In late spring via midsummer, brown bears collect in excessive numbers in Chinitna Bay’s salt marshes to graze on the protein-rich sedges and different vegetation. ©Candice Gaukel Andrews
Alaska’s Chinitna Bay on Cook dinner Inlet close to Lake Clark Nationwide Park and Protect is the very coronary heart of coastal brown bear nation, in keeping with the Nationwide Park Service. And now, having visited it, I can say I wholeheartedly agree.
Right here, within the estuaries the place rivers flowing out of the mountains meet the ocean, meals is nearly free for the taking from early spring till the bears return to their dens within the fall. I say “virtually” as a result of the bears do need to dig, fish or forage for it.
Salt marshes are among the many best ecosystems on this planet, and they’re a outstanding function of Lake Clark Nationwide Park and Protect’s shoreline. They act as buffer zones between freshwater and saltwater, making a brackish surroundings affected by tidal fluctuations. This makes these areas distinctive by harboring plant communities of salt-tolerant grasses and sedges that help a variety of animals, together with migratory birds, fish, intertidal invertebrates, moose, river otters, different small mammals, shorebirds, songbirds, waterfowl and a dense inhabitants of coastal brown bears.
Guests flying to Chinitna Bay get an outline of the salt marshes that the bears graze in for a lot of the summer season.
Coastal salt marshes are essential for coastal brown bears
Coastal salt marshes comprise lower than 1% of Lake Clark Nationwide Park and Protect, but they’re vital for the survival of the park’s brown bears. Every spring, brown and black bears congregate in these marshes and meadows to graze on the contemporary, inexperienced sedges after winter hibernation. With their fats reserves depleted and with younger cubs to feed, bears emerge from their dens in want of high-protein vitamin. Younger sedges within the salt marshes are a significant, early-season supply of that wanted vitamin.
Throughout low tide, bears go away the salt marshes for the adjoining mudflats to dig razor clams and different bivalves. Tidal streams bisecting the salt marshes present nursery habitat for a wide range of juvenile fish. In late summer season, salmon enter the salt marsh streams on their method to their spawning grounds. As these fish arrive, bears transition from sedges to salmon in preparation for the upcoming winter months.
Coastal salt marshes are important for the Earth
The salt marshes are vital in defending the colourful ecosystem of Chinitna Bay by limiting coastal erosion brought on by ice, water and wind; and by buffering wave motion and trapping sediment. Additionally they act as filters for water-quality enchancment. As saltwater flows via a salt marsh, marsh grasses and peat (a spongy matrix of decomposing natural materials, reside roots and soil) act as huge pure filters of pollution—resembling heavy metals and waste—in addition to vitamins and sediments. These pure filters may be regarded as water filters that sift via impurities, leading to clear consuming water; solely on this case, these filters are holding onto key vitamins essential to maintain life.
The coastal marshes of Lake Clark Nationwide Park and Protect could signify a minor habitat by acreage compared with the huge, alpine inside, however their ecological worth looms massive when accounting for the species range that the habitat sustains. ©Candice Gaukel Andrews
As well as, coastal wetlands, resembling these salt marshes, are efficient carbon sinks, storing carbon inside their plant communities and soil as a substitute of releasing it into the ambiance as carbon dioxide. Crops act as sponges, absorbing carbon into their roots and the soil, successfully holding twice as a lot carbon because the ambiance. Most soil carbon is derived from photosynthesis, which takes carbon from the plant materials into dense root programs for storage, making a cyclic carbon storehouse. Crops use vitality from the solar to chemically mix carbon dioxide with hydrogen and oxygen from water to create sugar molecules. Animals that eat vegetation digest these sugar molecules to acquire vitality. Respiration, excretion and decomposition launch the carbon again into the ambiance or soil, thus persevering with the cycle. Finally, then, salt marshes are vital in serving to to average world local weather situations at an early stage within the Earth’s advanced carbon cycle.
Coastal salt marshes are “bear proof”
The coastal marshes of Lake Clark Nationwide Park and Protect could signify a minor habitat by acreage, compared with the huge, alpine inside with its tons of of lakes and waterways. Nevertheless, the ecological worth of coastal wetlands carries a variety of weight, once we think about the biodiversity that the habitat sustains.
All it’s important to do is look to the bears (see under) for proof.
Right here’s to discovering your true locations and pure habitats,
Sweet
Since it’s so difficult to succeed in Lake Clark Nationwide Park and Protect, it sees far fewer guests than another Alaskan parks. Most fly in by small, non-public airplane. ©Candice Gaukel Andrews
Ninety-five % of brown bears in america reside in Alaska, and Lake Clark Nationwide Park and Protect helps a wholesome and secure inhabitants of them. ©Candice Gaukel Andrews
Crimson foxes are additionally discovered all through Lake Clark Nationwide Park and Protect—and far of Alaska. They will have many colour phases, together with black, purple and silver. ©Candice Gaukel Andrews
“Brown” and “grizzly” are frequent names for a similar species; the distinction between the 2 is geographic location, which influences habits, weight-reduction plan and measurement. Those who reside in coastal areas are known as brown bears, whereas inland bears which have restricted or no entry to marine-derived meals are known as grizzlies. Each have the distinctive massive shoulder hump; lengthy, curved claws; and a large head with a concave profile, typically described as “dish-faced.” In Lake Clark Nationwide Park and Protect, each coastal and inland bears belong to the subspecies “Ursus arctos horribilis”; and, typically, all are known as brown bears, though each phrases are acceptable. ©Candice Gaukel Andrews
Coastal habitats are a vital, ample “grocery store” of protein sources that the bears want after rising from hibernation within the spring. ©Candice Gaukel Andrews
Lake Clark Nationwide Park and Protect’s coast additionally gives brown bears with protein-rich sedges—resembling “Carex ramenskii” and different salt-tolerant vegetation—which can be needed for a bear’s survival and for feeding younger cubs. ©Candice Gaukel Andrews
Chinitna Bay is proof of the worth of coastal wetlands: they provide us a glimpse of the really wild. ©Candice Gaukel Andrews
