Activities within the park include canoeing, kayaking and rafting on the Noatak River and its tributaries. People have hunted and fished in this area for centuries, and local subsistence activities continue. Visitors should avoid crossing onto private land within park boundaries without permission. Thousands of years ago people migrated across this land mass that connected Asia and North America, and the region retains evidence of these migrations. There are no roads, services or accommodations.
Access is by boat, aircraft, snowmachine, dog team, foot and cross-country skis.
Some areas of the Selawik River, which runs through the refuge providing good rafting and fishing, are nationally designated as wild river corridors. This refuge is a breeding and nesting area for thousands of migratory waterfowl that migrate between North and South America, Asia, Africa and Australia. Nesting ducks number in the hundreds of thousands. Tundra swans, sandhill cranes, Canada and white-fronted geese, and several species of loons are common here. Thousands of caribou feed on the lichen-covered foothills while wintering over here.