Nenana River

The Nenana River (Lower Tanana: Nina No’) is a tributary of the Tanana River, approximately 140 miles (230 km) long, in central Alaska in the United States. It drains an area on the north slope of the Alaska Range on the south edge of the Tanana Valley southwest of Fairbanks.

It issues from the Nenana Glacier in the northern Alaska Range, southwest of Mount Deborah, approximately 100 mi (160 km) south of Fairbanks. It flows briefly southwest, then west, then north, forming the eastern boundary of Denali National Park and Preserve. It emerges from the mountains onto the broad marshy Tanana Valley, joining the Tanana River from the south at Nenana, Alaska, approximately 35 miles (56 km) southwest of Fairbanks. The Tanana River continues to its confluence with the Yukon River.

The upper valley of the river furnishes approximately 100 mi (160 km) of the northern route of both the Alaska Railroad and the Parks Highway (Alaska State Highway 3) connecting Fairbanks and Anchorage.

The Nenana supports populations of Alaska blackfish, Arctic grayling, Arctic lamprey, broad whitefish, burbot, chum salmon, humpback whitefish, king salmon, lake chubs, least cisco, longnose suckers, northern pike, round whitefish, sheefish, silver salmon, and slimy sculpins. Major archaeological sites located in the valley include Broken Mammoth and Swan Point, of late Pleistocene age.