Selawik River

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Selawik River
The Selawik River in the National Wildlife Refuge of the same name

The Selawik River in the National Wildlife Refuge of the same name

Data
Water code US :  1413933
location Alaska (USA)
River system Selawik River
Headwaters Purcell Mountains
66 ° 16 '52 "  N , 156 ° 50' 51"  W.
Source height approx.  550  m
muzzle Selawik Lake → Kotzebue-Sund Coordinates: 66 ° 36 '6 "  N , 160 ° 19' 44"  W 66 ° 36 '6 "  N , 160 ° 19' 44"  W.
Mouth height 0  m
Height difference approx. 550 m
Bottom slope approx. 1.5 ‰
length approx. 360 km
Catchment area approx. 14,500 km²
Left tributaries Tagagawik River
Right tributaries Kugarak River
Communities Selawik
National Wild and Scenic River (255 km long upper course)
Cottongrass on the Selawik River

Cottongrass on the Selawik River

The Selawik River is an approximately 360 km long tributary of the Chukchi Sea in northwestern Alaska .

River course

The Selawik River rises on the northern flank of the Purcell Mountains at an altitude of 550  m not far from the North American continental divide . It initially flows 30 km north and then turns west. It forms countless meanders on its course . The river flows westwards at about the height of the Arctic Circle . Larger tributaries of the Selawik River are the Tagagawik River from the left and the Kugarak River from the right. The river flows north past Inland Lake , to which it is connected via a short canal, shortly afterwards passes the village of Selawik and finally flows into Selawik Lake , which is connected to Kotzebue Sound via the Hotham Inlet .

Catchment area

The approximately 14,500 km² catchment area is bounded in the north by the Waring Mountains and the Sheklukshuk Range . In the far east are the Zane Hills . The southern boundary is formed by the Purcell Mountains and the Nulato Hills and, in the extreme southwest, the Selawik Hills . The catchment area borders on that of the Kobuk River in the north, that of the Koyukuk River in the south and that of the Buckland River in the southwest .

The region around the Selawik River forms the transition zone from boreal forests to open arctic tundra . Along the river there are tundra, taiga , lakes and wetlands, river deltas , open sedge meadows and formerly glaciated mountains.

Thermal springs on the upper reaches of the Selawik River keep the river free of ice in winter. The Iñupiat from the coast and also the Athabasques from the inland used the healing properties of the springs.

The Selawik and the northern Kobuk River were used by the indigenous people of Alaska as transport routes from the coast to the more mountainous regions inland. Even today the waterways are transport routes into the roadless hinterland. The river is ice-free and navigable by boat from the beginning of June to mid-October. The rest of the time it is frozen.

Protection status

The Selawik National Wildlife Refuge covers a large part of the catchment area of ​​the Selawik River. In addition, the Selawik River was designated in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act from the upper reaches to the confluence of the Kugarak River over a distance of 255 km as a National Wild and Scenic River .

Fish fauna

The white salmon ( Stenodus leucichthys , English Sheefish ) is an important part of subsistence farming in the region . The upper reaches of the Selawik River and Kobuk River are the only known spawning grounds for this species of fish in northwest Alaska. The fish spend their entire life in the river or in the mouth of the river. They winter in Selawik Lake and in the brackish water of Hotham Inlet. The fish species is the namesake of the river. "Siilvik" is the Inupiaq name for Selawik and means "place of the Sheefish".

Web links

Commons : Selawik River  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Selawik River in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey
  2. ↑ Wildlands ( Memento from October 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ a b Selawik . NANA Regional Corporation, Inc .. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
  4. ^ Selawik River . National Wild & Scenic Rivers System. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  5. ↑ a b c Selawik Sheefish, Murky Future in a Changing Climate? (PDF, 4.3 MB) US Fish & Wildlife Service, Fairbanks Fish & Wildlife Office. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  6. ↑ Selawik National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska . US Fish & Wildlife Service. Retrieved December 11, 2017.