Koyukuk National Wildlife Refuge
| Koyukuk National Wildlife Refuge | |||
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| Location: | Alaska , United States | ||
| Next city: | Koyukuk | ||
| Surface: | 14,367 km² | ||
| Founding: | 2nd December 1980 | ||
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The Koyukuk National Wildlife Refuge is a 14,367 km² protected area of the National Wildlife Refuge System in inland Alaska . It lies in a basin in the floodplain of the Koyukuk River and is framed by the Yukon , the Purcell Mountains and the foothills of the Brooks Range . The refuge is managed by the World Conservation Union in category IV ( biotope and species protection area ).
Spruces grow in the lowlands of the river meadows. Above the tree line at around 600 m, the vegetation form is alpine tundra . Except on the southern slopes of the mountains and along the rivers, there is discontinuous permafrost .
Part of the refuge is the 1,600 km² Koyukuk Wilderness , a designated Wilderness Area , the strictest class of nature reserves in the United States. With the Nogahabara dunes, there is an approximately 65 km² sandy desert in this wilderness area. The dunes are part of a now largely inactive dune area from the Pleistocene . The dunes can reach a height of 200 m with a length of up to 300 m. The sand consists of deposits from glacial areas in the northwest that have accumulated in the periglacial area of the Koyukuk.
Wildlife
The aquatic plants of the wetland and an abundance of invertebrates provide food for large aquatic bird populations. Up to 100,000 ducks hatch each year in the area of the refuge. Songbirds and birds of prey also use the refuge as a nesting area and habitat.
The marshland of the Koyukuk Wilderness is home to one of the densest elk populations in Alaska , with up to ten animals per square mile . The Western Arctic , a herd of reindeer with more than 450,000 animals, frequently roams the northern regions of the refuge in the winter months in search of lichens buried under the snow. The Galena Mountain herd of around 300 animals lives in the reserve all year round. Also, wolves , lynx , black and grizzly bears have a habitat.
history
Indians from the Koyukon tribe have lived in the area of today's protected area for millennia. The raw materials of the area were used as goods for trade with the Inupiaq , an Eskimo group living to the north-west . Even today they use the natural resources that the wetland offers.
The first fur hunters arrived from Russia in the mid-19th century, set up trading posts and brought European goods to the region for barter. Gold was found at the end of the century. In 1898 steamers brought the prospectors across the Koyukuk to the foothills of the Brooks range. The gold rush subsided quickly, but mining is still practiced on the tributaries of the Koyukuk north of the borders of the protected area.
The refuge was founded in 1980 by US President Jimmy Carter under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act .
Web links
- US Fish & Wildlife Service: Koyukuk National Wildlife Refuge (official site; English)
- Koyukuk Wilderness (English)
Individual evidence
Alaska Maritime | Alaska Peninsula | Arctic | Becharof | Innoko | Izembek | Kanuti | Kenai | Kodiak | Koyukuk | Nowitna | Selawik | Tetlin | Togiak | Yukon Delta | Yukon Flats