Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska Interior, United States.

Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge is a vast conservation area in Alaska's interior covered by wetlands, forests, and thousands of lakes where major rivers converge. The landscape is dominated by water and low vegetation across an enormous territory.

Congress established this refuge in 1980 as part of a major effort to protect Alaska's remaining wild lands and their wildlife. The decision reflected growing recognition of the need to safeguard these northern ecosystems.

The refuge lies within the traditional homelands of Gwich'in and Koyukon Athabascan peoples, who rely on its moose, caribou, waterfowl and fish. The Porcupine caribou herd's migration and the salmon runs of the Yukon and its tributaries still structure the seasonal round of nearby villages.

You reach the refuge mainly by air from Fairbanks to nearby villages, where charter services can arrange river and float trips. The best time to visit is summer and early fall when conditions are more stable.

The refuge holds about 150 bird species and 18 fish species, alongside moose, grizzly bears, muskrats, river otters, wolverines, Dall sheep, beavers, red foxes and Canadian lynx. Four falcon species and six owl species are recorded among the birds.