USFWS · Alaska

Becharof National Wildlife Refuge

Becharof National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge in the Aleutian Range of the Alaska Peninsula of southwestern Alaska. It is adjacent to Katmai National Park and Preserve. This national wildlife refuge, which covers an area of 1,200,000 acres (4,900 km2), was established in 1980 to conserve major brown bears, salmon, migratory birds, caribou, marine birds, and mammals and to comply with treaty obligations. It lies primarily in the east-central part of Lake and Peninsula Borough, but extends eastward into the mainland portion of Kodiak Island Borough. The refuge is administered from offices in King Salmon.

From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Official page at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ↗
Becharof National Wildlife Refuge
Photo by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in the public domain, from Wikimedia Commons.
DesignationNational Wildlife Refuge
Managed byU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
StateAlaska
Size1.2 million acres
FWS regionRegion 7
Center point58.01° N, 156.13° W
Night skyAbout as dark as the ground gets (Black Marble reading 15)

Boundary map

1 outline

Boundary, simplified to about 0.005 degrees

The outline is the agency boundary simplified for display, so small parcels and inholdings may not show. The agency page has the authoritative map.

Weather by month

NOAA climate normals →
Weather by month near Becharof National Wildlife Refuge10°20°30°40°50°60°January: 1.76 inches of precipitationFebruary: 2.15 inches of precipitationMarch: 1.00 inches of precipitationApril: 1.45 inches of precipitationMay: 1.46 inches of precipitationJune: 2.46 inches of precipitationJuly: 3.67 inches of precipitationAugust: 4.41 inches of precipitationSeptember: 5.12 inches of precipitationOctober: 2.89 inches of precipitationNovember: 3.63 inches of precipitationDecember: 2.08 inches of precipitationJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJanuary: 17.8°F averageFebruary: 21.9°F averageMarch: 22.9°F averageApril: 34.6°F averageMay: 42.6°F averageJune: 49.6°F averageJuly: 53.6°F averageAugust: 52.9°F averageSeptember: 46.6°F averageOctober: 35.5°F averageNovember: 24.7°F averageDecember: 19.6°F average0 in2 in4 in6 inTemp °FInches
The line is the average temperature and the bars are average precipitation at King Salmon 42 SE, 15 miles from the center point at 661 feet, station USW00025522 in the NOAA monthly climate normals for 1991 to 2020. Precipitation totals about 32 inches a year.

Large units span more than one climate. The station stands in for the center point, and the outer parts of the boundary can be warmer or colder.

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Reference

Questions people ask

How big is Becharof National Wildlife Refuge?

1.2 million acres.

Source: How acreage is computed

Who manages Becharof National Wildlife Refuge?

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

What state is Becharof National Wildlife Refuge in?
How do I get to Becharof National Wildlife Refuge?

A point inside the boundary is at 58.012° N, 156.129° W. The official page carries directions and the office address.

Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Sources

  • Boundary, name: the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuge boundary layer.
  • States and territories: computed by intersecting the boundary with Census state polygons and coarse outlines of the territories and outlying islands. A place is listed when it holds at least one percent of the area. A boundary that touches no outline is listed under the nearest one.
  • Acreage: geodesic area of the published polygon. The agency’s official acreage can differ where the boundary includes water, easements or inholdings.
  • Photograph: the image Wikidata records for this refuge (Q813578), the item linked to its Wikipedia article. Author and license come from the file page on Wikimedia Commons.
  • Description: Becharof National Wildlife Refuge on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. The article was accepted because its title contains this unit’s name.
  • Campgrounds: the Campsite Atlas index of federal campgrounds, matched to this boundary at build time.
  • Night sky: NASA Black Marble (VIIRS, 2016 composite) sampled at zoom 6 around the center point.
  • Weather, alerts, air quality, river flow and earthquakes load live in your browser from NWS, AirNow, USGS and iNaturalist when you open the page.