The Land of the Iñupiat

Nearly 5000 years of accumulated beach ridges show up well as concentric curved lines in the light of the summer sun. Arctic Ocean is on the left, Krusenstern Lagoon on the right.

NPS Photo/M. Woodbridge Williams

Cape Krusenstern National Monument is a coastal plain dotted with sizable lagoons and backed by gently rolling limestone hills. In summer, wildflowers color the beach ridges. Large numbers of migratory birds come from all over the world to Cape Krusenstern to nest. In fall, these migrating birds use the lagoons as feeding and staging areas. Shifting sea ice, ocean currents, and waves continue to form spits and lagoons possessing important scientific, cultural, and scenic values.

This is the land of the Iñupiat. View Bob Uhl’s Cape Krusenstern, a collection of stories and Iñupiaq place names documented by a family that lived off the land before and after ANILCA designated the Monument to protect the Cape Krusenstern Beach Ridges.

Nearly 5,000 years of Iñupiat heritage are represented on the 114 well-preserved beach ridges located adjacent to Krusenstern Lagoon (Giddings and Anderson, 1986). Sites on the bluff behind the beach ridges may date as early as 9,000 years before present.

Because the ridges accumulated over time, the earliest ridges lie inland, with the most recently formed ridges and bluffs near the shore. This unusual series of beach ridges presents, in sequence, detailed evidence of an estimated 9,000 years of Iñupiaq use of this coastline. Some archeological sites here are older than well-known remains of ancient Egyptian civilizations. Numerous research projects have focused on this beach ridge complex.

As the coastline continues to take new shape, land use continues throughout the Monument. Along the outer beaches, the Iñupiat still hunt marine mammals. Seasonal camps dot the coastline, established on private allotments within the boundary. Subsistence use by local rural residents is protected in the Monument. A road to the Red Dog mine crosses the northern boundary. Trucks haul lead and zinc from open pit mines to a tidewater port. Teck Cominco Alaska operates the mine. It is owned by the NANA Regional Corp., a Native-owned corporation based in Kotzebue