f you're entering Alaska by way of Canada, stop at the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center, 9 miles from the Canada border. For the next 70 miles on your way toward Tok, the southern side of the Alcan borders the refuge.

Eastern Alaska is one of the most animal-dense areas of the state. For example, it's estimated by biologists that the 40-Mile Caribou Herd, north of Tok, numbered 33,110 animals in the year 1999, and the 40-Mile Herd is growing. South of the 40-Mile area, in the Copper River Valley, the Nelchina Caribou Herd is now estimated at around 30,000 animals. In the mid-1990's, the Nelchina Herd numbered over 50,000 caribou. (Local biologists say that was too many. The larger number of caribou over used the Nelchina summer range.) The Nelchina herd roams a vast area in Alaska, and has been overwintering near Tok and the Canada border in recent years.

Photo: Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge