The Tetlin Refuge lies within the Upper Tanana Valley, Alaska.

The Upper Tanana Valley, including Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge, has received official recognition as Alaska’s newest “Important Bird Area” or IBA.  IBAs are sites that provide essential habitat for one or more species of breeding, wintering, and/or migrating birds.  To qualify as an IBA, sites must support one of the following vulnerable species: 1) A threatened/endangered species; 2) A restricted-range species not widely distributed; 3) Species whose populations are concentrated in general habitat type; or 5) Species or groups of similar species, e.g. shorebirds, waterfowl, that occur in a high density. 

The IBA program was initiated by BirdLife International in Europe in the 1980s and today includes over 8,000 sites in 178 countries.  The National Audubon Society has administered the U.S. IBA program since 1995.  The Upper Tanana Valley was recognized for its importance as a major migration corridor for birds that travel to and from Alaska and western Siberia to breed each year.  Hundreds of thousands of migratory birds, including swans, geese, ducks, cranes and raptors, pass through the valley each spring and fall.  More than ¾ of the entire mid-continental population of Lesser Sandhill Cranes pass through the area annually in addition to thousands of swans.  The site was also recognized for providing significant breeding and post breeding habitat for Trumpeter Swans. 

The Alaska IBA Technical Committee unanimously accepted the nomination for the Upper Tanana Valley based on its statewide significance and has forwarded the nomination to the National IBA Technical Committee for review of its status at the continental and/or global level.