Cook Inlet extends from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage in south-central Alaska, USA. Parts of Cook Inlet are designated as critical habitat for beluga whales, making this waterbody of interest to researchers and the environmental regulatory community. 

Cook Inlet stretches 180 miles (290 km) from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage in south-central Alaska. Cook Inlet branches into the Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm at its northern end, almost surrounding Anchorage. On its south end merges with Shelikof Strait, Stevenson Entrance, Kennedy Entrance and Chugach Passage. 

The watershed covers about 100,000 km² of southern Alaska, east of the Aleutian Range, south and east of the Alaska Range, receiving water from its tributaries the Knik River, the Little Susitna River, and the Susitna and Matanuska rivers. Approximately 400,000 people live within the Cook Inlet watershed. 

The Cook inlet Beluga whale is a genetically distinct and geographically isolated stock. In April 2011, NOAA Fisheries designated critical habitat in the Cook Inlet for beluga whales. 

(Source Wikipedia and NOAA Fisheries) 

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