Nature Essays
Rain coming up the Atigun River gorge
The refuge softly rolls out from the Brooks Range and continues to the Arctic Sea in a soft wavy terrain much like a warm receiving blanket of a newborn baby. In fact, the refuge literally is a receiving blanket to a multitude of mammals and birds that migrate there to give birth to a new generation. Many people are familiar with the caribou that travel hundreds of miles from Canada, through the Brooks Range and on through to the plains before giving birth to their young. However, this soft and lush terrain is the perfect nursery for a multitude of species of animals and birds alike.
To walk on the tundra itself is like walking on a springy mattress, and walking through it makes one feel like a naughty child jumping on the bed. One square foot is full of hundreds of plants, mosses and lichens that make up a soft bed of organic softness which springs back with each step, showing how perfectly adapted it is for taking the heavy weight of winter snow. Amazingly, large animals such as Grizzly bears, moose, caribou, and muskoxen hardly leave a trace as they tread through the seemingly delicate tundra.
To walk on the tundra itself is like walking on a springy mattress, and walking through it makes one feel like a naughty child jumping on the bed. One square foot is full of hundreds of plants, mosses and lichens that make up a soft bed of organic softness which springs back with each step, showing how perfectly adapted it is for taking the heavy weight of winter snow. Amazingly, large animals such as Grizzly bears, moose, caribou, and muskoxen hardly leave a trace as they tread through the seemingly delicate tundra.