Kenai National Wildlife Refuge

Overview

Kenai National Wildlife Refuge spans nearly 2 million acres on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula and is the most-visited refuge in Alaska. Known to the Dena'ina people as 'Yaghanen' (the good land), it's often called 'Alaska in miniature' due to its remarkable biodiversity spanning ice fields, glaciers, tundra, boreal forests, and coastal wetlands. Originally established in 1941 as the Kenai National Moose Range, it now protects moose, brown and black bears, wolves, lynx, Dall sheep, mountain goats, trumpeter swans, and a small caribou herd. The refuge includes over 1.35 million acres of designated Kenai Wilderness. The world-renowned Kenai River originates here, famous for Chinook, sockeye, and coho salmon, plus Dolly Varden and rainbow trout. The refuge is open year-round with 14 rustic public use cabins (reservable via Recreation.gov), campgrounds including Lower Skilak, and two exceptional canoe trail systems—the Swanson River and Swan Lake Canoe Trails, among only three such wilderness canoe systems in the US. The refuge allows hunting, fishing, trapping, camping, hiking, and in designated areas, aircraft, snowmobiles, and ATVs per specific regulations. Wildfire activity has historically prompted temporary closures in certain areas. Visit the excellent visitor center in Soldotna at Ski Hill Road (MP 96.1 Sterling Highway) for current conditions, maps, and permits before heading into the backcountry.