State Parks and National Parks

Koyukuk National Wildlife Refuge

Galena, AK U.S.A.

P.O. Box 287
101 Front St.
Galena, AK 99741
U.S.A.

907-656-1231

Open Year-Round

No Entry Fee Charged

State Park Information

Rivers are the lifeblood of the 3.5-million acre Koyukuk refuge, which sits in a basin that extends from the Yukon River to the Purcell Mountains and the foothills of the Brooks Range.

Fourteen rivers and hundreds of creeks meander through the refuge, providing habitat for salmon, beavers and waterfowl. There are more than 15,000 lakes.

The landscape includes the Nogahabara Dunes, a 10,000-acre active dune field. The field was formed from wind-blown deposits about 10,000 years ago and is one of two active dune fields in Alaska.

The floodplain of the Koyukuk River provides ideal nesting habitat for ducks, geese and other water birds.

Black bears are abundant in forests, and grizzlies inhabit the open tundra. Furbearing animals on Koyukuk include otters, lynx, beavers, martens, muskrats and mink.

Koyukuk Refuge's Three-Day Slough area, part of the 400,000 acre Koyukuk Wilderness, has some of the most productive moose habitat in Alaska. This region has, at times, supported more than 10 moose per square mile. Recent counts indicate that some areas still contain densities of five moose or more per square mile.

The Koyukuk also supports a resident non-migratory caribou population, the Galena Mountain Herd, which numbers about 100.

Wolves, lynx and other furbearers, as well as black and grizzly bears, are found on the refuge.