mammals of Mount Mckinley National Park

Part 1

MAMMALS OF MOUNT McKINLEY NATIONAL PARK ALASKA

by Adolph Murie

Sketches by Olaus Murie

Photographs by Charles J. Ott

Published by the Mount McKinley Natural History Association

Published in cooperation with the National Park Service

Copyright August, 1962 by Mount McKinley Natural History Association

Printed in U.S.A. Pisani Printing Company, San Francisco

CONTENTS

Denali Wilderness 1 Introduction 3 Grizzly Bear 7 Black Bear 11 Caribou 11 Moose 15 Dall Sheep 17 Mountain goat 20 Wolf 21 Coyote 22 Red fox 24 Lynx 26 Wolverine 27 Marten 29 Mink 30 River Otter 31 Short-tailed weasel 31 Least weasel 33 Snowshoe rabbit 33 Collared Pika 35 Hoary marmot 37 Arctic ground squirrel 39 Red squirrel 40 Northern flying squirrel 43 Porcupine 43 Beaver 47 Muskrat 49 Shrews 50 Bat 52 The Mouse World 52-54 Hay mouse Brown lemming Bog lemming Chestnut-cheeked vole Tundra vole Meadow vole Red-backed mouse Checklist of Mammals of Mount McKinley National Park 56

Denali Wilderness

The national park idea represents a far-reaching cultural achievement, for here we raise our thoughts above the average, and enter a sphere in which the intangible values of the human heart and spirit take precedence. Mingled with the landscape of McKinley Park is the spirit of the primeval. The region is dedicated to the preservation of wilderness. Here we try to refrain from the coarser uses of nature legitimate elsewhere.

All the plants and animals enjoy a natural and normal life without human restrictions. Freedom prevails—the foxes are free to dig burrows where they will; to hunt ptarmigan, ground squirrels and mice as the spirit moves; and they share in the ownership of the blueberry and crowberry patches. The grizzlies wander over their ancestral home unmolested; dig roots and ground squirrels, graze grass, and harvest berries according to whatever menu appeals to them. The “bad” wolf seeks an honest living as of yore; he is a respected citizen, morally on a par with everyone else. His hunting of mice, ground squirrels, caribou and Dall sheep is his way of life and he has the freedom to follow it. No species of plant is favored above the rest, and they grow together, quietly competing, or living in adjusted composure. Our task is to perpetuate this freedom and purity of nature, this ebb and flow of life—first, by insuring ample park boundaries so that the region is large enough to maintain the natural relationships, and secondly, to hold man’s intrusions to the minimum.

Most of us feel with Thoreau that “The wilderness is near as well as dear to every man.” We come to McKinley to watch; to catch a glimpse of the primeval. We come close to the tundra flowers, the lichens, and the animal life. Each of us will take some inspiration home; a touch of the tundra will enter our lives—and, deep inside, make of us all poets and kindred spirits.

Our national parks, here in the north, are set aside, not only for Alaskans, or for Americans, but for all humanity. To preserve the delicate charm and the wildness of the region our thoughts must be guided by a morality encompassing the spiritual welfare of the universe.

Introduction

The Mount McKinley region was set aside as a National Park in 1917. The foresighted conservationists who advocated National Park status for this country were activated chiefly by their desire to preserve the flora and fauna in its pristine condition. An effort was made to give the park ample boundaries, but desirable extensions were later made, and it is possible that in the future additional adjustments will be desirable from the standpoint of assuring a self-sustaining ecological unit.

A drive from the Nenana River, the eastern boundary, to Wonder Lake, some 90 miles to the west and directly north of Mount McKinley, is always a fresh adventure. No two days are the same. One day we may see more grizzlies than usual; on another trip we may be especially fortunate and catch sight of a wolf or a wolverine. It is desirable to drive slowly and to stop occasionally to examine the landscape for animal life—the mountains for Dall sheep, the river bars and passes for grizzlies and caribou, and the water, for birds, beaver, or moose.

