Becharof National Wildlife Refuge

Becharof National Wildlife Refuge
	Coastal mountains
Location:	Alaska , United States
Next city:	Egegik
Surface:	4857 km²
Founding:	2nd December 1980
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The Becharof National Wildlife Refuge is a 4857 km² protected area of the National Wildlife Refuge System on the Alaska Peninsula on the coast of the Shelichov Strait in the US state of Alaska . The eastern part is designated as the Wilderness Area ( Becharof Wilderness ), the strictest class of nature reserves in the United States. The protected area is managed by the World Conservation Union in category IV ( biotope and species protection area ).

The Wildlife Refuge is located in a chain of nature reserves on the peninsula that includes Katmai National Park , Becharof National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge , Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve, and Izembek National Wildlife Refuge .

The refuge includes coastal landscape, tundra , glacier-fed rivers and mountains such as the 1474 m high volcano Mount Peulik . In the center of the area lies the eponymous lake Becharof , which is up to 180 m deep and , at 1200 km², the second largest lake in Alaska and the largest in the entire National Wildlife Refuge System .

Wildlife

Lake Becharofsee is the world's second largest spawning area for sockeye salmon and is the food source for one of the largest brown bear populations in Alaska. The western part of the reserve, which faces Bristol Bay and consists of lowland tundra, is also a habitat for large mammals such as reindeer , elk and wolves . The elk population did not reach a significant level until the 1950s. The Northern Alaska Peninsula reindeer herd , one of the 13 largest herds in Alaska, winters in the region of the refuge.

Birds of prey such as bald eagles , hawks and falcons nest in the Becharof NWR, as do waterfowl such as the pygmy swan .

history

On December 1, 1978, US President Jimmy Carter designated the Becharof area along with 16 other Alaskan protected areas on the basis of the Antiquities Act of 1906 as a National Monument . As part of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of December 2, 1980, the status was downgraded to that of a wildlife refuge after political criticism .

In 1983, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service merged management of the Becharof NWR, the Ugashik and Chihnik sections of the Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuges, and the Seal Cape section of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuges .