Precontact period and archaeology Prehistoric artifacts have been found dating to about 6,000 years before the present near the old Katmai village on the park's south coast. A number of other sites have been found along the coast, notably those of
Kaguyak and
Kukak, with occupation into historic times. Some of these, including sites "49 AF 3" near Kanatak and "49 MK 10", present clear evidence of habitation up to the 1912 eruption, but have not been investigated in detail. The
Amalik Bay Archeological District is a major area containing evidence of some of the earliest human activity in the area, with finds dating back more than 7,000 years. Inland, Brooks Camp is a
significant archaeological site dating to about 4500 BP, listed on the
National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1977 and designated a
National Historic Landmark in 1993. A village abandoned after the 1912 eruption at the mouth of the Savonoski River is documented as the "
Old Savonoski Site", while a more extensive district of sites is located near the mouth of the Grosvenor River. The "
DIL-161 Site" is located in the watershed of the
Alagnak River, and shows evidence of habitation in the first millennium.
Russians and Americans Russians were the first Europeans to arrive in the area in significant numbers, trading in furs. They encountered the Aglegmuit Eskimos on the Bristol Bay side of the peninsula and the Koniag Eskimo on the Shelikov Strait side. Katmai Village was the only location within the park where Europeans lived through the mid-19th century, though their numbers were always few. In the latter part of the 19th century a few villages were established inland at Severnosky and along the coast at Douglas and Kukak. American traders operating for the Alaska Commercial Company took the place of the Russians. As sea otters became scarce the trade dried up, and Katmai and Douglas were abandoned in the early 20th century. In the 1890s the region was a route for travelers going to
Nome for Nome's short-lived gold rush. Writer
Rex Beach was one of these, writing about life on Bristol Bay during the salmon run in
The Silver Horde. Prospects for oil, gold and coal received brief attention, then died out by 1912. The
National Geographic Society backed five expeditions to Katmai, beginning in 1915 with a trip to Kodiak Island and a short stay on the mainland. The expedition, led by
Robert Fiske Griggs, a botanist who was initially interested in the study of plant recolonization. Griggs' follow-up expedition in 1916 discovered and named the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and found Novarupta. The National Geographic Society, delighted with the discoveries, funded a larger expedition in 1917 to make a survey of the region. The subsequent articles published in
National Geographic magazine brought the region to prominence in the public, and Griggs began to advocate for the protection of the area in the national park system, backed by the National Geographic Society. At this time legislation to establish
Mount McKinley National Park (later renamed Denali National Park) was pending, and the idea of making Katmai a national park was discussed by National Park Service acting director
Horace M. Albright and National Geographic Society president
Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor. Albright advised that national park legislation was unlikely to pass, suggesting instead that the region be protected as a
national monument by the President, using the
Antiquities Act of 1906. After some negotiation, and after a 1918 expedition opined that the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes was a permanent feature, a proclamation was prepared to protect around Mount Katmai, the valley, and the most of Iliuk Arm of Naknek Lake. Although only a third of the area of the present park and preserve, the monument was nevertheless half the size of
Yellowstone National Park from the outset. President Woodrow Wilson signed the proclamation of Katmai National Monument on September 24, 1918. In 1937 a ranger was finally assigned to Katmai, seconded to the monument from Mount McKinley, spending most of June trying to get there and one day in the monument before returning to Mount McKinley. In 1939 the
United States Bureau of Fisheries established an encampment at the Brooks Lake outlet, having previously blasted out part of the falls in 1921. At about the same time the Park Service became concerned about illegal trapping in the monument, asking the
Alaska Fish and Game Commission to send wardens to patrol the area. Several trappers were apprehended, and Park Service personnel visited the monument, sending back positive reports on the scenery and wildlife. These reports, and efforts to make poaching more difficult, led to another boundary adjustment that included the islands in the Shelikof Strait and Cook Inlet within of the old boundary, signed by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 4, 1941, which increased the monument's area by several thousand acres. In the 1990s a state game refuge, with was established to the north of the sanctuary to protect Chenik Lake, which supported a smaller fish run, attracting bears. The refuge and the expanded sanctuary have remained closed to hunting, despite an unsuccessful 2005 attempt by Governor
Frank Murkowski and again in 2007 by
Sarah Palin's Board of Game. Recently there have been proposals to merge the sanctuary and refuge into Katmai. When
George B. Hartzog Jr. became director of the National Park Service in 1964, he commissioned a report on Alaskan public lands, entitled
Operation Great Land. The study identified 39 sites that might become preserves or recreation lands, and it recommended that Katmai be expanded somewhat to the west and substantially to the north. The boundary adjustments were amended to a westward expansion of that President
Lyndon B. Johnson signed in 1968, producing anger in Alaska. In 1971 Katmai finally gained a full-time, on-site park superintendent. Also in 1971, Congress passed the
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), which established a framework to divide up Alaska's federal lands. ANCSA established a timetable for claims, withdrawals and designations, requiring the Park Service to come up with a plan for future park units. The Park Service proposed of new park lands, among them a expansion of Katmai. Through the mid-1970s a variety of proposals were circulated for expansion and wilderness designation. At the same time, concerns were raised about the withdrawal of game lands from sport hunting, and the ability of local residents to continue to practice subsistence hunting. To address these concerns, legislation was proposed to create
national preserve lands that would confer protection while allowing regulated sport hunting. Early versions of the
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) proposed Katmai National Park and Preserve as a combination of park and preserve lands. This legislation was stalled in Congress by 1978. Because a deadline was approaching for state selection of public lands, President
Jimmy Carter used his authority under the Antiquities Act to expand Katmai by on December 1, 1978, mainly on the northern side of the monument. Sport and subsistence hunting is prohibited in Katmai National Park but allowed in the preserve.
Fat Bear Week Beginning in 2014, the park has hosted a yearly event called Fat Bear Week, commemorating the bear's yearly preparations for hibernation. The event aims to raise awareness of conservation efforts, and draws over a million votes yearly. == Environmental issues ==