The Dena’ina people call this special place “Yaghanen” - the good land. It's also known as the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.
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From ice fields and glaciers to tundra, forests, and coastal wetlands, the Kenai Refuge is often called “Alaska in miniature”. Biodiversity is unusually high for this latitude because of the juxtaposition of two biomes: Sitka spruce-dominated coastal rainforest and the western-most reach of boreal forest in North America. This refuge is known for its moose, brown and black bears, lynx, wolves, trumpeter swans, and more. The Kenai River, which originates in the refuge, is renowned for its wide variety of sport fish including Chinook (king), sockeye (red), and coho (silver) salmon, Dolly Varden and rainbow trout. This refuge, including the Kenai Wilderness, is an anchor for biodiversity on the Kenai Peninsula in a time of change - including development downstream, changing climatic conditions, and change through fire.
Our mission is for the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge to serve as an anchor for biodiversity on the Kenai Peninsula despite global climate change , increasing development, and competing demands for refuge resources. Native wildlife and their habitats will find a secure place here, where refuge staff and partners work together, using the best science and technology available, to ensure that biological health is maximized and human impacts are minimized.
Visitors will feel welcomed and safe by means of a wide variety of wildlife-dependent recreation opportunities, facilities, and interpretive and educational programs that encourage informed and ethical use of the refuge’s natural resources. The refuge will achieve excellence in land, water, and Wilderness stewardship; and—with careful planning, forethought, and human determination—an enduring legacy of abundant plant, fish, and wildlife populations will be ensured for people to enjoy today and into the future for this phenomenal land we call “The Kenai.”
Each unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System is established to serve a statutory purpose that targets the conservation of native species dependent on its lands and waters. All activities on those acres are reviewed for compatibility with this statutory purpose.
The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act established, and provided the following management purposes, for Kenai National Wildlife Refuge:
The Wilderness Act of 1964 provides the following purposes for Kenai Wilderness:
In 1941, President Roosevelt designated more than 1.7 million acres as the Kenai National Moose Range to protect the "giant, Kenai moose." In 1980, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act renamed and expanded the Moose Range to the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, including the establishment of 1.32 million acres as Kenai Wilderness and expanded purposes. The refuge now exists to protect the variety of wildlife and their habitats and to promote scientific research, environmental education and recreation.
Wildlife conservation is at the heart of the National Wildlife Refuge System. It drives everything on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands and waters managed within the Refuge System, from the purposes for which a national wildlife refuge is established to the recreational activities offered to the resource management tools used. Using conservation best practices, the Refuge System manages Service lands and waters to help ensure the survival of native wildlife species.
Refuges deploy a host of scientifically sound management tools to address biological challenges. These tools span active water management to wilderness character monitoring, all aimed at ensuring a balanced conservation approach to benefit both wildlife and people.
Kenai Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office Fisheries Branch staff monitor fish populations and stream temperatures within the Refuge and Habitat Branch staff work to restore fish passage and streambanks downstream and across the Kenai Peninsula.
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Alaska’s 16 National Wildlife Refuges are patrolled and protected by Federal Wildlife Officers. Federal Wildlife Officers are law enforcement professionals charged with protecting natural resources and public safety across the National Wildlife Refuge System. Their jobs may entail welcoming early morning refuge visitors, checking hunter licenses alongside state wildlife officers, helping refuge staff conduct biological surveys or giving a safety presentation to local schoolchildren. Using vehicles, snow machines, OHVs, boats, and even planes, Federal Wildlife Officers continue to connect and build relationships with the people of Alaska, rural and urban. Anyone with questions regarding USFWS law enforcement is encouraged to contact a local officer. For all who enjoy and rely upon the resources in National Wildlife Refuges, the USFWS Division of Refuge Law Enforcement is here to protect those resources for future generations. Learn more, visit the Refuge Law Enforcement page.
In addition to other state and federal laws and regulations (including regulations written by the State of Alaska/Alaska Department of Fish and Game), regulations specific to the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge can be found in the Code of Federal Regulations Title 50 CFR 36.39. Maps of designated areas open to specific public use activities on the refuge are available from Refuge Headquarters.
Laws & Regulations