Kluane National Park and Reserve

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Kluane National Park and Reserve
IUCN category II (national park)[1]
Quill Creek
Location of Kluane National Park in Canada
Location	Yukon, Canada
Nearest city	Haines Junction
Coordinates	60°37′10″N 138°19′52″W / 60.61943°N 138.331°W / 60.61943; -138.331
Area	5,900 km2 (2,300 sq mi) (park) 22,013 km2 (8,499 sq mi) (total)
Established	1972 as a National Park Reserve. May 29, 1993: an eastern portion of the Reserve became a National Park; the rest continues as a Reserve
Visitors	47,098 (in 2022–23[2])
Governing body	Parks Canada
Website	Kluane National Park and Reserve
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Part of	Kluane / Wrangell-St. Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek
Criteria	Natural: (vii), (viii), (ix), (x)
Reference	72
Inscription	1979 (3rd Session)
Extensions	1992, 1994

Kluane National Park and Reserve (/kluːˈɑːniː/; French: Parc national et réserve de parc national de Kluane) are two protected areas in the southwest corner of the territory of Yukon. The National Park Reserve was set aside in 1972 to become a national park, pending settlement of First Nations land claims. It covered an area of 22,013 square kilometres (8,499 square miles). When agreement was reached with the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations over an eastern portion of the Reserve, that part—about 5,900 square kilometres (2,300 square miles)—became a national park in 1993, and is a unit of the national park system administered co-operatively with Parks Canada. The larger western section remains a Reserve, awaiting a final land claim settlement with the Kluane First Nation. The park borders British Columbia to the south, while the Reserve borders both British Columbia to the south, and the United States (Alaska) to the south and west.

The Reserve includes the highest mountain in Canada, Mount Logan (5,959 metres or 19,551 feet) of the Saint Elias Mountains. Mountains and glaciers, including Donjek Glacier, dominate the park's landscape, covering 83% of its area. The rest of the land in the park is forest and tundra—east of the largest mountains and glaciers—where the climate is colder and drier than in the western and southern parts of the park. Trees grow only at the park's lowest elevations. The primary tree species are white spruce, balsam poplar and trembling aspen.^[3][4]