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Kobuk Valley National Park was proclaimed a national monument 01 Dec 1978,
and established as a national park 02 Dec 1980. Kobuk Valley National Park
is enclosed by the Baird and Waring mountains. It includes the central section
of the Kobuk River, the 25-square-mile (40.3 km) Great Kobuk Sand Dunes,
and the Little Kobuk and Hunt River and dunes, which were created by the
grinding action of ancient glaciers and carried by wind to the valley.
Kobuk Valley National Park was created in 1980 under the Alaska National
Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). This act states that Kobuk Valley
National Park is to be managed "for the following purposes, among others:
To maintain the environmental integrity of the natural features of the Kobuk
River Valley, including the Kobuk, Salmon, and other rivers, the boreal
forest, and the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes, in an undeveloped state; to protect
and interpret, in cooperation with Native Alaskans, archeological sites
associated with Native cultures; to protect migration routes for the Arctic
caribou herd; to protect habitat for, and populations of, fish and wildlife
including but not limited to caribou, moose, black and grizzly bears, wolves,
and waterfowl; and to protect the viability of subsistence resources."
Archeological and ethnographic resources are specifically discussed in the
enabling language for the park and it is very rich in both. Prehistoric
resources within the park are extensive and of national and international
significance.
The park is located in Northwest Alaska. It consists of the valley of
the Kobuk River, running along the southern edge of the western end of
the Brooks Range. Its boundary runs along the ridgetops of a set of mountains
(the Baird Mountains to the north and the Waring Mountains to the south)
that essentially forms a circle, defining and enclosing the Kobuk Valley.
The middle two-thirds of the Kobuk River, from just above Kiana to just
below Ambler, is included in the park, as are several major tributaries
(Salmon, Hunt and other rivers).
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