Being a land of permafrost and long winters, Fairbanks is also home to the World Ice Art Championships (organized by Ice Alaska), where ice carvers from around the world gather in March to test their skills in the largest ice sculpting competition in the world. These world-class ice sculptures last until the temperatures finally rise above freezing, usually in mid-April.

Aurora Firth, three-time Best of Show Winner of the Alaska Junior Duck Stamp art competition, along with her parents, Benjamin and Melanie Firth, both world-renowned ice sculptors, were chosen to create the artwork for the refuges. Their design depicted a muskox and blue goose; an interpretive panel described the work of the refuges and their contributions to the Fairbanks community.

For more information about the refuges ice sculpture, please contact Jennifer Reed, Education Specialist for Yukon Flats NWR, at (907) 455-1815 or education_specialist@fws.gov.