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Izembek Lagoon consists of 150 square miles of channeled eelgrass beds. Vegetated sandy peninsulas and islands form a broken barrier from the Bering Sea. Amak Island is visible in the background.

Established in 1960 to protect the rich wildlife resources of the area, Izembek National Wildlife Refuge is a panorama of natural beauty on the southern tip of the Alaska Peninsula. The Refuge surrounds and protects Izembek Lagoon, 150 square miles of brackish water containing one of the world’s largest eelgrass beds. The state-owned tidelands within the lagoon have been designated as the Izembek State Game Refuge. Izembek Lagoon is an international crossroads for a variety of migrating waterfowl and shorebirds. Each spring and fall, the entire world populations of emperor geese and Pacific black brant migrate through Izembek Refuge. Each fall, many thousands of waterfowl and shorebirds congregate on the lagoon, including black brant, Taverner’s Canada geese, Steller’s eiders, northern pintails, mallards, rock sandpipers, and dunlin. In winter, several thousand brant and emperor geese along with thousands of Steller’s eiders remain in the area.

Bering sea and Pacific Ocean beaches, brackish lagoons, freshwater lakes, treeless tundra lowlands, alder thickets, volcanic peaks, and glaciers are all a part of Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. Pictured is the Bechevin Bay area; Unimak Island is in the background and a radio telemetry antenna is in the foreground

The Refuge is a panorama of natural beauty characterized by miles of Bering Sea and Pacific Ocean beaches and bays, hundreds of freshwater lakes, clear meandering streams and rivers, low brush tundra, ancient glaciers, thermal springs, and smoking volcanoes.

Last updated: July 18, 2008