Noatak National Preserve ⓘ

People have made their homes in the Noatak Basin for at least 11,000 years. The Cultural Resource program at Noatak National Preserve documents people in the parks, past and present, and strives to preserve places with special history.

In Alaska, as in the rest of the United States, the National Park Service recognizes and manages five basic types of cultural resources:

The authentic remnants of our nation’s cultural legacy give us an irreplaceable tangible link to our past that cannot be replaced by a book or an article. These authentic places and objects are material touchstones to a past that we experience for ourselves. They serve as material anchors to our past and reference points to our future that cannot be easily erased or eliminated. We can see them, touch them, connect with them in such a way that we can know the past actually happened. Each generation can learn from the ruins, the buildings, and the objects of the past; these are the landmarks that link us over time and space and give meaning and orientation to our lives.

Come time travel with Noatak National Preserve as we explore a powerful river cutting through a vast wilderness, portions of which were unglaciated at times when migrations of people, plants, and animals crossed from eastern Asia into North America via the Bering Land Bridge.

Noatak National Preserve was set aside by congress to protect the nation’s largest unaltered river basin and watershed, provide habitat for many species of flora and fauna, preserve the archeological sites within its boundaries, and provide opportunities for subsistence and scientific study. Most of what we know about the Preserve comes from the oral history of the Inupiat people and the work of scientists such as archeologists, geologists, and biologists. These diverse groups of people all care deeply for this special place.

Despite its wilderness status, Noatak National Preserve has been home to people for well over 11,000 years. These dramatic findings are the result of a recent five year investigation undertaken by National Park Service archeologists surveying the major tributaries of the Noatak River. Iñupiat call this are area home. The Iñupiat of the upper Noatak region were traditionally known as Nuataaġmiut .

Noatak National Preserve is more than just a river in the wilderness. Be transported as you explore some of our fascinating people, stories, and places in the following pages.

The Cultural Resource program at Noatak National Preserve documents people in the parks, past and present, and strives to preserve places with unique history. To learn more about cultural resources, visit our program page .

Noatak is home to a wide array of different animals. Bears, mink, loons, and wolves can all be found living wild in the preserve. People catch many salmon in the Noatak River. The largest caribou herd in Alaska –about 490,000 animals - travels through this area during its migration. Inventory and monitoring efforts combined with traditional ecological knowledge provide information about the park's natural resources. Currently, we estimate that there are 147 birds, 39 mammals, and 13 fish.

Summer along the Noatak River is a story of abundance. From May through September, the snow and ice retreat, the sun shines nearly continuously and the river comes to life. Millions of insects thrive in ponds formed from melting snow trapped by permafrost, and grasses, willows, sedges and lichen flourish in the warm Arctic sun. Iconic arctic animals like grizzly bears, wolves, wolverines, foxes, porcupines, moose and more can be seen darting across the tundra and lumbering through the woods in search of food.

Summer is a time of plenty in Noatak, but any animal that makes its home in the Arctic must contend with the winter. Temperatures plummet, the rivers freeze and the sun disappears. Heavy snow and ice blanket the landscape, hiding in the willows and lichen from sight. Food becomes scarce. As the nights grow long and the temperatures drop, many animals leave, migrating south for the winter. Most of the animals that stay hibernate, spending the long winter asleep underground, but a few, such as the Arctic wolf and the ptarmigan, are active all winter long. They make do with what food remains on the snowy tundra, scraping by until sun and the bounty of summer returns. ***Please note that due to contiguous habitats and ecosystems throughout our parks, there is considerable overlap in flora and fauna between then. Some links below will take you to the Kobuk Valley National Park version of that page.***