Innoko NWR, McGrath, Alaska: As with most national wildlife refuges in Alaska, there are no roads into or out of the 6,000-square-mile Innoko National Wildlife Refuge. Access is by bush plane or boat—kayak, canoe, or motorized raft. But if you make the effort, you will be rewarded with a tremendous array of wildlife and diverse habitats. The meandering Innoko River provides habitat for northern pike, sheefish, Arctic graylings, and three salmon species (chum, king, and silver); Canada and white-fronted geese, Arctic and red-throated loons, and myriad waterfowl. Beavers, moose, eagles, and osprey are also found along the river. The forested areas harbor black and grizzly bears, martens, wolverines, lynx, wolves, and red foxes. And the birds—redpolls, Bohemian waxwings, varied thrushes, boreal chickadees, spruce and ruffed grouse, three-toed and black-backed woodpeckers, kestrels, great gray and northern hawk owls, sandhill cranes, various warblers. An unforgettable sight is the 500,000-member Western Arctic caribou herd moving across the refuge.
Hide.
