Last updated: July 10, 2023
Article
Noatak National Preserve Wilderness Character Narrative
The Noatak Wilderness is a tenacious landscape. Treading the rim of the Arctic Circle and resting at the edge of the continent, the Noatak Wilderness is encircled by mountains and underlain by permafrost. This expansive landscape extends from the western terminus of the Brooks Range to the headwaters of the Noatak River in the east – over 300 miles of unaltered, untamed landscape. Mountain spines frame the river’s path as it flows to the Chukchi Sea in meandering arcs. In this remote landscape, the Noatak Wilderness serves as an icon of diversity, complexity, and naturalness, and represents an opportunity for subsistence lifeways to live on.
The Iñupiat of Northwest Alaska have lived here for thousands of years and their history is embedded in the landscape – depressions of house pits set on river banks and caribou hunting lookouts marked by rock cairns atop ridges. The Iñupiat Ilitqusiat – that which makes us who we are – defines values of humility and respect for nature: values which continue in this landscape, where wilderness helps bridge the values and land ethic of Alaska Natives and those of people from around the world.
With more than 6 million acres of designated wilderness, this landscape is a shifting mosaic of seasons and life that form the rich environments of the Noatak Wilderness. Deep winters envelop the landscape into folds of snow and ice and summers release their energy in a flourish of activity. Wildlife creatively adapts to the dramatic changes in season by hibernating, growing extra fur, or even changing color from summer brown to winter white, like the ptarmigan, ermine, and Alaska hare. Plants find resourceful ways to thrive in this harsh climate, forming as dwarfed ground willows and lupines, and low growing mosses and lichens.
In many ways, this place is much the same as it was thousands of years ago. Now, as our world is beginning to experience dramatic and widespread change, this wilderness is at a crossroads. Encroaching development and climate change threaten to dramatically alter this environment but also present a unique opportunity to preserve the exceptional wilderness character of this vast and diverse wilderness.
Wilderness is essentially unhindered and free from modern human actions that control or manipulate the community of life.
The Noatak River remains one of largest unmanipulated river systems in the world. From its headwaters in the Brooks Range, the river cuts through hundreds of miles of rugged mountains, symmetrical glacially sculpted valleys, boreal forests, and open tundra. Tightly winding river bends and oxbow lakes assert that the Noatak has defined and redefined its own course for thousands of years. Designated as a Wild and Scenic River, the Noatak River is truly untrammeled.
Fires are unhindered as they race across the region. Often lit by a tendril of lightning, fires in Northwest Alaska can blacken thousands of acres until they burn out of their own accord. The only influences these fires face are occasional fuel reduction projects around cabins and allotments. Still, the Noatak maintains natural fire intervals unchanged over centuries and life quickly returns following a fire, ushered in by Canadian bluejoint grass and cottongrass tussock.
Boundaries within the Noatak Wilderness are natural geographic features, such as watersheds – no arbitrarily drawn fences or lines confine this landscape. The community of life here has a noticeable freedom and many species will travel hundreds of miles in their lifetime unimpeded and without encountering restraints from modern civilization.
In the context of such an expansive wilderness, human actions seldom have significant impacts on the community of life. Still, the untrammeled quality of the Noatak Wilderness is influenced by actions affecting predator populations and some research activities. Climate change may also influence the untrammeled quality in the future, for instance, as fuel management increases in response to greater wildfire incidence or efforts to contain invasive or non-native species increase as habitats shift.
The Noatak River remains one of largest unmanipulated river systems in the world. From its headwaters in the Brooks Range, the river cuts through hundreds of miles of rugged mountains, symmetrical glacially sculpted valleys, boreal forests, and open tundra. Tightly winding river bends and oxbow lakes assert that the Noatak has defined and redefined its own course for thousands of years. Designated as a Wild and Scenic River, the Noatak River is truly untrammeled.
Fires are unhindered as they race across the region. Often lit by a tendril of lightning, fires in Northwest Alaska can blacken thousands of acres until they burn out of their own accord. The only influences these fires face are occasional fuel reduction projects around cabins and allotments. Still, the Noatak maintains natural fire intervals unchanged over centuries and life quickly returns following a fire, ushered in by Canadian bluejoint grass and cottongrass tussock.
