The refuge was established on December 2, 1980 by the Alaska National
Interest Land Conservation Act (ANILCA) following designation as a national
wildlife monument in 1978 by the then President Jimmy Carter. U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service. In 1983, the Fish and Wildlife Service undertook the
responsibility to manage the Becharof Refuge, along with the Ugashik and
Chignik units of the Becharof National Wildlife Refuge.
The Becharof National Wildlife Refuge covers an area of 1,200,000 acres.
It lies on a mountainous coastline containing the Ugashik-Peulik volcano and
steep cliffs and the park contains a range of geographical features from
mountains, broad valleys and fjords, to tundra and glacially formed lakes.