The refuge's climate is typically marked by light precipitation, mild winds, long, hard winters and short, relatively warm, summers.

It takes a week in a canoe, or more than an hour in a small plane, to traverse the refuge's 2,100,000 acres (8,500 km2) of pristine wildlife habitat.

Fish species inhabiting the river and its related lakes and streams include sheefish, burbot, whitefish, sucker, king and chum salmon, northern pike and arctic grayling.

The grassy margins of the river, surrounding lakes, and waterways provide breeding habitat for trumpeter swans, white-fronted geese, canvasback ducks, cranes, and many other migratory species.

Mature white spruce in the forested lowlands provide cover and den sites for marten, and trapping these and other furbearers remains important to the economy of people in the region.