Treat yourself with a visit to a national wildlife refuge during National Wildlife Refuge Week, from October 14-20. Celebrate America’s wildlife heritage, and see what wildlife refuges are doing to conserve it.

Since Theodore Roosevelt established the first national wildlife refuge in 1903, the National Wildlife Refuge System has become the nation’s premier habitat conservation network, encompassing 150 million acres in 556 refuges and 38 wetland management districts. Every state has at least one national wildlife refuge. There is a national wildlife refuge within an hour’s drive of most major cities.

This photo is of Becharof National Wildlife Refuge, which was established to conserve brown bears, salmon, migratory birds, caribou, marine birds, and mammals; to fulfill treaty obligations; to provide for continued subsistence uses; and to ensure necessary water quality and quantity.

Photo: Julia Pinnix