Earth & climate

Establishment of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve

1980

Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve is a remote wilderness in northern Alaska, lying entirely north of the Arctic Circle in the central Brooks Range. It was first proclaimed a national monument and became a national park and preserve under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. It has no roads or maintained trails and is reached mainly by small aircraft. The name was given by the conservationist Robert Marshall to the peaks Boreal Mountain and Frigid Crags that flank the North Fork of the Koyukuk River. The park shelters caribou, grizzly bears and wolves, and the Western Arctic caribou herd migrates through it. Indigenous peoples such as the Nunamiut and the Athabaskan have lived in the region for thousands of years and continue subsistence use. It is among the least visited national parks.

Open on the timeline

Before and after

More in Earth & climate

The era

This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.