About Us
The Innoko National Wildlife Refuge, traditional homelands of the Koyukon Athabascan and Deg Hit’an peoples, was established by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act in 1980. ANILCA established the refuge in two units totaling 4.6 million acres. North of the Kaiyuh Hills lies the 751,000 acre Kaiyuh Unit. To the south, the Innoko Unit comprises 3.85 million acres of the Innoko River watershed.
One of the primary reasons the refuge was created was to protect one of the largest waterfowl habitat areas in interior Alaska. Innoko refuge provides vast areas of wetlands that are crucial for waterfowl nesting, resting, staging, and molting. Other special values that the refuge is noted for include habitat for avian raptor populations, as well as the natural water and fire regime that creates excellent habitat for moose. Moose hunting is very popular and subsistence fish and hunting camps dot the landscape. Marshy landscapes, meandering rivers and wet tundra abound creating ample habitats for fish and wildlife including moose, salmon, northern pike, whitefish, sheefish, furbearers and an array of shorebirds and waterfowls species.
Wilderness Area
The Innoko Wilderness Area, also designated in 1980, encompasses 1.24 million acres located south and east of the Innoko River. This congressionally-mandated area includes much of the lower Iditarod River and many lakes and ponds. This area is a true wilderness in every sense of the word. It is common to go for days without seeing or hearing signs of another human.
Our Mission
The Innoko National Wildlife Refuge encompasses a largely unaltered ecosystem dominated by numerous rivers flowing among diverse habitats, including muskeg, tundra, and dense boreal forest. Remote even by Alaskan standards, the natural forces of fire and water, now apparently affected by climate change, dominate the landscape. The refuge is not accessible by road, and only the occasional visitor discovers the many opportunities to hunt, fish, and view wildlife. The refuge hosts hundreds of thousands of breeding and molting waterfowl and is important rearing habitat for salmon and other species of fish. In addition, moose, black and grizzly bears, and furbearers are abundant. Refuge lands have been important to subsistence hunters for generations, and the area has a rich Gold Rush history. A main portion of the historic Iditarod Trail, the overland winter route from Seward to the gold fields of Nome, crosses refuge land. The
Innoko Refuge is a place to discover the vastness and diversity of interior Alaska, to reflect upon Native Alaskan and mining history, and to experience nature in solitude for generations to come.
According to ANILCA, the primary purposes for which the Innoko National Wildlife Refuge was established, and shall be managed, include conserving fish and wildlife populations and habitats in their natural diversity including, but not limited to, waterfowl, peregrine falcons, other migratory birds, black bear, moose, furbearers, and other mammals and salmon; fulfilling the international treaty obligations of the United States with respect to fish and wildlife and their habitats; providing the opportunity for continued subsistence uses by local residents; and ensuring water quality and necessary water quantity within the refuge.
Management Plans
Revised Comprehensive Conservation Plan for the Innoko National Wildlife Refuge, 2008