Yukon - Charley Rivers National Preserve - Nature and Science

Many visitors, noting the low, rolling hills and general inaccessibility of the Yukon-Charley area wonder what qualities make it unique in America. The National Park system, after all, encompasses a variety of natural, cultural and historical sites and each one, in its own way, is nationally significant.

Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve is located on the US-Canadian border and comprises 2.5 million acres (1 million hectares) of Alaskan wilderness. The preserve includes nearly 160 miles of the Yukon River and the entire 1.1 million acres (0.45 hectares) of the Charley River drainage. Within the preserve"s 2.5 million acres, we have the highest nesting density of peregrine falcons in North America.

A number of wolf packs roam freely throughout the Fortymile region. Grizzly and black bears as well as moose and caribou move about freely. Many birds spend their summers in the area before flying south to winter in South America. The geology of Yukon-Charley span some 800 million years and features an extensive fossil record. Gold also figures prominently into the geologic history of the area with some of the richest placer deposits found in Alaska being within the preserve"s boundaries.