AK2006 -- Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

Near Portage on the Seward Highway, the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center has been built as sort of sanctuary for injured animals. Once treated, they release them back into the wild -- or if they cant be released -- they give them a permanent home. . .

A random moose munching down. . .

. . .trying to make a getaway. . .

. . .another one eating some feed under the loafing shed. . .

. . .redneck moose walking around with a stick in his mouth. . .

. . .a marker at the exhibit speaking more about the moose species. . .

. . .an unrelated posters about the Alaska Rainforest and Tundra at the moose exhibit. . .

. . .a heard of sitka black tailed deer. . .

. . .closeup of one of a doe. . .

. . .this one was very adamant about pulling this stick through the fence. . .

. . .just relaxing underneith the tree. . .

. . .back towards the loafing sheds. . .

. . .the kiddos hiding in the loafing sheding. . .

. . .the obligitory “here's where you're at:” sign. . .

. . .next door to the deer -- a Musox pin. . .

. . .the herd just munching down under the mountains. . .

. . .the herd heading out to the back of the pasture. . .

. . .some other muskox just sleeping the afternoon away. . .

. . .a grizzly bear looking for attention at the fenceline. . .

. . .he was watching the muskox in the pasture across the park road. . .

. . .his 'dont mess with me' claws. . .

. . .he got bored with the muskox. . .

. . .another grizzly in the pasture sitting back watching the other bears. . .

. . .time for a staring contest. . .

. . .back to looking for food. . .

. . .the bear's lunch toy. . .

. . .in another pasture, this black bear was pacing back and forth along the fence. He must have paced over 30 times when i was standing there. Not sure what he was rilled about. . .

. . .closeup of the path he created when i was standing there watching him pace. . .

. . .one of the trees knocked down and left to be a toy. . .

. . .the pacing bear eventually stopped freaking everybody out and rejoined the others. . .

. . .this was a marker for the 1964 Alaska Earthquake. At 9.2 on the richter scale, it was the most powerful quake measured in North America. This entire area of Alaska was destroyed when the ground liquified. The ground in this area dropped 8 feet in some places, and as a result this once forested area has turned into wetlands area now sometimes floods in extreme high tides -- and these cottonwood and spruce trees died from salt water poisoning.