Boundaries within the Noatak Wilderness are natural geographic features, such as watersheds – no arbitrarily drawn fences or lines confine this landscape. The community of life here has a noticeable freedom and many species will travel hundreds of miles in their lifetime unimpeded and without encountering restraints from modern civilization.
In the context of such an expansive wilderness, human actions seldom have significant impacts on the community of life. Still, the untrammeled quality of the Noatak Wilderness is influenced by actions affecting predator populations and some research activities. Climate change may also influence the untrammeled quality in the future, for instance, as fuel management increases in response to greater wildfire incidence or efforts to contain invasive or non-native species increase as habitats shift.
Wilderness maintains ecological systems that are substantially free from the effects of modern civilization.
The Noatak Wilderness is constantly in motion. Thousands of birds and free-roaming ungulates pass through each year. The largest caribou herd in Alaska – the Western Arctic Caribou Herd – migrates through the Noatak Wilderness biannually, creating rivers of caribou whose hooves beat intricate webs of trails into the hillsides. Salmon and other fish circulate through the rivers and streams. Dall sheep traverse the craggy DeLong and Baird mountains, while brown bears lumber across the tundra. Birds cross the sky, migrating from around the world, including peregrine falcons, golden eagles, montane nesting shorebirds, songbirds, and several Asiatic species. The Noatak Wilderness teems with mosquitoes and flies in summer, and white arctic foxes dart across the frozen tundra in winter. Even the night sky is in motion as northern lights dance through the darkness.
Tundra typifies the Noatak Wilderness with its subtle beauty and complex relationships that are only revealed upon a closer look. Tundra and lichens govern this landscape, providing enough biomass to fuel local ecosystems, feed hundreds of thousands of caribou, as well as influence global systems. The small forms of lichens are tangled together and roughly 900 species with unique colors and shapes are found here, ranging from reindeer lichens with slender white arms, to boreal cup lichens with small red caps.
One of the richest floral assemblages in northern latitudes is found in the Noatak Wilderness, spanning across 5 ecoregions and reaching from sea level to 5,000 feet in elevation. At higher elevations, saxifrages with small pink and white flowers poke above the low-lying mat of lichens. In the lower Noatak, spruce forests fill the valleys and lowlands, while in the upper Noatak, twelve species of willow, alder, birch, and other shrubs transition to river terraces where cranberries, crowberries, and blueberries offer sustenance for bears and visitors alike. In the fall months, cooler temperatures and the waning sunlight bring vibrant change to the hillsides – shrubs and berry bushes turn vivid crimson and willows along river banks turn golden, foreshadowing the monochrome snow, ice, and darkness that will soon cover the region.
Time is etched into the Noatak Wilderness where the mountains are folded and faulted from the uplift and intrusion of colliding tectonic plates. Having remained unglaciated for the past 20,000 years, the Noatak river basin shows its age in eroded cliffs and river bluffs, while moraines and alluvial deposits mark the extent of mountain glaciers that once filled the valleys of the Kugururok, Kaluktavik, and Kelly Rivers – tributaries of the Noatak. Over the years, these slow moving changes have wrought dynamic change across this region and shaped the Noatak we see today.
Water links this region into a flowing system of rivers, waterfalls, braided streams, and chains of lakes. Flat expanses of wetlands and shallow lakes interspersed through the tundra help fuel ecosystems and are cradles of biodiversity. Despite the remoteness and untouched appearance of these resources, pollutants affect air and water quality here and can also be found in many of the plants and animals. Sources vary from global deposition brought on winds and with snow and rain, to local sources like the Red Dog Mine just beyond the western edge of the wilderness. Contaminants, which have included mercury and other heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants, and excess nitrogen, have the potential to affect the integrity of natural resources here, which are imperative to the natural quality of the Noatak Wilderness and to subsistence uses which rely on clear water and air, unfettered wildlife movements, and intact natural systems.
