Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve - What is a Park and Preserve? (U.S. National Park Service)

Establishment
Wrangell-St. Elias National Monument (10,950,000 acres) was established along with 16 other national monuments on November 16, 1978. The Alaska Native Interests Land Conservation Act (ANILCA) of November 12, 1980 established Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve (WRST) and nine other national parks, and designated 56,000,000 acres of wilderness, effectively more than doubling the acreage in the NPS and Wilderness Preservation System. The Park contained 8,147,000 acres and the Preserve 4,171,000 acres. ANILCA-designated wilderness in WRST measured 9,660,000 acres.

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve

Preserve
ANILCA directed that preserves be administered “in the same manner as a national park…except that the taking of fish and wildlife for sport purposes and subsistence uses, and trapping shall be allowed.” Future access to Dall sheep for sport hunting and protection of certain visitor corridors from hunting were some of the controversial issues involved in drawing the boundaries between Park and Preserve.

Wilderness
In the case of Wrangell-St. Elias, ANILCA permitted maintaining and even constructing structures for protection of public health and safety; it also permitted motorized vehicle use (airplanes, snowmobiles, and ATVs) for subsistence, hunting, fishing, and access to in-holdings, activities normally prohibited in designated wilderness areas in the lower 48 states.

Glossary
A National Monument is an area designated by the President of the United States, under the authority of the Antiquities Act of 1906, to protect objects of scientific and historical interest that are located on Federal lands. May have only one type of national significance

A National Park is an area of unusual scenic or historic interest owned by the federal government and administered by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, to conserve the scenery, the flora and fauna, and any natural and historical objects within its boundaries for public enjoyment in perpetuity. Has more than one type of national significance.

A National Preserve is similar to a National Park, but allows other human activities to occur, such as sport hunting.

Designated wilderness is normally limited to areas with minimal human improvements or habitation, and emphasizes natural conditions and processes, as well as opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation.