Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve constitutes two official park units jointly managed by the National Park Service in the Alaska panhandle west of Juneau. President Calvin Coolidge first proclaimed the area around Glacier Bay a national monument under the Antiquities Act on February 25, 1925. Subsequent to an expansion of the monument by President Jimmy Carter in 1978, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) enlarged the national monument by 523,000 acres (2116.5 km²) on December 2, 1980 and in the process created Glacier Bay National Park. Similarly ANILCA set aside 57,000 additional acres (230.7 km²) of public land for Glacier Bay National Preserve located to the immediate northwest of the park in order to protect a portion of the Alsek River and related fish and wildlife habitats.

Glacier Bay became part of a binational UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, was inscribed as a Biosphere Reserve in 1986 and in 1994 undertook an obligation to work with Hoonah and Tlingit Native American organizations in the management of the protected area. In total the park and preserve cover 5,130 square miles (13,287 km²). Most of Glacier Bay is designated wilderness area which covers 4,164 square miles (10,784 km²).