Old Crow Flats. 24/05/82; Yukon Territory; 617,000 ha; 67°34'N 139°50'W. Protected under the Yukon Wildlife Ordinance and Migratory Birds Convention Act. A vast plain (in fact, an ancient lake bottom) of meandering tributaries and perched wetlands with more than 2,000 freshwater lakes formed in depressions left by melting ice-blocks. Habitats include peatlands, sedge marshes, scattered trees, and forest stands. An extremely important area for breeding waterbirds. Up to 300,000 birds nest, with numbers increasing in the post-breeding period as birds gather to molt, feed and rest prior to migration. Indigenous people take an economically important harvest of muskrats. The area includes some of the richest archaeological sites of early human habitation in North America. Some oil exploration has occurred. Ramsar site no. 244. Most recent RIS information: 2001.