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=Baird Mountains= The Baird Mountains are a mountain range located northeast of the Kotzebue Sound, in between the Kobuk and Noatak Rivers in Alaska. The mountains were named after Smithsonian Institution Secretary, Spencer F. Baird.

Geographical Setting
The Baird mountains are located at 66.92°N, -162.03°W in the Western Brooks mountain range in northwestern Alaska, consisting of 5,600 square miles (14,500 square kilometers). The mountains rest approximately sixty miles (100 kilometers) northeast of the town of Kotzebue, Alaska. Although the mountains seem much greater in size due to their closeness to the rivers, they are not very large when compared to the other Alaskan mountains that have elevations from 1,000 to 4,500 feet. The Baird Mountains have an elevation that reaches to approximately 3,000 feet (900 m), with its highest peak at Mount Angayukaqsraq, which measures at 4,700 ft (1,433 m).

Human History
The Kuuvanmiit Eskimos, a branch of the Iñupiat Eskimos who have resided among polar regions from Alaska to Greenland, have lived in the five villages along the Kobuk River in the Baird Mountains region for thousands of years. The Kuuvanmiit maintain a lifestyle of hunting, fishing and gathering the means for survival by themselves. The Kuuvanmiit are included in the few people who continue to live by such a lifestyle in North America.

Ecology and Climate
The climate of the Baird Mountains is mostly like that of the rest of Alaska. Since the Pacific Ocean is located near the Baird Mountains, the ocean greatly influences and enhances the temperature extremities. Winter lasts approximately five months long, from November to March, in which the temperatures dwell near or below 0°F. The temperatures can drop as low as -60°F to -70°F, and it is not uncommon for cold spells of -40°F to -50°F to last from one to three weeks long. The level of snowfall reaches as high as approximately 100 inches in the mountains to about 45 inches among the lower elevations. Gale winds and snow from storms that blow in from the coast interrupt this below-freezing period, causing temperatures to rise from 0°F to 20°F or higher. The other extremity consists of summer, which only lasts for three months, from June to August. The precipitation amounts are heaviest during the summer, bringing warmer temperatures along with common convective showers, in which the intensity of the rain quickly changes. Temperatures range from as low as the upper thirties to as high as 90°F, averaging from about 50°F to 60°F. Spring and autumn come and go rather quickly, lingering for only six to eight weeks long. Daylight periods change immensely as the seasons change. From May to August, darkness does not linger for long. Instead of rising or setting, the sun circles just above the horizon, turning to darkness only for a few hours when the sun circles behind the mountains. During the quick seasons of spring and autumn, daylight changes every six to eight minutes each day.

Flora
The vegetation in the Baird Mountains is surprisingly various for somewhere just above the Arctic Circle. These mountains are home to over 360 plant species. A network of different patterns of forests, tundra and plants lining the coasts vary depending on their elevation, climate, soil and fire history.