who lives in the arctic national wildlife refuge
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Currently, there are no roads within or leading into the refuge, but there are a few Native settlements scattered within. On the northern edge of the refuge is the Inupiat village of Kaktovik (population 258)[7] and on the southern boundary the Gwich'in settlement of Arctic Village (population 152).[7] A popular wilderness route and historic passage exists between the two villages, traversing the refuge and all its ecosystems from boreal, interior forest to Arctic Ocean coast. Generally, visitors gain access to the land by aircraft, but it is also possible to reach the refuge by boat or by walking (the Dalton Highway passes near the western edge of the refuge). In the United States, the geographic location most remote from human trails, roads, or settlements is found here, at the headwaters of the Sheenjek River.
Moose After expanding for most of the 20th century, the moose population of North America has been in steep decline since the 1990s. Populations expanded greatly with improved habitat and protection, but for unknown reasons, the moose population is declining rapidly.[13] In North America, the moose range includes almost all of Canada (excluding the arctic and Vancouver Island), most of Alaska, northern New England and upstate New York, the upper Rocky Mountains, northern Minnesota, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and Isle Royale in Lake Superior. This massive range, containing diverse habitats, contains four of the six North American subspecies. In the West, moose populations extend well north into Canada (British Columbia and Alberta), and more isolated groups have been verified as far south as the mountains of Utah and Colorado and as far west as the Lake Wenatchee area of the Washington Cascades.[14][15] The range includes Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and smaller areas of Washington and Oregon.[16] Moose have extended their range southwards in the western Rocky Mountains, with initial sightings in Yellowstone National Park in 1868, and then to the northern slope of the Uinta Mountains in Utah in the first half of the twentieth century.[17] This is the southernmost naturally established moose population in the United States.[17] In 1978, a few breeding pairs were reintroduced in western Colorado, and the state's moose population is now more than 1,000.