Kobuk Valley National Park is a U.S. national park in the Arctic region of northwestern Alaska. It is located about 25 miles (40 km) north of the Arctic Circle. The park was created in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act to protect the 100 ft (30 m) high Great Kobuk Sand Dunes and the surrounding area, which includes paths used by caribou for migration. Visitors must bring all their own equipment for activities like backcountry camping, hiking, backpacking, boating, and dog sledding. There are no roads or trails in the park, which covers 1,750,716 acres (2,735.5 sq mi; 7,084.9 km²). This makes the park slightly larger than the state of Delaware. Kobuk Valley is one of eight national parks in Alaska, the state with the second most national parks. California has more, with nine. The park is managed by the National Park Service.
Because there are no roads leading into the park, visitors arrive by private airplane flights from places like Nome, Bettles, or Kotzebue. Flights are available all year, but depend on weather conditions. Kobuk Valley is one of the least-visited U.S. national parks, along with other parks that are not accessible by road. These include Gates of the Arctic, Isle Royale in Lake Superior, the Dry Tortugas at the end of the Florida Keys, and Katmai and Lake Clark in southern Alaska.
Geography
The park is the center of a large area with many different plants and animals between Selawik National Wildlife Refuge and Noatak National Preserve. It is more than 75 miles (121 km) by river to the Chukchi Sea. Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve are 32 miles (51 km) to the east. The park includes about 81,000 acres (33,000 ha) of land owned by Native corporations and the State of Alaska.
The park includes the wide wetlands valley of the Kobuk River, which flows along the southern edge of the western Brooks Range, known as the Baird Mountains. The park’s northern boundary follows the highest point of the Baird Mountains, while the southern boundary follows the shorter Waring Mountains, forming a ring that surrounds the Kobuk Valley. The middle two-thirds of the Kobuk River, from just above Kiana to just below Ambler, is included in the park, along with several major tributaries, such as the Salmon River and the Hunt River. The valley floor is mostly covered by glacial drift. Much of the southern part of the park, south of the Kobuk River, is managed as the Kobuk Valley Wilderness, covering 174,545 acres (70,636 ha). The Selawik Wilderness lies to the south in the nearby Selawik National Wildlife Refuge.
Three sets of sand dune fields are located on the south side of the Kobuk River. The Great Kobuk Sand Dunes, Little Kobuk Sand Dunes, and Hunt River Dunes are remains of dune fields that covered as many as 200,000 acres (81,000 ha) after ancient glaciers melted. A mix of materials left by glaciers and strong winds created the dunes, which are now mostly covered by forest and tundra. Today, active dune fields cover about 20,500 acres (8,300 ha). The Great Kobuk Sand Dunes are the largest active Arctic dune field in North America. NASA has funded studies of the dunes as a comparison to Martian polar dunes.
The park’s headquarters are at the Northwest Arctic Heritage Center in Kotzebue, about 100 miles (160 km) west of the park on the Bering Sea coast. Seasonal ranger stations are located along the Kobuk River at Kallarichuk, at the west end of the park, and at Onion Portage, at the east end of the park. Offices and visitor services for Cape Krusenstern National Monument and Noatak National Preserve are in the same facility. These areas are managed together as the Western Arctic National Parklands, with one Park Service superintendent overseeing them all.
Climate
According to the Köppen climate classification system, Kobuk Valley National Park has a Subarctic climate (Dfc) with cool summers and rain or snow all year. Dfc climates are described by having the coldest month with an average below 0 °C (32 °F), 1–3 months with averages above 10 °C (50 °F), all months with averages below 22 °C (72 °F), and no major difference in rainfall between seasons. The United States Department of Agriculture states that the Plant Hardiness zone at Kallarichuck, at an elevation of 13 feet (4.0 m), is 2a, with an average annual extreme minimum temperature of −47.1 °F (−43.9 °C).
Weather in the park can have very cold or very hot conditions. Average low temperatures in January are −8 °F (−22 °C), and nighttime lows can reach −50 °F (−46 °C). Summer temperatures average about 65 °F (18 °C), with some days reaching 85 °F (29 °C). Because the park is above the Arctic Circle, the sun does not set from June 3 to July 9, and the sun is visible for only 1 + 1⁄2 hours on the winter solstice. Long periods of twilight occur near sunrise and sunset in winter. The aurora borealis is often seen on winter nights when solar activity is high. Snow can fall at any time of the year. Wind and rain are common during summer.
Ecology
The park is located in an area where two types of environments meet: the boreal forest and the tundra.
The fish and animals in the park are common in Arctic and subarctic regions. Important species include caribou, moose, and fish such as salmon and sheefish. The most noticeable animals are the 400,000 caribou from the Western Arctic herd. These caribou travel each year between their winter homes, which are south of the Waring Mountains, and their summer birthing areas, which are north of the Baird Mountains. The caribou’s yearly crossing of the Kobuk River is important for the Inupiaq people’s hunting for food and survival.
Large animals in the park include wolf packs, Arctic and red foxes, caribou, and moose. Other animals present are black bears, brown bears, beavers, river otters, Canadian lynxes, and Dall sheep. Smaller mammals include wolverines, martens, minks, porcupines, muskrats, snowshoe hares, and many types of voles. Fish species in the park include chinook, chum, pink, and sockeye salmon, as well as other fish like Dolly Varden, Arctic char, lake trout, and Arctic grayling. Other fish found in the park are burbot, Arctic lamprey, round, broad, and humpback whitefish, and pond and rainbow smelt.
History
Human living in Kobuk Valley is believed to have begun at least 12,500 years ago. Today, the people who live in the valley are the Inupiat, who rely on hunting and fishing for their food. The Onion Portage Archaeological District is a National Historic Landmark located at the eastern end of the Kobuk River within the park. This site, which is important because it is where caribou often cross the river, shows evidence of nine different groups of people who lived there from about 8,000–6,000 BC to around 1000–1700 AD. The land where this site is located is owned by the NANA Regional Corporation, an Alaskan Native organization with rights in the park.
The first people to live in Kobuk Valley were part of the Paleo-Arctic tradition, who hunted caribou at Onion Portage. For about 2,000 years, no people lived in the area until groups from the Archaic tradition arrived from the south and east. Around 4,000 years ago, people from the Arctic Small Tool tradition came to the valley, but they left between 1,500 and 1,000 years ago, leaving the area empty again. New people arrived by about 1200 AD, as shown by the Ahteut site, which is 25 miles (40 km) downstream from Onion Portage. People lived in the valley until the mid-19th century, when caribou numbers dropped, and they moved closer to the coast. These people were called the Akunirmiut and Kuuvaum Kangiamirnuit. One of their villages was near the mouth of the Hunt River, inside the park. Their descendants, now known as the Kuuvangmiit, mostly live outside the park today.
About 32 camps were built during a short gold rush in 1899–1900. These camps have not yet been found, but signs of the miners’ boats, such as broken pieces, have been discovered.
Kobuk Valley National Park was created as one of 15 new National Park Service areas under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) of 1980. It was first made a national monument by President Jimmy Carter on December 1, 1978, using his power under the Antiquities Act while lawmakers debated ANILCA. ANILCA was passed in 1980 and signed by Carter on December 2, 1980. Unlike many other National Park Service areas in Alaska, Kobuk Valley is fully national park land. Only local residents are allowed to hunt for food in the park. No part of the park is a national preserve, which would allow hunting for sport.