Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
National Wildlife Refuge (US Fish And Wildlife Service) · Fairbanks, Alaska
About 19 million acres in the far north-east of Alaska, the largest national wildlife refuge in the United States and one of the largest protected wild areas on Earth, reaching from boreal forest over the Brooks Range to the Arctic Ocean. It was first protected in 1960 and expanded in 1980. The coastal plain is the calving ground of the Porcupine caribou herd, which Gwich'in people call the sacred place where life begins, and polar bears den along the coast. There are no roads, trails, visitor facilities or fees inside the refuge; visitors fly in by bush plane from Fairbanks, Coldfoot, Arctic Village or Kaktovik, or reach its western edge from the Dalton Highway, and many float rivers such as the Kongakut and Hulahula. Boat tours to see polar bears near Kaktovik have been halted since 2021, and the community hoped to restart them perhaps in 2027. Oil drilling on the coastal plain remains fiercely contested.
Refuge office: 101 12th Avenue, Fairbanks (the refuge itself is roadless), Fairbanks, Alaska, 99701, United States
Open year-round with no gates or facilities. Practical travel season is June to August. Refuge office in Fairbanks keeps weekday hours (check fws.gov/refuge/arctic).
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