ALASKA NATIONAL CONSERVATION AREAS
In Alaska, the BLM manages one National Conservation Area just north of Fairbanks, called the Steese National Conservation Area. The Steese National Conservation Area was established under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act on December 2, 1980. Congress directed the BLM to consider the special values of Caribou Habitat, Water Quality, Recreation, Scenery, Fisheries, Cultural and Historical Significance and Birch Creek in the management of the Steese NCA. Included in Alaska’s only NCA are two Research Natural Areas, Mount Prindle and Big Windy Hotsprings.
Steese National Conservation Area
A half day’s drive from Fairbanks, Alaska, the Steese National Conservation Area (NCA) offers stunning scenery, peaceful solitude, and outstanding opportunities for year-round recreation. The 1.2-million-acre NCA was designated by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act in 1980 to protect the area’s special values, particularly Birch Creek Wild and Scenic River, and caribou habitat.
The NCA plays a major role in the annual life of cycle of the Fortymile and White Mountains caribou herds, offering migration corridors, summer crucial calving grounds in high alpine tundra, and winter ranges among black spruce boreal forests. A few areas provide year-round habitat for Dall sheep, an uncommon species in Interior Alaska.
Summer visitors to the NCA backpack, hike, camp, fish, pick berries, and hunt under Alaska's 'midnight sun.' Located in two units straddling the remote Steese Highway, the NCA offers primitive, remote recreation opportunities with few encounters with others. Wildlife viewing opportunities abound – raptors, upland birds, moose, fox, caribou, and bears are just a few of the mammals that may be spotted while recreating along Birch Creek Wild and Scenic River, the Pinnell Mountain National Recreation Trail, or one of the many travel routes that access the NCA.
BLM ALASKA National Conservation Area and Similar Designations
BLM Alaska's only National Conservation Area is below.