Endangered Treasures: Our Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

“‘Endangered Treasures’ allows viewers to envision the grandeur of a land that remains one of the last areas of virgin wilderness in the United States.”

– Anna Gawel, The Washington Diplomat

“Humanity needs a sense of horizons unexplored, the mystery of pristine lands.”

– Tom Walker, Photographer

Eight internationally recognized photographers—Subhankar Banerjee, Gary Braasch, Amy Gulick, Thomas Mangelsen, Tom Walker, Kennan Ward, Ken Whitten, and Art Wolfe—trained their lenses on the exquisite beauty of the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, America’s largest ecological sanctuary.

Sometimes called “America’s Serengeti,” the Refuge is home to at least 45 species of mammals, including polar bears, lynxes, caribou, foxes, wolves, porcupine, grizzly bears, and the last remaining musk oxen. Bowhead whales, seals, and other sea mammals roam the cold coastal waters, and the Refuge’s fertile coastal plain—the biological heart of this 19-million-acre expanse of rugged wilderness—is most famous for the seasonal massing of 130,000 Porcupine River caribou, who for 20,000 years have migrated from the Klondike and the Alaskan interior to this unique corner of the world to give birth in a habitat rich with nutritious plant life.

This exhibition of more than 50 photographs highlighted the landscapes, wildlife, and flora native to this remote arctic wilderness. Sponsored in part by the Sierra Club, the exhibition is a celebration of the copious natural beauty and diversity of life in this northwestern pocket of Alaska, and an important documentation of our endangered national treasure.

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