| Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge | |
|---|---|
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area) | |
  | |
| Location | Interior Alaska, United States |
| Nearest city | Fort Yukon, Alaska |
| Coordinates | 66°20′00″N 146°00′02″W / 66.33333°N 146.00056°W |
| Area | 8,634,512 acres (34,942.63 km2) |
| Established | December 2, 1980 |
| Governing body | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service |
| Website | Yukon Flats NWR |
The Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge is a protected wetland area in the U.S. state of Alaska. It encompasses most of the Yukon Flats, a vast wetland area centered on the confluence of the Yukon River, Porcupine River, and Chandalar River.
The area is a major waterfowl 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 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 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, or the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge.[1] The refuge is administered from offices in Fairbanks.