Climate change however, is the most prominent and uncertain threat to the natural quality of the Noatak Wilderness and its effects are already being felt: thawing permafrost causes areas to slump and change shape; regional weather patterns are becoming less predictable and winter icing events with rain-on-snow or mid-winter thaws are increasing; vegetation composition is changing as shrubs move into the tundra and the arctic tree line shifts northward; and animals like the beaver are shifting or expanding their ranges. As habitats shift, non-native, invasive and exotic species such as elodea or pineapple weed may begin to spread, particularly around landing strips and river corridors where new species may be introduced by travelers.
The Noatak Wilderness is constantly in motion. Thousands of birds and free-roaming ungulates pass through each year. The largest caribou herd in Alaska – the Western Arctic Caribou Herd – migrates through the Noatak Wilderness biannually, creating rivers of caribou whose hooves beat intricate webs of trails into the hillsides. Salmon and other fish circulate through the rivers and streams. Dall sheep traverse the craggy DeLong and Baird mountains, while brown bears lumber across the tundra. Birds cross the sky, migrating from around the world, including peregrine falcons, golden eagles, montane nesting shorebirds, songbirds, and several Asiatic species. The Noatak Wilderness teems with mosquitoes and flies in summer, and white arctic foxes dart across the frozen tundra in winter. Even the night sky is in motion as northern lights dance through the darkness.
Tundra typifies the Noatak Wilderness with its subtle beauty and complex relationships that are only revealed upon a closer look. Tundra and lichens govern this landscape, providing enough biomass to fuel local ecosystems, feed hundreds of thousands of caribou, as well as influence global systems. The small forms of lichens are tangled together and roughly 900 species with unique colors and shapes are found here, ranging from reindeer lichens with slender white arms, to boreal cup lichens with small red caps.
One of the richest floral assemblages in northern latitudes is found in the Noatak Wilderness, spanning across 5 ecoregions and reaching from sea level to 5,000 feet in elevation. At higher elevations, saxifrages with small pink and white flowers poke above the low-lying mat of lichens. In the lower Noatak, spruce forests fill the valleys and lowlands, while in the upper Noatak, twelve species of willow, alder, birch, and other shrubs transition to river terraces where cranberries, crowberries, and blueberries offer sustenance for bears and visitors alike. In the fall months, cooler temperatures and the waning sunlight bring vibrant change to the hillsides – shrubs and berry bushes turn vivid crimson and willows along river banks turn golden, foreshadowing the monochrome snow, ice, and darkness that will soon cover the region.
Time is etched into the Noatak Wilderness where the mountains are folded and faulted from the uplift and intrusion of colliding tectonic plates. Having remained unglaciated for the past 20,000 years, the Noatak river basin shows its age in eroded cliffs and river bluffs, while moraines and alluvial deposits mark the extent of mountain glaciers that once filled the valleys of the Kugururok, Kaluktavik, and Kelly Rivers – tributaries of the Noatak. Over the years, these slow moving changes have wrought dynamic change across this region and shaped the Noatak we see today.
Water links this region into a flowing system of rivers, waterfalls, braided streams, and chains of lakes. Flat expanses of wetlands and shallow lakes interspersed through the tundra help fuel ecosystems and are cradles of biodiversity. Despite the remoteness and untouched appearance of these resources, pollutants affect air and water quality here and can also be found in many of the plants and animals. Sources vary from global deposition brought on winds and with snow and rain, to local sources like the Red Dog Mine just beyond the western edge of the wilderness. Contaminants, which have included mercury and other heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants, and excess nitrogen, have the potential to affect the integrity of natural resources here, which are imperative to the natural quality of the Noatak Wilderness and to subsistence uses which rely on clear water and air, unfettered wildlife movements, and intact natural systems.
Climate change however, is the most prominent and uncertain threat to the natural quality of the Noatak Wilderness and its effects are already being felt: thawing permafrost causes areas to slump and change shape; regional weather patterns are becoming less predictable and winter icing events with rain-on-snow or mid-winter thaws are increasing; vegetation composition is changing as shrubs move into the tundra and the arctic tree line shifts northward; and animals like the beaver are shifting or expanding their ranges. As habitats shift, non-native, invasive and exotic species such as elodea or pineapple weed may begin to spread, particularly around landing strips and river corridors where new species may be introduced by travelers.
