McNeil River

McNeil River is a 35-mile waterway on the eastern Alaska Peninsula, flowing from glaciers and alpine lakes in the Aleutian Range to Cook Inlet within a remote tundra landscape. It is renowned less for its size than for the exceptional concentration of Alaska brown bears drawn to chum salmon at McNeil Falls, making it one of the world’s best-known bear-viewing areas. Concern over this dense bear population led to hunting closures beginning in 1955, creation of the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary in 1967, and later expansion of protection. Strict limits on human access and other controls have helped preserve this unusually intact wildlife area.

Kokhanok, Alaska · United States