North Slope plain, Alaska, USA Photograph by Bill Eichbaum   Northwestern North America: Western United States (Alaska) into western Canada Tundra   49,800 square miles (129,100 square kilometers) -- slightly smaller than Alabama Relatively Stable/Intact

· Rounded Hills and River Valleys
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Rounded Hills and River Valleys

The only forested area in the ecoregion is in the Noatak River Valley. Birds use the Colville River corridor for migration, and gyrfalcons, peregrine falcons, and rough-legged hawks breed in high concentrations along the river bluffs. The Arctic Foothills Tundra also contains important sites where brown bears and wolves make their homes.

Special Features

The top 3 feet of soil of this ecoregion is permanantly frozen permafrost. The soils remain frozen because the average annual temperature is below freezing.

	Moose are impressive mammals, with the larger males measuring about 5 feet (1.5 m) in height at the shoulder, up to 9 feet (2.7 m) in length, and weighing anywhere between 800-1600 pounds (360 to 720 kg). Only the males have antlers which they shed and regrow each year. One of the predators of the herbivorous moose in this ecoregion is the wolf.

Wild Side

Three herds of caribou, named the Western Arctic, Central Arctic, and Porcupine, migrate through this ecoregion. Moose use the Colville River as a migratory travel route. Wolves, brown bears, hares, and ground squirrels make their homes in the ecoregion. The coastal wetlands on the western portion of the area provide travel stopovers and valuable habitat for many species of shorebird and waterfowl. Several Siberian and Asian bird species breed in this ecoregion. Beluga whales can be found in the Omalik Lagoon, an area that may come under pressure for use in coal shipping.

Cause for Concern

The ecoregion is almost entirely intact, except that it is cut in two by a major road, the Dalton Highway, and by the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. This road and pipeline can affect animal migrations and give people access that may result in over-exploitation of wildlife as well as damage from off-road vehicles. The main threats to the habitat are from new and continued coal and mineral development. Global warming is melting permafrost with potentially disastrous effects on habitats and wildlife.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.