Includes bibliographical references (p. [258]-267) and index.

"Jonathan Waterman blends historical narrative with tales of his journeys into the Arctic wilderness, creating a tension between past and present, science and politics, reflection and investigation. Since 1983 he has taken eighteen trips to the far North, and spent over two hundred days in and around the embattled refuge. While paddling or trekking cross-country, Waterman encounters howling wolves, British Petroleum workers, Inupiat hunters, and the oil-ravaged Prince William Sound. Where Mountains are Nameless explores how the hunt for oil has choked Alaska's pristine wilderness and also traces the lives of the celebrated Muries, who spearheaded the establishment of the original wildlife range. This portrait makes the stakes over the refuge vividly clear."--BOOK JACKET