Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge
The Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge is 34,945 km at the National Wildlife Refuge System of the United States ² is the third largest reserve. It is located in the eastern inland Alaska Mündungsbebiet on the Porcupine River in the Yukon. In the north of the Refuge is bordered by the Brooks Range and south of the White Mountains. In the northeast directly closes the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to
The Yukon Flats is a wetland in a pool on permafrost with lakes, rivers and mixed forest of spruce, birch and aspen, prevails in the sub-arctic continental climate. In the winter, up to -57 ° C can be reached, and in summer up to 38 ° C, the highest temperatures in comparable latitudes in North America.
History
Before the arrival of the first Europeans were the Yukon Flats hunting and fishing area athapaskischer natives. The large populations of fur animals attracted in the 19th century, the first European-descended hunter to the Yukon. The Hudson 's Bay Company founded in 1847 in Fort Yukon, within the limits of the later reserve a trading post, but had to retire in 1867 after the Alaska Purchase on Canadian soil and was replaced by the Alaska Commercial Company.
1893 a tributary of the Yukon from the White Mountains, gold was at Birch Creek, found. Circle, a settlement southeast of the Wildlife Refuges later grew temporarily on a population of over 1000. In the 1920s, Fort Yukon was the most important commercial center for furs in Alaska.
In the late 1950s plans were made for the construction of a hydroelectric power plant, which would have completely under water the Yukon Flats. The resistance of environmental organizations, indigenous organizations and the United States Fish and Wildlife Services prevented the project.
On 1 December 1978, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, the Yukon Flats pointed out together with 16 other protected areas of Alaska, on the basis of the Antiquities Act of 1906 as a National Monument. As part of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of December 2, 1980, the boundaries were changed according to political criticism and the status will be downgraded to a wildlife refuge.
Wildlife
The reserve is home to the largest population of ducks in Alaska and one of the largest waterfowl breeding areas in North America. Most breeding birds are migratory birds here, but 13 species such as the Boreal, the great gray owl or woodpecker spruce remain year-round in the region.
Lynx, muskrat, mink and marten inhabit the river valleys. Grizzly bears, wolves and moose are found throughout the reserve, while black bears prefer forested lowlands. Dall sheep live in the tundra areas of the highlands.