NPS Photo

Arctic Ground Squirrel

The Brooks Range is an alpine arctic mountain range which stretches across the entire northern portion of Alaska. Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve encompasses the central Brooks Range, preserving intact a variety of arctic and subarctic ecosystems.

Here in this remote, wild land, natural processes function as they have for thousands of years, ensuring the survival of arctic adapted plants and animals, and the people who depend on them. The park is a valuable natural laboratory for scientific research. 

NPS Photo Teri McMillan

Arnica

Gates of the Arctic is a world of grand scales — scales of size, distance, and time. Breathtaking mountains encircle crystalline lakes that mirror the changing sky. Rivers cascade down the southern slope through mountain-rimmed, forested valleys. The northern slope of the Brooks Range is a mosaic of broad U-shaped and narrow V-shaped valleys fading into distant tundra covered with wildflowers. These panoramas reflect long-term processes. Glaciation, erosion, permafrost soil development, and wildfire have shaped and ultimately maintain the landscape.

NPS Photo

Muskoxen

Against this backdrop, plants and animals utilize remarkable adaptations to survive and even thrive. Muskoxen remind us of an Ice Age that ended 10,000 years ago. Inch-high lichens shaped like leaves or tiny antlers lie underfoot. Thousands of caribou on the move to far destinations graze on these same lichens.

Visitors who look beyond the inspiring scenery will discover the intricate web of life that is the basis of this unique and timeless place.