A young, two year old coastal brown grizzly bear uses it's razor sharp claws to open and eat a clam, along the beach near Silver Salmon Creek in Lake Clark National Park. Apex predators in their ecosystems, these bears spend weeks eating claws they dig from the beach, grazing on the fresh grasses in late spring and early summer, before the coastal salmon runs start and the fall berry crop arrives. These coastal dwelling bears are very similar to grizzly bears, which live 100 or more miles inland, but they get much bigger due to plenty of food sources such as grasses and salmon. The ecosystem protected within Lake Clark National Park is one of the largest areas in the world where Brown Grizzly bears are protected from hunting. Silver Salmon Creek, which empties into the Cook Inlet, is one of the most accessible places to view these bears up close in the world. This popular summer tourism destination allows the few visitors lucky enough to take excursions from Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula to visit Silver Salmon Creek to see not just one but many of these magnificent creatures, one of the largest land predators in the world, often while fishing for salmon themselves.
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