Watching the Bears

The Brooks River Falls is the park’s most popular spot to view bears fishing for salmon. To keep people away from the bears, the Park Service has built an extensive elevated boardwalk system that allows the bears to move freely along the shoreline underneath the boardwalk and provides visitors with unprecedented views of fishing bears. The Park Service closely manages visitors visit to keep them out of harms way…the bears always have the right-of-way.

Credit: Jim Stratton/NPCA

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Brown Bear

Brown bears follow the salmon as they need to pack on the pounds for their winter hibernation, which can last from five to seven months. Brown bears and grizzly bears are the same species, the difference being their diet and, therefore, how large they grow. In Alaska, brown bear is the common name for those that live in coastal areas and feast on salmon. Interior and more northern brown bears are smaller because their diet is different and they are commonly referred to as grizzly bears.

Credit: Jim Stratton/NPCA

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Map

Several bears tracked by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game travel from McNeil River State Game Sanctuary to Katmai National Preserve, then on to state land in the Kamishak Special Use Area inside the boundary of Katmai National Park.

Credit: NPCA

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