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The Bering Land Bridge National Preserve is one of the most remote national
park areas, located on the Seward Peninsula in northwest Alaska. The Preserve
is a remnant of the land bridge that connected Asia with North America more
than 13,000 years ago. The majority of this land bridge, once thousands
of miles wide, now lies beneath the waters of the Chukchi and Bering Seas.
During the glacial epoch this was part of a migration route for people,
animals, and plants whenever ocean levels fell enough to expose the land
bridge. Archeologists agree that it was across this Bering Land Bridge,
also called Beringia, that humans first passed from Asia to populate the
Americas. The Preserve's western boundary lies 42 miles from the Bering
Strait and the fishing boundary between the United States and Russia
So you think you're experiencing some cold weather this winter? Well, how
about visiting a national park where the average January low temperature
is 15 below zero on the coast and 50 below zero in the interior. Considered
to be one of the most remote areas in the national park system, the Bering
Land Bridge National Preserve spans 2.7 million acres of the Seward Peninsula
in northwest Alaska. Its western boundary is located 42 miles from the Bering
Strait and the United States-Russia fishing boundary. To say the climate
here is variable would be a gross understatement. The bitterly cold winters
that include only 4-5 hours of daylight contrast with summer months which
feature weather in the 50-70 degree range, and more than 21 hours of daylight.
Even the summertime weather can include snow, near freezing temperatures,
and long periods of clouds, wind, and rain.
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