jim_lawler@nps.gov
Wildlife Biologist, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Alaska


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They are solid creatures with a slight hump at the shoulders. Their necks, legs, and tails are short. Their dark brown, coarse guard hairs hang almost to the ground, shedding rain and snow. Neither cold nor frost can penetrate their dense inner coat of fine, soft, light brown hair. They stand approximately 4 to 5 feet tall at the shoulders and weigh from 440 to 900 pounds. Both sexes have broad horns that curve down and outward. They are muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus), creatures of bitterly cold and often forbidding environments, and they are beginning to occupy new habitat in Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

One of the mandates of the National Park Service is the maintenance of a full complement of native species in national parks. But by the middle of the 19th century, muskoxen were extirpated from northern Alaska, including the park and preserve. Anecdotal information indicates that small numbers of muskoxen in the mountains and foothills of the Brooks Range were the last to disappear from the state. The species was reintroduced into northeastern Alaska in 1969 and 1970, and the released population expanded rapidly; today the animals generally occur in arctic coastal regions in the state. Since 1989, however, muskoxen have been observed with increasing frequency in Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve.

The reestablishment of muskox populations has been controversial in northern Alaska. Many people perceive the return of this species to historical ranges as an exciting event that affords visitors and residents the opportunity to observe this distinctive –animal. Many local residents regard the muskox as a traditionally hunted resource. At the same time, many residents have expressed concern that the presence of the muskox will have a detrimental effect on caribou (Rangifer tarandus) populations and caribou hunting.

The natural reestablishment and harmonious integration of the muskox in Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve require baseline information for park managers. However, information on habitat use by muskoxen on the arctic coastal plain, with its low snow levels, may not be applicable in the alpine environment of Gates of the Arctic with higher snow levels. Information on the species’ occupancy of alpine areas is limited to one study in Norway.

Muskox habitat use in the park is being investigated using a geographic information system. In 2000 the locations of animals observed by park biologists and park visitors were mapped. Land cover, elevation, slope, and aspect were quantified. Initial data suggest that muskoxen occupy mountain drainages when snow is shallow and that they likely move up onto windswept mountain shoulders as snow accumulates in the drainages. The next task for park staff is mapping all muskox habitat in the park. All of the information will be used to evaluate the potential for a viable muskox population in the park, to guide management, to set future harvest levels, and to allow the National Park Service’s informed participation in meetings with local, state, and federal wildlife agencies.

The National Park Service is a member of interagency and international working groups that formed to synchronize management of muskox in northern Alaska and the northern Yukon. Baseline information on habitat and distribution of the species is essential for establishing common goals of cooperative management and for addressing all concerns.

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Last Updated: 06/17/2001
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