Western Arctic and the NPR-A
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Click here for an NPR-A Slideshow presentation
 The 23.5 million acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska lies in the northwestern third of Alaska's arctic between the Brooks Range and the Arctic Ocean. It is a deceptive land, harsh and unforgiving yet surprisingly fragile. While the landscape at first appears barren and empty, the immense distances and the diminutive vegetation soon come into perspective and display a startling number and diversity of wildlife. White-fronted geese appear as if by magic among the tussocks; arctic poppies nod and dance in the wind; a long-tailed jaeger hovers just at the crest of a low hill before folding its wings and diving toward the tundra. In the distance what looks like a scattering of stones turns out to be grazing caribou.
 The reserve encompasses a vast array of Arctic coastal plain wetlands and lagoons, rolling foothills, and wild rivers that serve as breeding grounds for millions of birds. At least 80 different bird species use the nationally and internationally recognized habitat of the reserve including black brant; red-throated, Pacific, and the rare yellow-billed loon; king, common, and the threatened Steller's and spectacled eider. In addition, the NPRA supports the 450,000-member Western Arctic caribou herd, Alaska's largest caribou herd, and the 45,000-member Teshekpuk caribou herd as well as grizzly bears, wolves, and wolverines. The Colville River provides important habitat for moose, grizzlies, wolves, passerines, and nesting raptors including high densities of arctic peregrine falcons. The fisheries and wildlife resources of the NPRA provide subsistence for more than a dozen Alaska Native villages on its periphery. For the Pacific brant, yellow-billed loon, Steller's and spectacled eider, arctic peregrine falcon, and beluga whale, there is no comparable habitat available elsewhere in Alaska's Arctic or the nation.
The First World War brought home to the US the critical significance of oil, and in 1923 President Harding set aside 23 million acres in Alaska's arctic as Naval Petroleum Reserve Number Four. In 1976, Congress recognized the Reserve's unique wildlife and wilderness values and transferred jurisdiction over the reserve to the United States Department of the Interior, changing its name to the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Congress also authorized the Secretary of Interior to recognize "Special Areas" within the Reserve which contained significant natural values where "maximum protection" was required. Three such areas were designated: the Colville River, Teshekpuk Lake, and Utukok Uplands Special Areas. Click here for a map of designated special areas. Unfortunately, since their designation, Congress has not taken steps to provide long-term protection for these areas or to resolve long-term management issues for the entire Reserve.
Colville River
Flowing from west to east along the Brooks Range and then north into the Arctic Ocean, the Colville is the largest river on Alaska's North Slope. It supports over twenty different species of fish including arctic char, pink and chum salmon, burbot, long-nosed suckers, sculpin and sticklebacks. The river banks are also home to moose, grizzlies, wolves and caribou.
More conspicuous than these, and more important in terms of conservation, are the phenomenal numbers of raptors that utilize the cliffs for nesting. One of the healthiest populations of peregrine falcons in the world makes use of the ledges and crannies along the river to raise their young, as do gyrfalcons, and rough-legged hawks.
Along the lower reaches of the river, at Ocean Point, prehistoric currents have exposed some of the most important and productive dinosaur finds in the arctic. Ocean Point and the Liscombe bone-beds are the northernmost Cretaceous deposits in the world and may help answer many questions about dinosaur extinctions and the history of global climate changes.
 Teshekpuk Lake
For sheer volume of wildlife, the network of coastal lagoons, deep-water lakes, wet sedge grass meadows and river deltas of the Teshekpuk Lake area are unsurpassed in the Reserve. Not only is this region the calving grounds for the 45,000-member Teshekpuk caribou herd, but it also provides vital habitat for up to 60,000 molting geese, including a large proportion of the world's population of brant, as well as spectacled and Stellar's eiders.
Within the Teshekpuk Lake area is a region of active sand dunes. Called the Pik Dunes, scientists feel they may hold clues to understanding major climate fluctuations over the last 12,000 years.
Utukok Uplands
 Comprising over 4 million acres in the southeast corner of the Reserve, the Utukok Uplands is a favorite calving area for the 450,000 member Western Arctic caribou herd, which congregates in the hills by the tens of thousands in the spring.
Caribou are ancient and highly adapted animals. Always on the move, they are the most efficient walkers of all the large deer; pound for pound a caribou requires less energy to travel a given distance than does any of its relatives. Efficiency can be measured in other ways as well. Winter foods such as lichen contain so little nutrients that for most animals the process of digesting them costs more than it yields; yet caribou use lichen regularly to get them through the long winters. Even so, late summer forage is crucial to caribou winter survival, and the Utukok Uplands provides some of the best in the Reserve. For this reason it is an important migration route for both the Western Arctic and the Teshekpuk caribou on their way to winter grounds to the south.
Click here to download the full-color NPR-A brochure!
(24.8 megabytes, .pdf file)
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