Alaska is BIG, so big…..  

•  There are 365 million acres, one for each day of the year.
• If you spread out the entire population, nobody would live within a mile of anybody else.
• You can fit France, Germany, Italy, and the UK and still have room for Maine within the state’s borders.The shoreline of Alaska is 34,000 miles and would wrap around the world if stretched into a straight line.
• The top of Mount McKinley is 20,320 feet above sea level and stands taller from its base to the its top than any other mountain in the world.  McKinley also grows an inch every three years.
• 69% of Alaska is protected land with 150 times more land owned by the government than privately owned property.
• 80% of the volcanoes in the US are in Alaska and that makes up 11% of all the volcanoes in the world.
• Alaska has an average of 10 to 20 earthquakes a day.
• Every resident in Alaska receives a yearly check known as the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend for living there.  This began when the Prudhoe Bay oil field was developed in the 70s and produced so much tax money that the citizens voted to have the state constitution amended and created an account that would send out annual checks to residents.  The amounts fluctuate, but have risen to as high as $2,000.
• The state fish is the King Salmon.  The biggest commercial catch weighed 146 pounds and the biggest sport catch was 97 pounds, both world records and both were caught in Alaska, of course.
• The state sport is dog mushing, but basketball is very popular.
• Alaska’s biggest employer is the fishing industry.
• The state fossil is the woolly mammoth.  Does your state have a fossil?