KOBUK VALLEY NATIONAL PARK

formerly Kobuk Valley National Monument, national park in northwestern Alaska, U.S., entirely north of the Arctic Circle. Proclaimed a national monument in 1978, it underwent boundary and title changes in 1980. The park preserves the natural features of the Kobuk River Valley, including the Kobuk, Salmon, and other rivers, a boreal forest, and the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes. Archaeological sites reveal more than 10,000 years of human occupation. The park includes critical caribou migration routes, grizzly and black bears, fox, moose, wolves, and waterfowl. The total area is 1,710,000 ac (692,300 ha).