Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve
Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, established on December 2, 1980, is located in Alaska and is recognized as the northernmost national park in the United States. Spanning approximately 8.5 million acres, it ranks as the second-largest national park in the country and features stunning landscapes shaped by glaciers, including valleys, mountains, and six designated National Wild and Scenic Rivers. The park is notable for its isolation, lacking roads or established trails, which means visitors must arrive by plane or on foot and be equipped for backcountry survival. Gates of the Arctic is home to diverse wildlife, including caribou, grizzly bears, wolves, and various bird species, and it supports both rich ecological systems and important traditional routes used by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years.
The Brooks Range runs through the park and includes the prominent peaks known as the Gates of the Arctic, named by forester Robert Marshall in the 1920s. The area has been preserved largely due to advocacy efforts that emerged during the Alaskan conservation movement in the mid-20th century, which aimed to protect the wilderness from development threats. Visitors to the park can engage in activities such as camping and guided expeditions, but they must be prepared for the region's extreme weather conditions and rugged terrain. Climate change poses challenges to the park's ecosystems, affecting permafrost and wildlife habitats, making the preservation of this unique wilderness increasingly urgent.
Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve
Park Information
- Date Established: December 2, 1980
- Location: Alaska
- Area: 8,472,506 acres
Overview
Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve is the northernmost national US park. At nearly 8.5 million acres, it is the second-largest national park in the United States. It is known for its natural beauty and extreme weather conditions. The park contains valleys gouged by glaciers, six National Wild and Scenic Rivers, and an abundance of wildlife. It is also home to Anaktuvuk Pass, a village of native peoples. The Endicott Mountains of the Brooks Range, the northernmost tip of the Rocky Mountains, are at the center of the park and lie from east to west. The southwest corner of the park includes the tallest peaks of the Brooks Range in the Schwatka Mountains.
Gates of the Arctic is prized for its largely unspoiled condition. Although some areas have been adversely affected by increased traffic in the park, much of it remains pristine. The park is extremely isolated, with no roads or human trails in or out. Visitors may only travel there by plane or on foot. The park does not include a visitor center or any facilities. Those who journey to the park, which is completely north of the Arctic Circle, must provide everything they need and should be skilled in backcountry survival. Visitors may also book day trips or camping expeditions with trained guides. Visitors may encounter caribou, grizzly bears, foxes, wolverines, wolves, and other wildlife.
History
Humans have inhabited the monument area for about seven thousand years. The park contains some traditional Athabascan-Inuit trade routes. Pioneers visited the area early in the twentieth century, primarily to mine minerals. US Forest Service forester Robert (Bob) Marshall was instrumental in ensuring the region was preserved. He traveled to Alaska during the late 1920s to find isolated and unspoiled areas. While following the North Fork of the Koyukuk Wild River in 1929, he looked upon the Brooks Range, noting a pair of mountains on each side of the valley, and called them the Gates of the Arctic. He called the peak of Mount Boreal the east portal, and the peak of Frigid Crags the west portal.
Marshall returned to the area several times in the early 1930s, frequently visiting a mining village named Wiseman. He mapped waterways and came to know the Alaska native people. He introduced the world to the unspoiled wild country in 1933, when he published Arctic Village. His writings encouraged wilderness lovers to clamor for preservation of the area where Marshall dubbed the twin peaks the Gates of the Arctic. His interest became urgent later in the twentieth century, when oil and mineral discoveries threatened the area with development. Olaus Murie, author and naturalist, advocated for preservation of the Alaskan backcountry for the native and pioneer people who lived there, seeing it as a place protected from the outside world. Murie and his wife, Mardy, helped to get the area designated the Arctic National Wildlife Range.
The Alaskan conservation movement of the 1960s and 1970s combined the efforts of traditionalists and environmentalists to block oil pipeline construction, and led to the National Park Service suggesting the central Brooks Range as a candidate for national park designation. President Jimmy Carter in 1978 designated several areas of Alaska as national monuments, and in 1980, Congress created 106 million acres of protected lands with the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve became the central portion of an almost 800-mile (1,287-kilometer) belt of protected land encompassing the entire Brooks Range.
Geology and Ecology
The most prominent feature of Gates of the Arctic National Park is the Brooks Range, named for US Geological Survey geologist Alfred H. Brooks, who explored Alaska in the early twentieth century. The southern region of the park contains wide glaciated valleys and rounded foothills. These give way to sharp rock ridges at the highest peaks of the mountains. The northern slopes are steeper than the south, and descend rapidly to the Arctic coastal plain.
The marine sedimentary and metamorphic rocks of the park date from millions of years ago. Alaska has a long history as a source of valuable resources, including gold, and the older rocks are the source of oil reservoirs. Many fossils have been found in the park as well.
The mountains of the Brooks Range were carved more than a million years ago by glaciers. Many slopes feature cirques, steep half-open hollows formed by glacial erosion. Many active alpine glaciers are located in north-facing cirques, although the area of glaciers has been reduced by about half from about 1980 to 2018. Following 2018, the level of glacier coverage continued to decline due to various environmental factors, such as global climate change. Glaciers have left their imprint throughout the park in the form of moraine deposits, glacial lakes, U-shaped valleys, eskers (long, often meandering sediment ridges deposited by glacial meltwater), and outwash deposits (sand and gravel deposited by running water from glacial melt).
Most of the park contains permafrost, the layer of permanently frozen material beneath the active layer, which is the intermittent freeze-thaw zone. Permafrost is subject to degradation due to climate change, groundwater removal, and other factors. Degradation of permafrost may lead to landscape collapse, such as bogs and pits, as well as changes to topography. Since 1950, researchers have noted some loss of permafrost.
Ecosystems range from the boreal spruce forest and riparian shrub thickets of the south to the arctic tussock tundra in the north. Much of the park is classified as wetlands. Climate change has affected some wetland habitats. These changes may threaten migratory bird species that rely on the park as stopover areas. Six rivers in the park are designated wild and scenic: Noatak, Kobuk, North Fork of the Koyukuk, John, Alatna, and Tinayguk. The park contains several large arctic lakes, including Walker Lake, which is a National Natural Landmark. Climate change has also affected the habitats of some mammals. Caribou, moose, and Dall’s sheep are important resources, while predators include grizzly bears and wolves.
While subsistence hunting by local residents is permitted in the national park, hunting and trapping by others is allowed only with licenses in the national preserve. These areas are in the northeast and southwest corners of the Gates of the Arctic. Fishing is permitted in the park’s streams and lakes.
Bibliography
“Creation of Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve.” National Park Service, 14 Apr. 2015, www.nps.gov/gaar/learn/historyculture/creation-of-gates-of-the-arctic-national-park-and-preserve.htm. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.
“Discover a Premier Wilderness.” National Park Service, 16 Nov. 2023, www.nps.gov/gaar/index.htm. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.
“Gates of the Arctic National Park.” National Geographic, 5 Nov. 2009, www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/national-parks/gates-arctic-national-park/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.
Harris, Ann G., et al. Geology of National Parks. Sixth Edition. Kendall Hunt, 2004.
“Significant Values of Gates of the Arctic.” National Park Service, 29 Aug. 2017, www.nps.gov/gaar/learn/significant-values-of-gates-of-the-arctic.htm. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.
“State of the Park Report for Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve.” National Park Service, 20 Aug. 2018, www.nps.gov/stateoftheparks/gaar/naturalresources/naturalresources.cfm. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.