Wilderness retains its primeval character and influence, and is essentially without permanent improvements or modern human occupation.
The Noatak Wilderness has evaded many influences of modern civilization. Visitors find few barriers between themselves and the landscape here as few developments or improvements are present. Visitors are continually reminded of the unforgiving verity of life above the Arctic Circle as they contend with the unpredictable and unapologetic Noatak Wilderness on their own.
An occasional research installation or administrative structure emerges from the hillside, or perhaps a cabin or some debris can be seen. But camouflaged by the vastness of the surrounding geography and buried beneath snow during winter, these developments are virtually unnoticeable and the Noatak retains a feeling of freedom from modern influences. When visitors do come upon a development however, their experience can be significantly impacted, as developments are an unexpected artifact of the outside world in a landscape that appears remote and untouched.
In the summer, local people construct seasonal fish camps along the banks of the Noatak where strips of salmon and caribou meat are hung to dry. Once food for the winter is gathered and before ice forms in the river, these camps are disassembled, leaving behind subtle traces of a continued tradition. Dog mushing also has a rich history here and served as the primary mode of winter transport for hundreds of years, even precluding the need for motorized transport until recent decades. Dog mushing is a continued tradition in the region and represents an important component of Alaskan culture.
Use of aircraft, snowmachines, and motorboats in Alaskan wilderness areas is allowed under the Alaska Native Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 (ANILCA). Still, these uses affect the undeveloped quality of wilderness and motorized use represents one of the primary impacts to the undeveloped quality of the Noatak Wilderness. Access and travel to the wilderness is difficult and visitors, commercial operators, scientists, locals, and agencies, including the National Park Service, typically access the wilderness by motorized methods. As a result, the undeveloped quality of the Noatak Wilderness presents a paradox: because the area is undeveloped, access is challenging and users often rely on motorized transport to travel to the wilderness, in turn increasing impacts to the undeveloped quality of the area. Yet in this vast landscape, the whine of engines quickly fades as the small planes are swallowed by the sky and dwarfed by the mountains.
During the summer months, users rely on motorboats or airplanes to access the wilderness, which concentrates most use along corridors of accessibility; impacts are sometimes seen in narrow social trails leading from popular plane landing sites to river put-ins. In the winter, snowmachines provide local residents greater access to portions of the wilderness. In addition, helicopters are periodically used to conduct law enforcement and scientific activities.
Requests to conduct research have increased in recent years, with corresponding rises in requests for motorized access, installations, and temporary camps. Individually, and across millions of acres of wilderness, these uses have relatively little impact, but cumulatively, they have the potential to significantly impact the undeveloped quality of the Noatak Wilderness. Scientific value is an integral purpose of the area and the knowledge gained from these studies can help improve wilderness stewardship, but research must be balanced for its affects to the other qualities of wilderness character, as well as the benefits and costs each project brings to the wilderness.
The Noatak Wilderness has evaded many influences of modern civilization. Visitors find few barriers between themselves and the landscape here as few developments or improvements are present. Visitors are continually reminded of the unforgiving verity of life above the Arctic Circle as they contend with the unpredictable and unapologetic Noatak Wilderness on their own.
An occasional research installation or administrative structure emerges from the hillside, or perhaps a cabin or some debris can be seen. But camouflaged by the vastness of the surrounding geography and buried beneath snow during winter, these developments are virtually unnoticeable and the Noatak retains a feeling of freedom from modern influences. When visitors do come upon a development however, their experience can be significantly impacted, as developments are an unexpected artifact of the outside world in a landscape that appears remote and untouched.
In the summer, local people construct seasonal fish camps along the banks of the Noatak where strips of salmon and caribou meat are hung to dry. Once food for the winter is gathered and before ice forms in the river, these camps are disassembled, leaving behind subtle traces of a continued tradition. Dog mushing also has a rich history here and served as the primary mode of winter transport for hundreds of years, even precluding the need for motorized transport until recent decades. Dog mushing is a continued tradition in the region and represents an important component of Alaskan culture.
