Features

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    50 Years: Wild and Scenic Rivers Act

    2018 is the 50th Anniversary of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Beaver Creek is a designated Wild River. It’s your river. Make your splash!

    Learn About Beaver Creek

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    Feeding the Flyways

    Ducks banded in the Yukon Flats have been recovered in all four North American flyways

    See where banded ducks have been recovered

Items of Note

Local Culture

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Native Alaskans living within and near the Yukon Flats are primarily Gwich'in Athabascan Indians. Seven villages lie within Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge where residents have a long history of harvesting the region's natural resources for subsistence purposes. Athabascans follow patterns of harvest that reflect the seasonal cycle of resources and continue to hunt, fish, trap, pick berries, and cut house logs on the refuge.

Read more about the local culture

Refuge History

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In the 1950’s, a proposed hydroelectric dam at Rampart Canyon threatened to flood the Yukon Flats, inundating millions of acres of prime waterfowl breeding habitat. In response, the US Fish and Wildlife Service conducted an extensive waterfowl banding effort to prove the importance of the Yukon Flats to waterfowl populations across the nation. As a result of this effort, the Yukon Flats received official protection in 1978 when it was designated a National Wildlife Monument.

History of the Yukon Flats
Refuge Highlights

About the Refuge

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Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge is a remote 11.1 million acre wetland complex nestled between the White Mountains and Brooks Range in Interior Alaska. The landscape is dominated by water, bisected by the Yukon River and dotted with over 40,000 lakes, ponds, and streams that provide essential breeding habitat for millions of waterfowl each summer.

Welcome to the Yukon Flats Refuge

About the NWRS

National Wildlife Refuge System

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The National Wildlife Refuge System, within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, manages a national network of lands and waters set aside to conserve America's fish, wildlife, and plants.

Learn more about the NWRS
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