This film presents Alaskan regions proposed by the Secretary of the Interior to be part of the National Wildlife Refuge System, including Koyukuk, Yukon Flats, Yukon Delta, Selawik, Arctic, Chukchi Sea, and Togiak National Wildlife Refuges; plus a Noatak National Arctic Range and Iliamna National Resource Range, both to be part of the National Wildlife Refuge System in connection with the Bureau of Land Management. Each region is described by its geography, vegetation, wildlife, and the importance of conserving its particular features.
It begins with a brief history of events leading up to the decision to reserve 80 million acres of Alaskan land for wildlife. It includes aerial shots of rivers and mountains, and still and moving images of Native peoples, birds, salmon, caribou, polar bears, seals, and walruses. You can also watch it
in our main National Archives online catalog.
This primary source comes from the Records of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
National Archives Identifier:
5833Full Citation: Motion Picture 22.69; On the Threshold: Refuges Alaska; 1971 - 1977; Moving Images Relating to Wildlife Issues, 1951 - 1992; Records of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Record Group 22; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/threshold-refuges-alaska, May 8, 2024]