The present-day uninhabited Katmai coast belies the rich cultural history of its past. They use various eating techniques, including crushing shells or using their jaws and claws to pry open shellfish. However, unlike the Brooks River bears, these brown bears also have access to other coastal food resources and they are known to clam along the coastal tidal flats. Pre-winter feeding can result in groups of 5-10 to fish the salmon streams together. Once the salmon begin running on the coast, many bears will move to streams and rivers to catch the abundant fish. Due to the wide variety of food sources and unconfined terrain, the bears are highly solitary. During early summer, bears spend much time foraging on the coastal sedge flats at Cape Chiniak and Swikshak, Hallo, and Kukak Bays. Katmai’s brown bears are found in the highest densities along the coast where nutrients and resources are consistently abundant. Wildlife thrive in the various habitats and wolves, foxes, puffins, cormorants, and kittiwakes are fairly common. The only stand of Sitka spruce in the park is also located on the coast, emphasizing the variety of coastal habitats. The 497 miles of the Katmai coast encompass an array of habitats, including salt marshes, sedges, mud flats, gravel beaches, sand beaches, rocky shorelines, alder thickets, and salmon berry bushes. The entire coastline has been shaped by glaciation, with long, narrow fjords and U-shaped valleys. The Katmai coastline extends from the mouth of the Kamishak River in Kamishak Bay to Cape Kubugakli in Shelikof Strait. Separated from the rest of the park by the Aleutian Range, Katmai’s eastern coast is a spectacular wilderness area ranging from narrow fjords guarded by bald eagles to broad coastal flats monopolized by clam-digging bears.
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