The Northern Rocky Mountains , usually referred to as the Northern Rockies , are a subdivision of the Canadian Rockies comprising the northern half of the Canadian segment of the Rocky Mountains . While their northward limit is easily defined as the Liard River , which is the northward terminus of the whole Rockies, the southward limit is debatable, although the area of Mount Ovington and Monkman Pass is mentioned in some sources, as south from there are the Continental Ranges , which are the main spine of the Rockies forming the boundary between British Columbia and Alberta . Some use the term to mean only the area north of the Peace Arm of the Williston Reservoir , and in reference to Northern Rocky Mountains Provincial Park , while others consider the term to extend all the way south, beyond the limit of the Hart Ranges at Mount Ovington, to include the McBride area, the Sir Alexander Group and Mount Robson .
19-859: The Northern Rocky Mountains ecosystem in the United States is known by ecologists, biologists, and naturalists as one of the last areas of the contiguous United States that is relatively undeveloped enough and large enough to support a functioning ecosystem. The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act is designed to protect this ecosystem and the many threatened and endangered species such as grizzly bears (threatened), bull trout (threatened), sockeye salmon (endangered only in Snake River Evolutionary Significant Unit , secure elsewhere), and Canadian lynx (threatened only in lower U.S. 48 states, secure elsewhere), while creating jobs that restore old roads and clear cuts. The Alliance for
38-513: Is visible at local midnight , and at least once the centre is not visible at local noon . Directly on the Arctic Circle these events occur, in principle, exactly once per year: at the June and December solstices , respectively. However, because of atmospheric refraction and mirages , and also because the sun appears as a disk and not a point, part of the midnight sun is visible, on the night of
57-671: Is one of the two polar circles , and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle . The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at which, on the winter solstice (which is the shortest day of the year) in the Northern Hemisphere , the Sun will not rise all day, and on the Northern Hemisphere's summer solstice (which
76-502: Is the longest day of the year), the Sun will not set. These phenomena are referred to as polar night and midnight sun respectively, and the further north one progresses, the more pronounced these effects become. For example, in the Russian port city of Murmansk , three degrees above the Arctic Circle, the Sun does not rise above the horizon for 40 successive days in midwinter. The position of
95-540: The 14th district of New York most recently introduced the bill on November 3, 2011, and it had 34 cosponsors as of December 4, 2012. Representative Maloney also introduced the legislation in February 2009, as of December 1, 2009 there were 103 co-sponsoring Congresspersons in the House of Representatives. The singer Carole King , a resident of Custer County, Idaho , has testified before Congress in 1994, 2007 and 2009 in support of
114-529: The Arctic Ocean , the Scandinavian Peninsula , North Asia , Northern America , and Greenland. The land within the Arctic Circle is divided among eight countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, the United States ( Alaska ), Canada ( Yukon , Northwest Territories , and Nunavut ), Denmark (Greenland), and Iceland (where it passes through the small offshore island of Grímsey ). The climate north of
133-498: The Greek word ἀρκτικός ( arktikos : "near the Bear , northern") and that from the word ἄρκτος ( arktos : " bear "). The Arctic Circle is the southernmost latitude in the Northern Hemisphere at which the centre of the Sun can remain continuously above or below the horizon for twenty-four hours; as a result, at least once each year at any location within the Arctic Circle the centre of the Sun
152-689: The Tumbler Ridge spur line to the Sukunka River coalmines. The Alaska Highway traverses the northernmost part of the range via Stone Mountain and Muncho Lake Provincial Parks. In addition to Northern Rocky Mountains Provincial Park, other parks in the Northern Rockies are: This article about a location in the Interior of British Columbia , Canada is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle
171-690: The Williston Reservoir , the Hart Ranges, is much more accessible and better known, while north of Lake Williston the Northern Rockies are extremely remote and rarely visited or photographed. The Hart Ranges are traversed by B.C. Highway 97 (the John Hart Highway) and the Peace River extension of the former BC Rail line (now part of Canadian National Railways ), which use the Pine Pass , and also by
