USFWS · Idaho

Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge

The Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge of the United States located in northern Idaho. It is about 20 miles (32 km) from the Canada–United States border and 5 miles (8.0 km) from the town of Bonners Ferry. It is bordered by the Selkirk Mountains to the west, the Kootenai River to the east, and state lands to the south.

From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

National Wildlife Refuge2,774 acresUSFWSID1 trail
Official page at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ↗
Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge
Photo by Jan Rose, USFWS, in the public domain, from Wikimedia Commons.
4 fires
active
D7 Rx Boulder Dash (prescribed burn) · 15 mi from the center
3 more within 50 miles
Incident details ↓

Facts

Where each comes from ↓
DesignationNational Wildlife Refuge
Managed byU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
StateIdaho
Size2,774 acres
FWS regionRegion 1
Center point48.72° N, 116.40° W
Night skyAbout as dark as the ground gets (Black Marble reading 17)

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 Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge20°30°40°50°60°70°January: 2.63 inches of precipitation, 15.0 inches of snowFebruary: 1.83 inches of precipitation, 10.8 inches of snowMarch: 2.01 inches of precipitation, 3.7 inches of snowApril: 1.26 inches of precipitation, 0.4 inches of snowMay: 1.78 inches of precipitation, 0.0 inches of snowJune: 1.92 inches of precipitation, 0.0 inches of snowJuly: 0.64 inches of precipitation, 0.0 inches of snowAugust: 0.53 inches of precipitation, 0.0 inches of snowSeptember: 1.02 inches of precipitation, 0.0 inches of snowOctober: 1.73 inches of precipitation, 0.2 inches of snowNovember: 2.55 inches of precipitation, 6.4 inches of snowDecember: 3.17 inches of precipitation, 17.3 inches of snowJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJanuary: 28.7°F averageFebruary: 31.6°F averageMarch: 39.0°F averageApril: 47.3°F averageMay: 56.3°F averageJune: 61.9°F averageJuly: 69.0°F averageAugust: 68.3°F averageSeptember: 58.9°F averageOctober: 45.9°F averageNovember: 35.6°F averageDecember: 28.5°F average0 in5 in10 in15 in20 inTemp °FInches
The line is the average temperature and the bars are average precipitation at Bonners Ferry, 5 miles from the center point at 2,075 feet, station USC00101079 in the NOAA monthly climate normals for 1991 to 2020. Precipitation totals about 21 inches a year. The dotted line is average snowfall, about 54 inches a year on the same inches scale.

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.

Trails

Trailhead Atlas →

1 named Forest Service trail starts or ends within 1.2 miles of the center point, under a mile in all.

TrailMiles
Myrtle Falls0.1

Lengths and allowed uses come from the Forest Service trail layer by way of Trailhead Atlas. This trail list was copied from Trailhead Atlas on November 1, 2026 and is copied again on each weekly run. Trails in plain text have no page there yet. The radius is the one a circle of this unit’s acreage would have, measured from the center point, so a trail listed here can fall outside the boundary.

Fire nearby

Within 50 miles · as of 2026-11-01
  • Prescribed
    D7 Rx Boulder Dash

    15 mi from the center point

  • Prescribed
    D7 Rx Timbuck Stew

    18 mi from the center point

  • Prescribed
    D6 Rx Long Mountain

    45 mi from the center point

  • Prescribed
    Sl Rx - Limestone Timber Sale

    48 mi from the center point · 38 acres

Distance is to the reported incident point, not the fire edge, and is measured from the center of a boundary that may be many miles across. Check the agency page for closures.

Explore

Nearby on the other atlases

National Register listings within 15 miles · 6 in all · Register Atlas

Landmarks are listed first, then by distance from the boundary.

Guidebooks for Idaho

We earn a small commission if you buy through these links. It does not change what we list.

Titles come from Open Library's catalog, matched by subject heading or by title.

Reference

Questions people ask

How big is Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge?

2,774 acres.

Source: How acreage is computed

Who manages Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge?

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

What state is Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge in?

Idaho.

Source: How states are assigned

How do I get to Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge?

A point inside the boundary is at 48.716° N, 116.404° W. The official page carries directions and the office address.

Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Is there a fire near Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge right now?

4 active incidents within 50 miles as of 2026-11-01, the nearest D7 Rx Boulder Dash at 15 miles. Distance is to the reported incident point, not the fire edge.

Source: Fire nearby

Are there historic places near Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge?

The National Register has 6 listings within 15 miles, including Fry's Trading Post and Soderling, Russell and Pearl, House.

Source: Register Atlas

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 (Q6430814), the item linked to its Wikipedia article. Author and license come from the file page on Wikimedia Commons.
  • Description: Kootenai 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.
  • Trails: the Trailhead Atlas open-data file of Forest Service trails, matched by trail endpoints falling inside a circle of this unit’s acreage around the center point.
  • 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.