Katmai National Park and Preserve is a United States National Park in Alaska, notable for the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and for its brown bears. The park covers 7,383 mi² (19,122 km²). Most of this is a designated wilderness area, including 5,288 mi² (13,696 km²) of the park.
Established on December 2, 1980, the park is located on the Alaska Peninsula, across from Kodiak Island, with headquarters in nearby King Salmon, about 290 air miles southwest of Anchorage. Originally, on September 24, 1918, the area was designated a national monument to protect the area around the major 1912 volcanic eruption of Novarupta, which formed the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, a forty square mile (100 km²), 100 to 700 foot deep, pyroclastic flow.
There are at least fourteen active volcanoes within the national park. Katmai is also well known for brown bears and the salmon which attract both bears and people. Katmai contains the world's largest protected brown bear population; it is estimated to be in excess of 2,000. Bears are especially likely to congregate at Brooks Falls , where there is a viewing platform. Many well known photographs of brown bears have been taken at Brooks Falls.
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