Introduction
The United States Congress designated the Kobuk Valley Wilderness (
map) in 1980 and it now has a total of
174,545 acres.
All of this wilderness is located in
Alaska and is managed by the National Park Service.
The Kobuk Valley Wilderness is bordered by
the
Selawik Wilderness to the south.
Description
Here in 1.7-million-acre Kobuk Valley National Park, 26 miles north of the Arctic Circle and enclosed by the Baird and Waring Mountains, the climate has changed little (or not at all) since the late Pleistocene era. Remnant flora grow as reminders of the vast Arctic steppe tundra that once bridged present-day Alaska and Asia. At the western end of the Brooks Range, where the mountains descend gently toward the Chukchi Sea, the park contains a transition zone between boreal forestland and open tundra. Strangely out of place, 25 square miles of the crescent-shaped Great Kobuk Sand Dunes shift in Arctic winds. Summer temperatures may rise above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
