Alaska's regions
Northern Alaska
Arctic region comes alive in summer as birds return
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The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge attracts hundreds of visitors a year for wildlife viewing and for rafting trips down its scenic rivers. The refuge is often reached by small plane from Fairbanks.
Northwestern Alaska is thought to be where the first people crossed the Bering Land Bridge into North America. Archaeological digs have found material dating 10,000 and more years old.
Population and villages
The population of the North Slope and Northwest Alaska boroughs, which cover almost all of Arctic Alaska, is 10,500.
Barrow, population 4,434, and Kotzebue, 3,107, are the region's largest cities in a region where the population is mostly Inupiat Eskimo. Barrow is the northernmost community in North America.
Attractions
The Inupiat Heritage Center in Barrow is affiliated with the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park in New Bedford, Mass., recognizing the contributions of Alaska Natives to the history of whaling. Also in Barrow, travelers may visit the Wiley Post-Will Rogers memorial near the site where the pilot and humorist died in a plane crash in 1935.
In Kotzebue, visitors go to the Innaigvik Education and Information Center to learn more about Kotzebue and nearby wild lands. Locally led tours take the culturally curious out of town.
Outdoors
Fishing for sheefish, pike and other species is good in some lakes and rivers. The federal land is open country for hikers and wildlife watchers.
Hunters seek caribou, bears and birds, and some crews from some coastal villages harvest bowhead whales.
Because of the lack of roads, travel out of town is by boat or small plane.
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