Some of the birds to be seen along the way are the ptarmigan—willow ptarmigan in the low country, rock ptarmigan on the high passes (the white-tailed are confined to higher elevations and probably will not be seen)—the long-tailed jaegers, the whimbrel (Hudsonian curlew), golden plovers, short-billed gulls, golden eagles, and several kinds of ducks. Ornithologists will be especially interested in seeing such asiatic birds as the wheatear and the willow warbler.

Much of the park is treeless tundra, but strips of woods follow the rivers far into the park, and patches grow here and there on the adjacent mountain slopes. Timberline varies according to soil and exposure; in places it reaches elevations of over 3,500 feet.

White spruce is the common conifer. Black spruce is confined to poorly drained and boggy areas. Along the north boundary I have seen a few patches of tamarack. Cottonwood and aspen are widely distributed and a few tree birches grow at lower elevations. Along the McKinley River an extensive strip of cottonwoods may be seen from the highway.

The tundra supports a growth of willow and dwarf birch. Over twenty kinds of willow occur in the park. They range in size from small forms only 2 or 3 inches in height, to brushy growths 20 feet tall. In places the small willows may grow dense enough to form a sod. These shrubs are highly important for wildlife. Alder brush is widely distributed and plentiful on canyon slopes; near Wonder Lake there are many clumps of alder in the rolling tundra.

The low ground cover over the park consists of mosses, lichens, sedges, grasses, horsetails, and herbaceous plants—many species of each. Early flowers may begin blooming in late April and early May, and at the higher elevations some blooms may be seen in late summer.

The annual berry crop is bounteous and is an important source of food for a host of birds and mammals. Even the mountain sheep have been found enjoying the blueberries. Blueberry, crowberry, cranberry, buffaloberry, and alpine bearberry are all widely distributed. The berries begin to ripen in late July.

With the melting of the snow in the spring, the white landscape of winter is transformed into a brown countryside—brown grasses, sedges, and leafless shrubbery. Snow fields still persist on the mountain slopes, and the spruces are dark green, but brown hues seem to dominate one’s impression of the tundra at this time. In June—the time varies a little with the year—the landscape is magically transformed from a dull brown to the brightest green. Early in August spots of red and yellow colors begin to show. By late August and early September the country is again transformed and we have a world of crimson and other shades of red, trimmed with yellow and gold of willow, aspen, and cottonwood. The alders add contrast for they remain summer-green throughout the autumn color season.

Over much of the country the ground remains frozen below a depth of a few feet. In some shaded areas where the ground is deeply carpeted with moss the soil remains frozen within less than 2 feet of the surface. The continuous thawing of the soil in summer keeps the surface moist until autumn. The thawed surface soil tends in places to creep imperceptibly down slopes as it becomes water-soaked, even though plant life has a strong stabilizing influence. Occasionally the soil becomes saturated with moisture to considerable depths and we have rather large land slides such as the one that recently formed Slide Lake on Stony Creek; the one that shows prominently on the south slope of Sable Mountain; and one to the south of the road at about 3-Mile that caused spruces to lean in various directions. Thawed, water-logged surface soil rests uneasily on the frozen sub-stratum.

A number of parallel, northward-flowing streams head in glaciers lying along the north slope of the Alaska Range. The streams are not large—most of them can be waded without getting too wet—so it is surprising to find them bordered by wide gravel bars. This is due to lack of stream stabilization. In summer the streams carry a load of silt which may be dropped along the way. Channels are continually being gouged out here and filled in somewhere else so that the stream keeps breaking over its sides and forming additional channels. High water, due to a warm day and much glacier melting, or to heavy rains, may cause the streams to flow into entirely new channels. When the main stream reaches the side of the gravel bar it will erode the bank and thus broaden the river bar. This type of erosion is noticeable just below the Teklanika bridge. Gravel bars that have not been invaded for a long period may become covered with vegetation, and it is on some of these old bars that we often see grizzlies digging roots in the spring of the year. But even these bars are temporary. One such bar on the Toklat River was invaded by part of the river a few years ago and much of the sod is being washed away today. Physiographic processes are all very active in the region. On many slopes we see the turf breaking away, and here and there a small land slip.

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