Kobuk Valley National Park

A creek cuts a sharp bank across the sand dunes.
The great sand dunes in Kobuk Valley National Park, cut through by Ahnewetut Creek.

Kobuk Valley National Park covers 1.75 million acres of boreal forest and mountains in northwestern Alaska and includes the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes—the largest active, high-latitude, dune field on Earth. The dunes originally formed during drier climates of the ice ages when strong winds and sparse vegetation allowed the wind to sweep sand from sandbars of the Kobuk River.

The meandering Kobuk River creates beautifully curved patterns visible from the air. Each year, an 8,000-year-old caribou crossing on the river at Onion Portage is crossed again. Hundreds of thousands of caribou migrate through the park between their calving and summering grounds on the tundra near the Arctic Ocean and their wintering grounds in the boreal forest to the south. This caribou migration is one of the last, great large mammal migrations on Earth that remains unobstructed by roads.

Caribou swimming across a river.
Caribou swim across the Kobuk River, as they have for thousands of years.

What we monitor in Kobuk Valley National Park

What's Happening in Kobuk Valley National Park

Showing results 1-10 of 10

  • Memory influences where Western Arctic Herd caribou spend the winter

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, Noatak National Preserve
    • Offices: Arctic Inventory & Monitoring Network
    View from a caribou collar

    Read a summary and get the link to a published paper that describes how caribou decide where to spend the winter based on previous experience. Gurarie, E., C. Beaupré, O. Couriot, M. D. Cameron, W. F. Fagan, and K. Joly. 2024. Evidence for an adaptive, large-scale range shift in a long-distance terrestrial migrant. Global Change Biology 30 (11): e17589.

  • Metals released from thawing permafrost are rusting Arctic streams

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, Noatak National Preserve
    • Offices: Arctic Inventory & Monitoring Network
    An orange stream joins a blue-water stream.

    Read the abstract and get the link to a published paper on how permafrost thaw is releasing metals into streams and turning them orange: O'Donnell, J. A., M. P. Carey, J. C. Koch, C. Baughman, K. Hill, C. E. Zimmerman, P. F. Sullivan, R. Dial, T. Lyons, D. J. Cooper, and B. A. Poulin. 2024. Metal mobilization from thawing permafrost to aquatic ecosystems is driving rusting of Arctic streams. Communications Earth & Environment 5: 268.

  • When are newly collared caribou representative of the herd?

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, Noatak National Preserve
    A collared caribou bounds away.

    Read the abstract and get the link to a paper published in the Wildlife Bulletin about representativeness among collared animals in a population: Prichard, A. K., K. Joly, L. S. Parrett, M. D. Cameron, D. A. Hansen, and B. T. Person. 2022. Achieving a representative sample of marked animals: A spatial approach to evaluating post-capture randomization. Wildlife Society Bulletin e1398.

  • Predicting Seasonal Distributions and Migratory Routes of Western Arctic Herd Caribou

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, Noatak National Preserve
    The western arctic caribou herd along the Kobuk River.

    Read the abstract and get the link for an article on caribou migration patterns published in Movement Ecology: Baltensperger, A. P., and K. Joly. 2019. Using seasonal landscape models to predict space use and migratory patterns of an arctic ungulate. Movement Ecology 7 (18). DOI: 10.1186/s40462-019-0162-8.

  • Is flow declining in headwater streams of Arctic Alaska?

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Kobuk Valley National Park, Noatak National Preserve
    An Arctic stream with vegetation in fall color.

    Read the abstract and get the link to a published science article on how permafrost thawing and borealization impacts streamflow of headwater streams: Koch, J. C. Y. Sjoberg, J. O’Donnell, M. Carey, P. F. Sullivan and A. Terskaia. 2022. Sensitivity of headwater streamflow to thawing permafrost and vegetation change in a warming Arctic. Environmental Research Letters 17(4): 044074.

  • How stream chemistry can be used to understand ecosystems and disturbances in Arctic Alaska

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Kobuk Valley National Park, Noatak National Preserve
    Arctic river with gravel beach.

    Read the abstract and get the link to an article on monitoring stream chemistry for insights on the impacts of climate change in the Arctic: Shogren, A. J., ... O'Donnell, J. A., Patch, L., Poulin, B. A., Williamson, T. J., et al. 2022. Multi-year, spatially extensive, watershed-scale synoptic stream chemistry and water quality conditions for six permafrost-underlain Arctic watersheds, Earth System Science Data 14(1): 95-116.

  • Arctic Summers are Getting Longer

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, Noatak National Preserve
    A muskox naps in the tundra.

    Read a summary and get the link to an article that describes how the Arctic is getting greener: Swanson, D. K. 2021. Start of the green season and normalized difference vegetation index in Alaska's Arctic national parks. Remote Sensing 13(13): 2554.

  • Magnetic Detection of Archaeological Hearths in Alaska

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve, Katmai National Park & Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, Lake Clark National Park & Preserve,
    An archaeologist searches for hearths using a magetometer

    Read the abstract and link to a recent article on archaeological research using magnetic detection of hearths: Urban, Thomas M., Jeffrey T. Rasic, Claire Alix, Douglas D. Anderson, Linda Chisholm, Robert W. Jacob, Sturt W. Manning, Owen K.Mason, Andrew H. Tremayne, Dale Vinson (2019). Magnetic detection of archaeological hearths in Alaska: A tool for investigating the full span of human presence at the gateway to North America. Quaternary Science Reviews 211: 73-92.

  • Home, home on your range?

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, Noatak National Preserve
    Caribou in brushy northern forest.

    Read the abstract and get the link to a paper published in the Journal of Wildlife Management about the overlap across four Arctic caribou herds: Prichard, A. K., L. S. Parrett, E. A. Lenart, J. R. Caikoski, K. Joly, and B. T. Person. 2020. Interchange and overlap among four adjacent Arctic caribou herds. Journal of Wildlife Management 1-15.

  • Caribou Migration Linked to Climate Cycles and Insect Pests

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, Noatak National Preserve
    Caribou migrate across snow-covered tundra.

    Read the abstract and get the link to an article published in Ecosphere on climate and insect drivers for caribou migration: : Gurarie, E., M. Hebblewhite, K. Joly, A. P. Kelly, J. Adamczewski, S. C. Davidson, T. Davison, A. Gunn, M. J. Suitor, W. F. Fagan, and N. Boelman. 2019. Tactical departures and strategic arrivals: Divergent effects of climate and weather on caribou spring migrations. Ecosphere 10(12):e02971. 10.1002/ecs2.2971

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Last updated: February 14, 2024

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