The northwestern national Parklands of Alaska are comprised of five public land groups including: Collectively these units represent approximately 25% of the land area of NPS managed units in the United States. Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, and Noatak National Preserve are contiguous and encompass a large expanse of mostly mountainous arctic ecosystems at the northern limit of treeline. Immediately to the west of these units lie Cape Krusenstern National Monument and Bering Land Bridge National Preserve which border Kotzebue Sound. Bering Land Bridge National Preserve and Cape Krusenstern National Monument are similar with respect to their coastal resources and strong biogeographic affinities to the Beringian subcontinent --the former land bridge between North America and Asia. The Arctic Network park units are not connected to the road system. Much of the Arctic Network is designated wilderness or proposed wilderness.

All of the National Park Service units within the Arctic Network parks are relatively recent additions to the National Park System. Portions of Bering Land Bridge National Preserve , Cape Krusenstern National Monument, and Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve were initially created by presidential proclamation in 1978. All 5 units were re-designated or created with their present boundaries by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) in 1980. The recent origin of these remote and difficult-to-access units, coupled with limited natural resource staffing levels, has left the natural resources in these units relatively unstudied.