Denali National Park is a star of the U.S. Park System as well as home to Mt. Denali, North America’s highest peak. This park has a thriving tourism industry that surrounds the mountain for hundreds of miles. The United States recently reached an official Sister Park Arrangement with Otgontenger Strictly Protected Area (SPA) in the Zavkhan Province of Mongolia. Otgontenger is a 95,510-hectare National Park with hundreds of kilometers of rolling mountain ranges and fast-flowing rivers. This agreement was made as a symbol of the committed partnership and friendship between the two nations as a commemoration of the 30th anniversary of United States-Mongolia diplomatic relations. The ongoing exchange of scientists, ideas, and tourism outreach will benefit both parks their countries.
Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska was the first national park established to conserve wildlife. The park protects six million acres of wild land in the center of Alaska around Mt. Denali, the tallest peak in North America at 20,320 feet.
Mt. Denali, Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska.
Denali's new sister park is very similar in that it is protecting wild lands around the area's highest peak, Mt. Otgontenger which stands at 4008 m. above sea level. It is the only peak in the Khangai Range that is capped with a permanent glacier.
Jennifer Zimdahl Galt, the U.S. Ambassador to Mongolia, and Dulamsuren Oyunkhorol, the Minister of Environment and Tourism of Mongolia signed the agreement on August 25, 2017.
Traditional Mongolian beliefs, tied to the introduction of Bhuddism, have held that wrathful deities inhabit many of Mongolia's sacred mountains. The angry Bhoddishatva Ochirvaani is said to live on Otgontenger Mountain.
Whether or not Ochirvaani lives there, hiking up the mountain is prohibited by government decree to protect the wild inhabitants and their habitat. But you can climb nearby Dayan Mountain for a spectacular view of Otgontenger.
Mongolia has the second largest snow leopard population in the world, next to China, estimated at about 1000 cats. Otgontenger Mountain is the perfect altitude for snow leopard habitat and these elusive creatures are studied in the park.
Yak herders in the area kill snow leopards when they attack yak herds. Projects to find a balance between the needs of the local people and the endangered species are ongoing.
The Sister Park Agreement will promote cooperation between the two parks through the exchange of professional and technical knowledge and administrative techniques for both parks.
This amazing exchange will help Alaskan travelers, scientists and park professionals as well as U.S. - Mongolia relations. Otgontenger Strictly Protected Area is an excellent new Sister Park for Alaska.