Use of aircraft, snowmachines, and motorboats in Alaskan wilderness areas is allowed under the Alaska Native Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 (ANILCA). Still, these uses affect the undeveloped quality of wilderness and motorized use represents one of the primary impacts to the undeveloped quality of the Noatak Wilderness. Access and travel to the wilderness is difficult and visitors, commercial operators, scientists, locals, and agencies, including the National Park Service, typically access the wilderness by motorized methods. As a result, the undeveloped quality of the Noatak Wilderness presents a paradox: because the area is undeveloped, access is challenging and users often rely on motorized transport to travel to the wilderness, in turn increasing impacts to the undeveloped quality of the area. Yet in this vast landscape, the whine of engines quickly fades as the small planes are swallowed by the sky and dwarfed by the mountains.
During the summer months, users rely on motorboats or airplanes to access the wilderness, which concentrates most use along corridors of accessibility; impacts are sometimes seen in narrow social trails leading from popular plane landing sites to river put-ins. In the winter, snowmachines provide local residents greater access to portions of the wilderness. In addition, helicopters are periodically used to conduct law enforcement and scientific activities.
Requests to conduct research have increased in recent years, with corresponding rises in requests for motorized access, installations, and temporary camps. Individually, and across millions of acres of wilderness, these uses have relatively little impact, but cumulatively, they have the potential to significantly impact the undeveloped quality of the Noatak Wilderness. Scientific value is an integral purpose of the area and the knowledge gained from these studies can help improve wilderness stewardship, but research must be balanced for its affects to the other qualities of wilderness character, as well as the benefits and costs each project brings to the wilderness.
Wilderness provides outstanding opportunities for solitude or primitive and unconfined recreation.
Solitude in the Noatak Wilderness rustles through willows with the wind and glints off the braided stream of the Noatak River with the sun. Looking across the vast river valley, wildlife appears as specks on far hillsides. Scale is misleading and visitors are often deceived on their arrival – what looks to be a few miles away is often far in the distance, so immense is the landscape. This is the solitude visitors find in this wilderness and with it, freedom from the confines of modern society and the unbounded pursuit of renewal, self-discovery, and challenge.
Very few of the National Park Service’s visitors make it to this far-flung corner of the continent, only accessible by boat or plane. For those visitors who do, they find millions of acres of unparalleled, unrestrained, unstructured freedom. Sounds of wind, water, and wolves remind visitors of their remoteness from cities and civilization. As visitors roam up ridges and across the tundra, they will experience a sense of smallness and a feeling of deep connection as they walk in ancient Iñupiat footsteps that may not have been followed for thousands of years. Visitors become immersed in this landscape, swallowed by the rolling tundra and snow-capped peaks.
Visitors are unlikely to encounter another person and may find themselves in places that are unnamed on the map they carry. They may however, encounter local people gathering berries, hunting, or fishing. For most visitors, an encounter with someone subsisting on the land forges a meaningful connection and an appreciation for the land itself and the human history associated with this place.
The Noatak Wilderness is an embrace of freedom and an unstructured environment. Backpackers, campers, and river floaters do not pay fees or apply for permits. They will find no established trails – the only paths are those formed by wildlife as they too cross the landscape. This freedom also forces visitors to experience the wilderness on its own terms, where swiftly changing weather, wildlife movements, harsh topography, and remoteness can require visitors to alter their route at a moment’s notice or stay tent-bound for days.
One of the greatest influences on the opportunities for solitude and unconfined recreation in the Noatak is the landscape itself. Recreation is often constrained by navigable waterways and aircraft landing areas, concentrating use in these areas and diminishing opportunities for solitude there. Research and administrative activities face similar limitations, and also impact visitor’s opportunities for solitude from the presence of researchers or administrators themselves, as well as any camps they set up and any planes or helicopters they may require. The difficulty of access contributes to the Noatak’s unmatched opportunities for solitude, but limits opportunities for unconfined recreation for visitors – the wilderness is only accessed by aircraft, boat, or snowmachine, and the cost of travel to gateway communities, combined with the cost of travelling into the wilderness itself can be prohibitive.