190-515: The Arctic Circle is generally cold, but the coastal areas of Norway have a generally mild climate as a result of the Gulf Stream , which makes the ports of northern Norway and northwest Russia ice-free all year long. In the interior, summers can be quite warm, while winters are extremely cold. For example, summer temperatures in Norilsk , Russia will sometimes reach as high as 30 °C (86 °F), while
209-576: The Arctic Circle is not fixed and currently runs 66°33′50.2″ north of the Equator . Its latitude depends on the Earth's axial tilt , which fluctuates within a margin of more than 2° over a 41,000-year period, owing to tidal forces resulting from the orbit of the Moon . Consequently, the Arctic Circle is currently drifting northwards at a speed of about 14.5 m (48 ft) per year. The word arctic comes from
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#1732855677174228-587: The Arctic Circle with about 5,000 inhabitants. The largest such community in Canada is Inuvik in the Northwest Territories , with 3,137 inhabitants. Download coordinates as: The Arctic Circle is roughly 16,000 km (9,900 mi) in circumference. The area north of the Circle is about 20,000,000 km (7,700,000 sq mi) and covers roughly 4% of Earth's surface. The Arctic Circle passes through
247-462: The Arctic Circle, lying 6 km (4 mi) south of the line. Salekhard (51,186) in Russia is the only city in the world located directly on the Arctic Circle. In contrast, the largest North American community north of the Arctic Circle, Sisimiut ( Greenland ), has approximately 5,600 inhabitants. In the United States, Utqiagvik, Alaska (formerly known as Barrow) is the largest settlement north of
266-726: The Arctic, and the Western Wildway also called the "spine of the continent" runs from southern Mexico along the Rocky Mountains up into the Arctic. The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (also known as Y2Y) is a bi-national NGO that promotes the conservation of habitats and wildlife movement ability from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to the Arctic Circle . Northern Rocky Mountains The area south of
285-1525: The Wild Rockies based in Helena, Montana has been campaigning for the legislation for two decades with the help of numerous Congresspersons, celebrities, and grassroots groups such as the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society . The legislation has been introduced and discussed in Congress five times since 1993, most recently in November 2011 with 34 co-sponsors by December 2012. The legislation would affect roadless areas in five states, including 9,500,000 acres (38,000 km) in Idaho, 7 million in Montana, 5 million in Wyoming, 750,000 in eastern Oregon and 500,000 in eastern Washington. The total includes 3 million acres (12,000 km) in Yellowstone, Glacier and Grand Teton national parks. The NREPA does not affect private land. The legislation will: (D-PA) (D-NY) (D-NY) (R-CT) (R-CT) (R-CT) (R-CT) (D-NY) (D-NY) (D-NY) (D-NY) (D-NY) (D-RI) (D-NY) (D-RI) (D-NY) (D-RI) (D-NY) (D-RI) Carolyn B. Maloney , representative from
304-785: The act. Opponents to the NREPA state that there will be a loss of extraction jobs in the northern Rockies; mining, logging, and oil/gas production as a whole account for many of the jobs in the five affected states. Economics professor Tom Power, Ph.D. from the University of Montana has found that industries based on extracting resources from the land are more prone to "boom and bust" economic cycles, creating ghost towns , and unstable living conditions, while economies that are based around wilderness areas are more sustainable and have higher than average job growth rates. There are other wildland protection projects currently being endeavoured by citizens around
323-411: The northern summer solstice , at a latitude of about 50 minutes of arc (′) (90 km (56 mi)) south of the Arctic Circle. Similarly, on the day of the northern winter solstice , part of the Sun may be seen up to about 50′ north of the Arctic Circle. That is true at sea level ; those limits increase with elevation above sea level , although in mountainous regions there is often no direct view of
342-507: The true horizon. The largest communities north of the Arctic Circle are situated in Russia, Norway, and Sweden: Murmansk (population 295,374) and Norilsk (178,018) in Russia; Tromsø (75,638) in Norway, Vorkuta (58,133) in Russia, Bodø (52,357) and Harstad (24,703) in Norway; and Kiruna , Sweden (22,841). Rovaniemi (62,667) in Finland is the largest settlement in the immediate vicinity of
361-671: The world. In North America there are four wildlife corridors that have been proposed by the Wildlands Network, each providing a highway, called a "wildway", for migrating creatures to mitigate the effects of climate change : the Pacific Wildway running from Baja to Alaska, Boreal Wildway running west–east from Alaska, through Canada, to the northeastern shores of North America, the Eastern Wildway running from Everglades in Florida to
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