Noatak River

The Noatak River south of the town near its mouth Noatak

Headwaters of the Noatak River in the Brooks Range

It rises on the slopes of Mount Igikpak in the Schwatka Mountains of the Brooks Range in Gates -of -the- Arctic National Park and flows north of Kotzebue at Hotham Inlet in Kotzebue Sound, an estuary of the Chukchi Sea.

The majority of the river lies in the Noatak National Preserve, whose territory corresponds to the catchment area of the river west of the park. Except for the last few kilometers upstream of the mouth of the Noatak River flows through these two protected areas. Parts of the catchment at Kotzebue Sound, but not the river itself, are in the Cape Krusenstern National Monument. With 26.3 thousand km ² catchment area of the Noatak River is the largest protected river system in the United States.

Protection status

1976 dismissed the UNESCO from the Noatak Biosphere Reserve. On 2 December 1980, explains the source of the Noatak River to the mouth of Kelly River in the Noatak National Preserve to the National Wild and Scenic River under the administration of the National Park Service by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act 530 km.

Flora and Fauna

The vegetation in the Noatak is determined by tundra and boreal coniferous forest in the river valleys and alpine tundra with willows, heather, sour grass and mosses in the adjacent high altitudes. In the humid foothills to find cotton grasses, dwarf birch and alder. Spruce forests are common in the region.

Caribou, moose, Dall sheep, grizzly bears, wolves, foxes, lynx, marten, beaver and muskrat live on the Noatak River. In the river itself and its tributaries there are large stocks of lake trout and arctic grayling.

Kotzebue (Alaska) Municipality Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act National Wild and Scenic Rivers System Taiga Bryophyte Mustelidae Alagnak River Alatna River Andreafsky River Aniakchak River Beaver Creek (Alaska) Birch Creek (Alaska) Charley River Delta River Fortymile River Gulkana River Ivishak River John River (Alaska) Kobuk River Koyukuk River Nowitna River Selawik River Sheenjek River Tinayguk River Tlikakila River Unalakleet River Wind River (Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska)
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