Becharof National Wildlife Refuge

Becharof National Wildlife Refuge started out as Becharof National Monument. The presidential proclamation was signed by President Jimmy Carter on December 1, 1978 and the property was established on December 2, 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act. The US Fish and Wildlife Service took charge of the property in 1983.

The 1.2 million acres of Becharof National Wildlife Refuge lie at the eastern end of the Alaska Peninsula. This whole area of Alaska was heavily affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. Since that time, biologists have been regularly conducting extensive surveys in the area to see just how well the various native marine and avian species are recovering.

The centerpiece of Becharof NWR is Becharof Lake, 35 miles long, 15 miles wide, up to 600 feet deep and covering some 300,000 acres. Becharof Lake is the largest lake in the National Wildlife Refuge system, the second largest lake in Alaska. The lake is a massive producer of sockeye salmon, providing Bristol Bay with an estimated 6 million adult salmon per year. Because of all that salmon, this is also where you'll find the largest concentration of brown bears in Alaska. You'll also find moose, fox, wolverine, beaver, river otter and members of the Northern Alaska Peninsula Caribou Herd here.

To the southwest of Becharof is the Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge. To the northeast is Katmai National Park and Preserve.