Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge
Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge
Bethel, AK 99559
Phone:907-543-3151
Web: yukondelta.fws.gov
Established: 1980 with the consolidation of Clarence Rhode, Nunivak, and Hazen Bay refuges.
Location:400 miles west of Anchorage.
Facilities:Visitor center.
Activities:Camping, backpacking, boating, fishing, hiking, hunting, educational programs.
Special Features:Yukon Delta is the nation's largest wildlife refuge, where the waters of the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers flow through a vast "treeless plain," or tundra. In terms of both density and species diversity, the refuge is the most important shorebird nesting area in the United States. The Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, and their many tributaries that weave their way through the refuge, provide hundreds of miles of spawning and rearing habitat for fish. A total of 44 species use the refuge's fresh and marine waters.
Habitats: 19 million acres of rivers, sloughs, lakes, and ponds.
Access: Accessible only by boat or aircraft; contact refuge staff before visiting.
Wild life: Geese, swans, greater scaup, eider, gulls, cranes, loons, black and brown bear, caribou, musk ox, wolves, seals, walrus, North American Pacific salmon, and whale.
See other parks in Alaska.