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Gates of the Arctic National Park

Threatened And Endangered Parks: Alaska

As delegates from nearly 200 countries gathered for the recent international conference on climate change, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres decried the “utterly inadequate” global response to the crisis so far. He warned that the “point of no return is no longer over the horizon” but that “It is in sight and hurtling toward us.” Nowhere are the consequences more visibly “hurtling,” and landing, than in Alaska. And in the northern state’s national parks and preserves, that means growing pressures on the very resources the National Park Service is charged with protecting.

A Far Off Place in the National Park System

Deep in the Brooks Range of central Alaska, the Arrigetch Peaks that lie within Gates of the Arctic National Park cup the headwaters of the Kobuk River. According to the National Park Service, the name of the Arrigetch Peaks comes from the Nunamiut word for "outstretched fingers."

Naval Lieutenant George Stoney explored the mountains in the mid-1880s. This is how he described the Arrigetch Peaks, which are located in the park's southwestern corner:

QT Luong

INN Member

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