The Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge is a protected
wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...
area in the U.S. state of
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
. It encompasses most of the
Yukon Flats
The Yukon Flats are a vast area of wetlands, forest, bog, and low-lying ground centered on the confluence of the Yukon River, Porcupine River, and Chandalar River in the central portion of the U.S. state of Alaska. The Yukon Flats are bordered in ...
, a vast wetland area centered on the confluence of the
Yukon River
The Yukon River ( Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän: ''Tth'echù'' or ''Chuu k'onn'', Southern Tutchone: Chu Nìikwän, russian: Юкон, Yukon) is a major watercourse ...
,
Porcupine River
The Porcupine River (''Ch’ôonjik'' in Gwich’in) is a tributary of the Yukon River in Canada and the United States. It rises in the Ogilvie Mountains north of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada. From there it flows north through the community of ...
, and
Chandalar River
The Chandalar River (''T'eedriinjik'' in Gwich'in) is a tributary of the Yukon River in the U.S. state of Alaska. Its peak flow, recorded by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) between 1964 and 1974 at a stream gauge at Venetie, was on ...
.
The area is a major
waterfowl
Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...
breeding ground, and after a proposal to flood the Yukon Flats via
a dam on the Yukon River was turned down, the Yukon Flats were deemed worthy of protection.
On 1 December 1978, US President
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1 ...
designated the Yukon Flats as a National Monument on the basis of the Antiquities Act of 1906. In the course of the
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act
The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) is a United States federal law signed by President Jimmy Carter on December 2, 1980. ANILCA provided varying degrees of special protection to over of land, including national parks, n ...
of December 2, 1980, the area boundaries were changed after political criticism and the status was downgraded to that of a wildlife refuge. It is the third-largest National Wildlife Refuge in the United States, although it is less than one-half the size of either of the two largest, the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR or Arctic Refuge) is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska, United States on traditional Gwich'in lands. It consists of in the Alaska North Slope region. It is the largest national wildli ...
, or the
Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge
The Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge covering about in southwestern Alaska. It is the second-largest National Wildlife Refuge in the country, only slightly smaller than the Arctic National Wildlife R ...
.
USFWS Annual Lands Report, 30 September 2007
/ref> The refuge is administered from offices in Fairbanks.
Fauna
This refuge is home to bird and mammalian species such as the Arctic fox
The Arctic fox (''Vulpes lagopus''), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. It is well adapted to living in ...
, moose
The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...
, bald eagle, black bear
Black bear or Blackbear may refer to:
Animals
* American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species
* Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species
Music
* Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...
, wolf
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...
packs, porcupine, four species of falcon
Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene.
Adult falcons ...
, river otter, golden eagle
The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known birds of ...
, red fox, Dall sheep, muskrat, coyote, six species of owl
Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...
, Canadian lynx
The Canada lynx (''Lynx canadensis''), or Canadian lynx, is a medium-sized North American lynx that ranges across Alaska, Canada, and northern areas of the contiguous United States. It is characterized by its long, dense fur, triangular ears w ...
, beaver, caribou, mink, wolverine
The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscul ...
, and brown bear
The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is ...
.
References
Further reading
*Alaska Internet Travel Guide
"Alaska National Wildlife Refuges: Yukon Flats Wildlife Refuge"
AlaskaOne.com. Accessed February 17, 2009.
*U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
"Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge"
FWS.gov. Accessed February 17, 2009.
*U.S. Forest Service
Fs.fed.us. Accessed February 17, 2009.
*U.S. Geological Survey
"Oil and Gas Assessment of Yukon Flats, East-Central Alaska, 2004"
USGS.gov. December 14, 2004. Accessed February 17, 2009.
*U.S. Geological Survey
"Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge"
Geographic Names Information System. Accessed February 17, 2009.
External links
*
*
A YouTube video showing and describing the Yukon Flats
ANILCA establishments
Landforms of Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska
National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska
Protected areas of Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska
Wetlands of Alaska
Yukon River
Protected areas established in 1980
1980 establishments in Alaska
{{YukonKoyukukAK-geo-stub