page_title: Colville River (Alaska)
section_title: Wildlife
hierarchical_section_title: Colville River (Alaska) / Wildlife
caption_attribution_description: English: Caribou on the Colville River.
context_page_description: The Colville River is a major river of the Arctic Ocean coast of Alaska in the United States, approximately 350 miles long. One of the northernmost major rivers in North America, it drains a remote area of tundra on the north side of the Brooks Range entirely above the Arctic Circle. The river is frozen for more than half the year and floods each spring.
  It rises on the north slope of the De Long Mountains, at the western end of the Brooks Range, north of the continental divide in the southwestern corner of the National Petroleum Reserve. It flows initially north, then generally east through the foothills on the north side of the range, broadening as it receives the inflow of many tributaries that descend from the middle Brooks Range. Along its middle course it forms the southeastern border of the National Petroleum Reserve. At the Iñupiat village of Umiat it turns north to flow across the Arctic plain, entering the western Beaufort Sea in a broad delta near Nuiqsut, approximately 120 mi west of Prudhoe Bay.
  Measuring about 20 by 23 by 26 miles, the river's triangular delta includes 34 distributaries, each with its own mouth, at normal water stages.
context_section_description: The Colville River and its adjacent hills are home to a variety of Arctic wildlife. The Colville runs through the range of the Teshekpuk and Central Arctic caribou herds, making it a landmark and obstacle in one of the world's largest animal migrations. It is also home to brown bears and, nearer the Arctic coast, polar bears.
  The Colville River has been called "hawk heaven" for its incredible concentration of peregrine falcons, gyrfalcons, and golden eagles. The steep, loose bluffs of the Colville River provide prime nesting habitat for many birds.
caption: A caribou standing on the banks of the Colville River. Thousands of caribou live on or around the river during the summer months, and provide a traditional source of subsistence food for the region's Iñupiat communities.
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