At the Heart of Katmai: An Administrative History of the Brooks River Area, with Special Emphasis on Bear Management in Katmai National Park and Preserve 1912–2006

Ringsmuth, Katherine

In 2005, the National Park Service (NPS) undertook a project that aimed to document the administrative history of the Brooks River area, with an emphasis on the management of the Brooks River’s growing bear population. The Brooks River area is a two-square mile forested landscape encompassing Brooks Camp along Naknek Lake and the Brooks Lake residential area. The Brooks River Archeological District National Historic Landmark, containing over 900 visible prehistoric house depressions and occupations dating from 4,500 years ago to the early twentieth century, falls within the boundaries of the Brooks River area. At the Heart of Katmai: An Administrative History of the Brooks River Area with an Emphasis on Bear Management in Katmai National Park and Preserve, 1912-2006 is not a history of Katmai’s bear management program. Rather, it is a history of the administration of the Brooks River area that concentrates on the evolving relationship between people and bears in a landscape shaped and inhabited by both for at least 4,500 years. Part I contains three chapters which cover the history of the Brooks River area, from the establishment of Katmai National Monument to Brooks Camp’s era of early tourism. Chapter one focuses on the evolution of the park: first a reserve for scientific, volcanic and geological study in 1918, then, as a laboratory for biologists studying the Brooks River’s lucrative sockeye run for the commercial salmon fishery. Chapter two explains how the Brooks River became a fishing destination for anglers beginning in the 1950s, and then a destination for wilderness seekers by the end of the 1960s. Chapter three explains how this new population of humans unintentionally encouraged bears to return to the river area in larger numbers and how NPS dealt with its most troublesome, yet most solvable problem at Brooks Camp—food and waste. Part II includes two chapters that cover the Brooks River area’s period of transformation from an angler’s paradise to a bear haven. Beginning in 1967, NPS commenced an era dedicated to the scientific study of Brooks bears. As the camp grew, some of the area’s rich cultural heritage was exposed by development and it became necessary for archeologists to begin identifying, evaluating and, with mixed results, advising park management about preservation of the area’s cultural resources. Chapter four examines the studies as well as the corresponding policies implemented by NPS. Chapter five describes how anglers and bears became Brooks River competitors, and how this growing rivalry created a need for a bear management plan for the area. In 1982, Katmai hired a natural resource specialist whose first priority was to write a bear management plan. Part III includes two chapters that show how Brooks Camp made the transition from the first bear management plan to the Brooks River Development Concept Plan of 1996. Chapter six looks at the ramifications of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) and the creation of the new park, especially for the new bear managers, who instead of dealing with “problem bears”, began to see the cause of Brooks Camp’s bear-related problems to be human behavior. Expanding Katmai National Monument into Katmai National Park and Preserve in 1980 brought new attention to the Brooks River area. The area’s structural footprint expanded in an effort to accommodate a new category of visitors—bear watchers. NPS management decisions had to take into consideration the concentration of archeological sites, but also the interests of Native people still closely connected to the Brooks River area and its resources. The passage of ANILCA and increased development to support visitor services at Brooks Camp attracted more people, some who paradoxically came to the Brooks River to experience wilderness.

At the Heart of Katmai: An Administrative History of the Brooks River Area, with Special Emphasis on Bear Management in Katmai National Park and Preserve 1912–2006

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