Alaska & the Arctic Page

After more than 50 years since its establishment, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, with its priceless biodiversity and breath-taking grandeur, is more important to protect for future generations than ever before. Now celebrating its 50th anniversary, the priceless biodiversity and breath-taking grandeur of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is more important to protect for future generations than ever before. Called "America's Serengeti" for its tremendous biological productivity and diversity, the coastal plain of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of the most intact and untouched ecosystems in America. The refuge is home to 42 mammal species, including more than 120,000 head of caribou; 36 species of fish, and over 160 species of birds. Many of these birds migrate to and from all fifty states and from six continents to feed and reproduce, taking full advantage of the burst of biological growth which blossoms here in the long days of the Arctic summer.

Situated in Southeast Alaska, Tongass National Forest is our nation's largest national forest and, combined with British Columbia's Great Bear Rainforest directly to the south, represents. At almost 17 million acres, this unique area houses some of the oldest trees in the nation, many over 800 years old, and provides critical habitat for the largest population of Bald Eagles in the world.  Stretching 500 miles north-to-south, the Tongass includes thousands of islands, snow-capped mountains, salmon rich streams, glacial fjords, and green valleys that provide some of the most significant and diverse habitat for fish and wildlife, including all five species of pacific salmon, grizzly bears, wolves, Sitka black-tailed deer, Northern Goshawks, and Marbled Murrelets.

Teshekpuk Lake is located on the North Slope of Alaska and is one of the most ecologically important wetlands in the entire Arctic. This sensitive area provides habitat for tens of thousands of molting geese, threatened species like the Spectacled Eider, nesting shorebirds, and the 45,000-head Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Herd.