Jimmy Carter

“ The Noatak basin is an area where indigenous plants and animals perpetuate themselves naturally, in a freely functioning ecosystem. Protection of this area will assure the preservation of an essential base against which scientists may judge environmental dynamics of the future.
The land withdrawn and reserved by this Proclamation for the protection of the geological, archeological, biological, and other phenomena enumerated above supports now, as it has in the past, the unique subsistence culture of the local residents. ”

“ The Noatak River basin is the largest mountain-ringed river basin in the Nation still virtually unaffected by technological human activity. This basin has been designated as a Biosphere Reserve under the United Nations' auspices, in recognition of its international importance for scientific study and research.
The area includes landforms and ecological variations of scientific interest. The Grand Canyon of the Noatak River is a dissected valley 65 miles long. ”

“ The continued existence of this culture, which depends upon subsistence hunting, and its availability for study, enhances the historic and scientific values of the natural objects protected herein because of the ongoing interaction of the subsistence culture with those objects. Accordingly, the opportunity for local residents to engage in subsistence hunting is a value to be protected and will continue trader the administration of the monument. ”