The Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve is the home of the largest gathering of Bald Eagles in the world! Counts have reached as many as 4000 of these majestic birds in the area of the preserve! Created in 1982, 48,000 acres of the Chilkat River Valley were set aside as "critical habitat" for the American Bald Eagle "in perpetuity" for the protection and preservation of our National symbol.

The reason for this phenomenal wintertime gathering is a unique geological anomaly; a 3-mile wide granite bowl filled with gravel. The friction from the water running through this gravel creates a warm up welling of water at the confluence of the Chilkat and Tsirku rivers that keeps the stretch of the Chilkat River "ice free" all winter long. This, combined with a late run of Chum Salmon in the Chilkat provides a constant food source for the eagles during the harsh Alaskan winter.

Bald Eagles come from as far away as Canada and the Pacific North West to feast on the abundance of salmon late into winter.