Kotzebue, Alaska Information

Over 500 miles northwest of Anchorage, 200 miles from Russia, and 26 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and 12 feet above sea level lies a small town named Kotzebue. It is a quiet Alaska town with no roads connecting it to any other community. Kotzebue is situated on a 3-mile long spit in the northwest corner of Alaska at the tip of the Baldwin Peninsula. It is about as remote a location as anywhere in the world.

Kotzebue stays true to its roots. It is home to the largest Eskimo community above the Arctic Circle in North America. Eighty percent of the 3,000 residents are of Inuit decent. No the people of Kotzebue don't live in igloos anymore. They live in a peaceful little village with wood homes and a Main Street that is just the gravel seashore. Kotzebue literally is surrounded by nature in every single direction, but it is still the home of NANA - Northwest Arctic Native Association. This makes it the center of commerce and transportation of 11 native villages in the remote northwest corner of Alaska. People arrive by boat, dog sled, snowmobile, jet, bush plane, and foot on a regular basis. And they all live in the heart of wild Alaska.

Did You Know?
Gates of the Arctic National Park is the northernmost park in the United States
and lies entirely above the Arctic Circle.

You may wonder why anyone would want to travel to Kotzebue. It's because Kotzebue is nature at its finest. The town sits right on a spit that sticks out into the ocean and is a short walk to where the Kobuk, Noatak, and Ssezawick rivers meet Kotzebue Sound. The US Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and the Bureau of Land Management run the town's visitor center. 

Surrounding Kotzebue are six conservation parks and refuges: Cape Krusenstern National Park, Noatak Park and Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, Gates of the Arctic National Park, Bering Land Bridge National Monument, and the Selawik Wildlife Refuge. As you can tell the region is an entire eco-system of conservation, making it an outdoor adventurer's dream come true.

Travelers come direct from Anchorage to view sand dunes in Kobuk Valley, watch reindeer in the Brooks Range, hunt migrating caribou in the Waring Mountains, photograph grizzly bear in the Noatak National Preserve, backpack across the tundra in the Selawik refuge, fish for salmon in the Koyukuk river, or learn about history at the Bering Land Bridge National Monument.

Town Information:

City of Kotzebue, AK
258A 3rd Ave. (PO Box 46), Kotzebue, AK
(907) 442-3401
http://kotzpdWebsite.tripod.com/city/index.html

Population: 3,237 (2005 census)
Location: Northwest Alaska
Annual Precipitation: 10.05 in
July Averages: Temperature - 60 F; precipitation - 1.43 in.

Did You Know?
Hundreds of thousands of migratory bird species live near the deltas of the Selawik and Kobuk river deltas on the eastern shores of Hotham Inlet in the Selawik National Wildlife Refuge.

Lodging:

Nullgavik Hotel
308 Shore Ave., Box 336, Kotzebue, AK
(907) 442-3331
http://www.nullagvik.com/

What to See:

Innaigvik Education & Information Center
2nd Ave. & Lake St. (PO Box 1029), Kotzebue, AK
(907) 442-3760
http://www.alaskanha.org/innaigvik-education-and-information-center.htm

Restaurants & Bars:

Bayside Cafe
303 Shore Ave., Kotzebue, AK
(907) 442-3600

Did You Know?
Kobuk Valley National Park is 1,669,813 acres, which is roughly the size of Delaware.

Hospital:

Maniilaq Health Center
5th & 10th Stevens Way, Kotzebue, AK
(907) 442-7340
http://www.maniilaq.org/home.html

Fish & Game:

Fish & Game Department
240 5th St., Kotzebue, AK
(907) 442-3420

 

There is so much to do in and around Kotzebue, Alaska that you could spend a lifetime exploring and only see a fraction of this absolutely incredible pristine land.