Yet for all the challenges associated with this wilderness – geographic location, access, logistics, weather, terrain, insects, or cost – the Noatak Wilderness provides exceptional and unique experiences. This is a place of deep spiritual connection. In the Noatak Wilderness, there is no single feature, waypoint, or main attraction. The attraction is the entire wilderness itself in its wild remoteness and incomparable vastness.
Solitude in the Noatak Wilderness rustles through willows with the wind and glints off the braided stream of the Noatak River with the sun. Looking across the vast river valley, wildlife appears as specks on far hillsides. Scale is misleading and visitors are often deceived on their arrival – what looks to be a few miles away is often far in the distance, so immense is the landscape. This is the solitude visitors find in this wilderness and with it, freedom from the confines of modern society and the unbounded pursuit of renewal, self-discovery, and challenge.
Very few of the National Park Service’s visitors make it to this far-flung corner of the continent, only accessible by boat or plane. For those visitors who do, they find millions of acres of unparalleled, unrestrained, unstructured freedom. Sounds of wind, water, and wolves remind visitors of their remoteness from cities and civilization. As visitors roam up ridges and across the tundra, they will experience a sense of smallness and a feeling of deep connection as they walk in ancient Iñupiat footsteps that may not have been followed for thousands of years. Visitors become immersed in this landscape, swallowed by the rolling tundra and snow-capped peaks.
Visitors are unlikely to encounter another person and may find themselves in places that are unnamed on the map they carry. They may however, encounter local people gathering berries, hunting, or fishing. For most visitors, an encounter with someone subsisting on the land forges a meaningful connection and an appreciation for the land itself and the human history associated with this place.
The Noatak Wilderness is an embrace of freedom and an unstructured environment. Backpackers, campers, and river floaters do not pay fees or apply for permits. They will find no established trails – the only paths are those formed by wildlife as they too cross the landscape. This freedom also forces visitors to experience the wilderness on its own terms, where swiftly changing weather, wildlife movements, harsh topography, and remoteness can require visitors to alter their route at a moment’s notice or stay tent-bound for days.
One of the greatest influences on the opportunities for solitude and unconfined recreation in the Noatak is the landscape itself. Recreation is often constrained by navigable waterways and aircraft landing areas, concentrating use in these areas and diminishing opportunities for solitude there. Research and administrative activities face similar limitations, and also impact visitor’s opportunities for solitude from the presence of researchers or administrators themselves, as well as any camps they set up and any planes or helicopters they may require. The difficulty of access contributes to the Noatak’s unmatched opportunities for solitude, but limits opportunities for unconfined recreation for visitors – the wilderness is only accessed by aircraft, boat, or snowmachine, and the cost of travel to gateway communities, combined with the cost of travelling into the wilderness itself can be prohibitive.
Yet for all the challenges associated with this wilderness – geographic location, access, logistics, weather, terrain, insects, or cost – the Noatak Wilderness provides exceptional and unique experiences. This is a place of deep spiritual connection. In the Noatak Wilderness, there is no single feature, waypoint, or main attraction. The attraction is the entire wilderness itself in its wild remoteness and incomparable vastness.
Wilderness may also contain other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value.
The Noatak Wilderness preserves many features of scientific, ecological, historical, and cultural value. For its lack of manipulation by modern technologies, ecological integrity, location in Northwest Alaska and on the precipitous edge of climate change, the Noatak Wilderness provides unparalleled opportunities for research, which are preserved here and affirmed in the status of the Preserve and Wilderness as a United Nations Biosphere Reserve. Scientific research is an explicit purpose of the Noatak and research in many fields is conducted here. Perhaps one of the biggest threats to scientific value here into the future is research itself, especially in combination with impacts from administrative uses and visitation. Together, these activities have the potential to impact the area’s wilderness character and wilderness resource, supporting the need for scientific uses to be balanced with the other qualities of the Noatak’s wilderness character to preserve the unparalleled opportunities for research available here.
