Northern Adventures up close | The Last Great Wilderness | May 2008 | Ruby Range Adventure Ltd.

The Last Great Wilderness
New Threat of Oil Drilling in Alaska's Wildlife Breeding Grounds

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a vast, wild land that has been called America's Serengeti because of its diverse and thriving wildlife populations. The Refuge runs from the mountains of the Brooks Range north to the Arctic Ocean, including habitats such as tundra, boreal forest, barrier islands, and coastal lagoons. America does not have many more places like the Refuge, where nature continues to exist pristine and undisturbed.

While part of the Refuge has an official wilderness designation, the fate of the biological heart of the Refuge - the 1.6 million acre coastal plain - remains undecided. An act of Congress could either protect the plain as wilderness or open this special land to oil exploration and drilling.

Yet the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) has ignored this balanced proposal and instead moved to open nearly 100 percent of the northern half of the Reserve to leasing. At risk are:

• Black brant and other geese that feed around the many lakes and ponds.
• Caribou that calve and seek relief from insects in the area around Teshekpuk Lake in unusually large numbers.
• Waterfowl and shorebirds, including rare yellow-billed loons that breed nowhere else in the United States, concentrations of rare stilt and buff-breasted sandpipers, and threatened Steller’s and spectacled eiders.
• Spotted seals and beluga whales, which gather in large numbers in Kasegaluk Lagoon on the Chukchi Sea coast to feed, bear their young, and molt.
• Polar bear denning areas at Dease Inlet-Meade River and Peard Bay.
• Fossils of bison, horse, mammoth, and other mammals that date to the late Pleistocene era, some 10,000 to 35,000 years ago.
• Critical nesting and feeding habitat for migratory birds.

Wild rivers of the North
Best river tours in the North

Wind River / Yukon / Canada
The Wind River is renowned for its remote beauty, hiking and whitewater for the intermediate canoeist. The headwaters of the Wind are only accessible by float plane. » read more

Kluane, Donjek, White, Yukon River / Yukon / Canada
Date: July 24th to August 12th 2008
On this exclusive tour you'll rediscover waterways which only few people travel on. » request info

Big Salmon River / Yukon / Canada
Travelling over 300 kilometres over the course of 15 days / 14 nights, this trip is ideal for the novice canoeist in search of wildlife encounters and spectacular Yukon scenery. » read more

Beaver River / Yukon / Canada
Experience pristine wilderness with amazing wildlife-viewing opportunities while paddling the Beaver River on our Anniversary Canoeing Tour. » read more

Yukon Quest 2008 | The 1.000 mile international sled dog race
Four-time Champion Mackey Wins Vets Choice Award

Congratulations to Lance Mackey on his historic fourth Yukon Quest Championship in a row!
The 2008 Yukon Quest Finish Banquet had it all, including a marriage proposal by 10th Place musher William Pinkham to his dog handler and girlfriend, Jodi. But it was probably four-time Champion Lance Mackey's emotional response to being chosen for the 2008 Veterinarian's Choice Award that will stay in everyone's mind when the 25th Yukon Quest is but a distant memory. Mackey, 37, was his upbeat and humble self while accepting his prize for First Place for the fourth year in a row.
(Courtesy of Yukon Quest International - yukonquest.com, February 2008)

» Plan your winter adventure