Monitoring, Research

Selawik Refuge has one long-term alpine vegetation monitoring site in the Hockley Hills, part of the international Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA) project. 

In 2006, Selawik refuge was accepted as an observation site within a worldwide monitoring network studying the effect of climate change climate change
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and caused change on a global scale.

Learn more about climate change
on high mountain environments. This allow the study of impacts caused by climate change without or with minimal masking effects caused by human activities and thus can be more accurately assessed for ecological consequences related to climate change. Most of the network’s 47 observation sites are located in Europe; Selawik refuge is the first GLORIA site in the North American Arctic. The site was established in the Hockley Hills in 2007 and will be revisited periodically. Selawik Refuge will work with US Fish & Wildlife Service botanists and others to continue the GLORIA project in the long term.

Facilities

Eight caribou stand in a row in the snow on Selawik Refuge. Behind them, blue and white mountains emerge.
Straddling the Arctic Circle in a remote corner of northwestern Alaska lies Selawik Refuge, a special place of extreme climate, free-flowing rivers, and abundant wildlife. Here where the boreal forest of interior Alaska meets the Arctic tundra, thousands of waterfowl, shorebirds, fish, insects and...

Contact

Programs

A bright blue sky obstructed by fluffy white clouds reflected off of a stream shot from inside a kayak
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages an unparalleled network of public lands and waters called the National Wildlife Refuge System. With more than 570 refuges spanning the country, this system protects iconic species and provides some of the best wildlife viewing opportunities on Earth.