Artifacts going back continuously over 13,000 years assert the cultural history that is infused through the region. Preserved by permafrost, these artifacts are among the longest cultural record in the Northern hemisphere. For outsiders, these artifacts describe Iñupiat lifeways as they have transpired over thousands of years. But for the Iñupiat, these artifacts affirm that this land is sacred with the spirits of their ancestors living on here. Today, these artifacts provide a glimpse into a history that defines this region and the people who live here, contributing to the wilderness and its unique wilderness character. Ethnographic values are also part of this landscape, where a rich history of oral tradition has passed knowledge of subsistence lifestyles across generations and likewise contributes to the unique wilderness character of the Noatak. Effects from climate change however, pose a significant threat to these artifacts as erosion, thawing permafrost, and flooding manipulate the sites themselves.
Subsistence uses of the land live on in the Noatak Wilderness, showing the sociocultural traditions and values of those who continue to thrive in this challenging environment. Hunting, trapping, and gathering berries and other resources are common and allow many local people to subsist off the land as they have for thousands of years. Each year, caribou, moose, salmon, sheefish, Dolly Varden trout, and other animals are taken from this wilderness and the meat is stored to help families survive through the winter. Into the future however, ongoing cultural uses in the Noatak may change with societal norms and as technologies influence subsistence lifeways.
The Noatak Wilderness preserves many features of scientific, ecological, historical, and cultural value. For its lack of manipulation by modern technologies, ecological integrity, location in Northwest Alaska and on the precipitous edge of climate change, the Noatak Wilderness provides unparalleled opportunities for research, which are preserved here and affirmed in the status of the Preserve and Wilderness as a United Nations Biosphere Reserve. Scientific research is an explicit purpose of the Noatak and research in many fields is conducted here. Perhaps one of the biggest threats to scientific value here into the future is research itself, especially in combination with impacts from administrative uses and visitation. Together, these activities have the potential to impact the area’s wilderness character and wilderness resource, supporting the need for scientific uses to be balanced with the other qualities of the Noatak’s wilderness character to preserve the unparalleled opportunities for research available here.
Artifacts going back continuously over 13,000 years assert the cultural history that is infused through the region. Preserved by permafrost, these artifacts are among the longest cultural record in the Northern hemisphere. For outsiders, these artifacts describe Iñupiat lifeways as they have transpired over thousands of years. But for the Iñupiat, these artifacts affirm that this land is sacred with the spirits of their ancestors living on here. Today, these artifacts provide a glimpse into a history that defines this region and the people who live here, contributing to the wilderness and its unique wilderness character. Ethnographic values are also part of this landscape, where a rich history of oral tradition has passed knowledge of subsistence lifestyles across generations and likewise contributes to the unique wilderness character of the Noatak. Effects from climate change however, pose a significant threat to these artifacts as erosion, thawing permafrost, and flooding manipulate the sites themselves.
Subsistence uses of the land live on in the Noatak Wilderness, showing the sociocultural traditions and values of those who continue to thrive in this challenging environment. Hunting, trapping, and gathering berries and other resources are common and allow many local people to subsist off the land as they have for thousands of years. Each year, caribou, moose, salmon, sheefish, Dolly Varden trout, and other animals are taken from this wilderness and the meat is stored to help families survive through the winter. Into the future however, ongoing cultural uses in the Noatak may change with societal norms and as technologies influence subsistence lifeways.
The Iñupiat are intrinsic within this landscape and have been for thousands of years. This landscape has helped shape their cultural identity as they thrived here, living off of the land. The people know where the animals will be – how the animals behave and how they move across the land. The people knew when to hunt caribou at Tapachalik, also known as Desperation Lake, and how to extract marrow from the leg bones of caribou bulls. The people know how to use the intestines of bearded seals as windows and rain jackets. The people know how to catch salmon and preserve it for the long winter. The people know this land; it is their livelihood and it is their home.
The Iñupiat understand the connectivity in this land. Here, the weather, seasons, river currents, animal tracks and movements, ice patterns, time of day, and countless other factors combine to create a holistic understanding of this landscape. The Iñupiat use all of this to know where to find Arctic char in frozen lakes and when to harvest greens before the leaves become bitter. Knowledge of these subtle interactions defines Iñupiat lifeways, where personal knowledge is combined with knowledge of past generations to create a dynamic and holistic view of the land that is necessary to survive here.
