Bering Land Bridge National Preserve

Bering Land Bridge National Preserve
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
Serpentine Tors
Map showing the location of Bering Land Bridge National Preserve
Map showing the location of Bering Land Bridge National Preserve
LocationSeward Peninsula, Alaska, United States
Nearest cityKotzebue, Alaska
Coordinates65°50′N 164°10′W / 65.833°N 164.167°W / 65.833; -164.167
Area2,697,391 acres (10,915.95 km2)[1]
Created1 December 1978 (1978-12-01)
Visitors2,642 (in 2018)[2]
Governing bodyNational Park Service
WebsiteBering Land Bridge National Preserve
Map of Bering Land Bridge National Preserve

The Bering Land Bridge National Preserve is one of the most remote Protected areas of the United States, located on the Seward Peninsula.[3] The National Preserve protects a remnant of the Bering Land Bridge that connected Asia with North America more than 13,000 years ago during the Pleistocene ice age.[4] The majority of this land bridge now lies beneath the waters of the Chukchi and Bering Seas.[5] During the glacial epoch this bridge was a migration route for people, animals, and plants whenever ocean levels fell enough to expose the land bridge.[5] Archeologists disagree[6] whether it was across this Bering Land Bridge, also called Beringia, that humans first migrated from Asia to populate the Americas,[5][7] or whether it was via a coastal route.[8]

Bering Land Bridge National Monument was established in 1978 by Presidential proclamation under the authority of the Antiquities Act.[9] The designation was modified in 1980 to a national preserve with the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), which would allow both subsistence hunting by local residents and sport hunting.[10] The preserve includes significant archaeological sites and a variety of geological features.[10] The preserve has seen recent volcanic activity, with lava flows and lake-filled maars.[3][10] Hot springs are a popular destination for tourists.[11]

  1. ^ "Listing of acreage – December 31, 2011" (XLSX). Land Resource Division, National Park Service. Retrieved 7 March 2012. (National Park Service Acreage Reports)
  2. ^ "NPS Annual Recreation Visits Report". National Park Service. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Bering Land Bridge Official Visitor's Guide" (PDF). NPS. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  4. ^ "National Parks in Alaska" (PDF). NPS. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  5. ^ a b c "National American Indian Heritage Month: National Register of Historic Places: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve". NPS. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  6. ^ Curry, Andrew (2012). "Ancient migration: Coming to America". Nature. 485 (7396): 30–32. Bibcode:2012Natur.485...30C. doi:10.1038/485030a. PMID 22552076. S2CID 7934123.
  7. ^ "Migration Theories: Land Bridge Theory". University of Texas. Archived from the original on 11 August 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  8. ^ Callaway, Ewen (2016). "Plant and animal DNA suggests first Americans took the coastal route". Nature. 536 (7615): 138. Bibcode:2016Natur.536..138C. doi:10.1038/536138a. PMID 27510205.
  9. ^ "National Monument Proclamations under the Antiquities Act". NPS. Archived from the original on 1 July 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  10. ^ a b c Nuttall, Mark (2012). Encyclopedia of the Arctic. Routledge. p. 1365. ISBN 978-1136786808. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  11. ^ "Bering Land Bridge: Plan Your Visit". NPS. Retrieved 14 January 2015.