Palmer Hayflats State Game Refuge

Description: North of Anchorage, at the head of Knik Arm, Palmer Hay Flats is a popular waterfowl hunting and viewing area. Tens of thousands of dabbling ducks, primarily pintails, mallards, green-winged teal, and wigeon, and thousands of diving ducks, including canvasbacks, greater scaup, and common goldeneye, arrive on the flats each spring and fall during their annual migration. They are joined by tundra and trumpeter swans, sandhill cranes, and three species of geese: lesser Canada geese, white-fronted geese, and snow geese. The wet meadows and marshes of the refuge are interspersed with islands of spruce trees and serve as major calving and wintering grounds for the Matanuska Valley moose population. Visitors may also see muskrats, snowshoe hares, red-tailed hawks, and coyotes on the refuge.

Northern pintails are the most abundant and widely distributed ducks in Alaska. Over a million pintails arrive in Alaska each spring. Referred to as “greyhounds of the air,” these sleek and slender ducks have been clocked flying up to 65 miles per hour.

Viewing Information: The best time to view migrating waterfowl is between late April and mid-May. Listen for the ancient chorus of the sandhill cranes. Throughout the spring and summer, scan marshes and sloughs at dawn and dusk for muskrats. In mid-July and early August, check for silver salmon in Wasilla and Cottonwood Creeks; bring your fishing rod. In the winter, look for large numbers of moose feeding near the Glenn Highway. REMEMBER: TIDAL MUDS CAN BE TREACHEROUS; TIDAL CHANGES OCCUR RAPIDLY.

Directions: From Anchorage, take the Glenn Highway north to mile 32-34. Rabbit Slough access is at mile 34.7. From Wasilla, take Knik Goose Bay Road 4 miles south to Fairview Loop Road. At mile 1.8, turn on Hayfield Road. Travel 1.2 miles to the Cottonwood Creek access on the left.

Contact: Alaska Department of Fish and Game (907) 745-5015

Size: 28,800 acres

Closest Towns: Wasilla, Palmer