Knowledge of this land and its resources has been passed down through generations and Iñupiat elders, families, and traditions are the bearers of this knowledge. When elders speak, telling stories of places, hunting, and survival, everyone listens and learns. Malġutchiak Saputiŋik is the “twins’ fish weir” where a stone formation was built in the river; Salliñauraq is the “little seining place.” Yet this information is larger than words on a page and cannot be fully captured in a book because it lives on in the people with more detail and nuance than can be described – it must be lived. This is the only way to truly know each bend in the Noatak River by name and use. Intricate knowledge is associated with every inch of this wilderness, asserting that local people with their history and culture are indelibly linked to the landscape and its character.
Many changes have come in recent centuries, brought by the arrival of new peoples and cultures. And the local villages have adapted; change and adaptation are constant for the Iñupiat. When caribou herds declined or snow fell earlier than normal, the people adapted. When modern technologies arrived in villages bringing firearms, diesel fuel, snowmobiles, and powerboats, the people adapted. Yet through these changes the land remains vital to Iñupiat culture and a deep respect is maintained for this wilderness and its inhabitants.
The Iñupiat see no boundaries as they look across this landscape – there is no line where wilderness begins or ends. Yet people see that change and development are coming to the region. Protected areas and wilderness are seen as places where traditional ways of life can continue, assuring that a way of life lives on in which humans are part of the natural world.
For the Iñupiat and all visitors, a profound sense of gratitude is conveyed by the Noatak – for this place, for life, and the opportunity to experience it. The Noatak has the unparalleled ability to make its guests feel small, humble, and vulnerable, but it also has the ability to open the spirit. Preserving the integrity of the Noatak and its wilderness character is an imperative balancing act so future generations of all peoples may find solace in this landscape with the untamed vastness and unlimited opportunities that are the Noatak Wilderness.
The Iñupiat understand the connectivity in this land. Here, the weather, seasons, river currents, animal tracks and movements, ice patterns, time of day, and countless other factors combine to create a holistic understanding of this landscape. The Iñupiat use all of this to know where to find Arctic char in frozen lakes and when to harvest greens before the leaves become bitter. Knowledge of these subtle interactions defines Iñupiat lifeways, where personal knowledge is combined with knowledge of past generations to create a dynamic and holistic view of the land that is necessary to survive here.
Knowledge of this land and its resources has been passed down through generations and Iñupiat elders, families, and traditions are the bearers of this knowledge. When elders speak, telling stories of places, hunting, and survival, everyone listens and learns. Malġutchiak Saputiŋik is the “twins’ fish weir” where a stone formation was built in the river; Salliñauraq is the “little seining place.” Yet this information is larger than words on a page and cannot be fully captured in a book because it lives on in the people with more detail and nuance than can be described – it must be lived. This is the only way to truly know each bend in the Noatak River by name and use. Intricate knowledge is associated with every inch of this wilderness, asserting that local people with their history and culture are indelibly linked to the landscape and its character.
Many changes have come in recent centuries, brought by the arrival of new peoples and cultures. And the local villages have adapted; change and adaptation are constant for the Iñupiat. When caribou herds declined or snow fell earlier than normal, the people adapted. When modern technologies arrived in villages bringing firearms, diesel fuel, snowmobiles, and powerboats, the people adapted. Yet through these changes the land remains vital to Iñupiat culture and a deep respect is maintained for this wilderness and its inhabitants.
The Iñupiat see no boundaries as they look across this landscape – there is no line where wilderness begins or ends. Yet people see that change and development are coming to the region. Protected areas and wilderness are seen as places where traditional ways of life can continue, assuring that a way of life lives on in which humans are part of the natural world.
For the Iñupiat and all visitors, a profound sense of gratitude is conveyed by the Noatak – for this place, for life, and the opportunity to experience it. The Noatak has the unparalleled ability to make its guests feel small, humble, and vulnerable, but it also has the ability to open the spirit. Preserving the integrity of the Noatak and its wilderness character is an imperative balancing act so future generations of all peoples may find solace in this landscape with the untamed vastness and unlimited opportunities that are the Noatak Wilderness.