AMERICA’S ARCTIC OCEAN Photo Credits: © Steven Kazlowski/www.lefteyepro.com; © Florian Schulz /visionsofthewild.com home to polar bears, walrus, seals and whales

A Vulnerable Region

merica’s Arctic Ocean, The Inupiat people, who have According to the National Awhich includes the lived in the region for thousands Climate Assessment, “Alaska Beaufort and Chukchi seas, is of years, depend on healthy has warmed twice as fast as the a vulnerable region, and home Arctic ecosystems for their rest of the nation, bringing to polar bears, walrus, seals, survival and cultural traditions. widespread impacts. Sea ice is bowhead whales and many rapidly receding.” species of birds. The Chukchi What’s At Stake serves as a migration corridor And as sea ice coverage and important area for the This unique area is in peril. For disappears, historically endangered bowhead whale years the oil and gas industry inaccessible parts of the Arctic and thousands of spotted seals, has been pushing to open the are now even more vulnerable as well as a key location where Arctic Ocean to development to oil and gas development walrus come ashore to rest or despite the Arctic’s harsh and and other industrial activities. “haul out.” The Beaufort Sea remote conditions. Sub-zero Besides continued interest in also serves as a migration temperatures, long periods of oil and gas development, the corridor for whales and is vital darkness, shifting ice floes and loss of sea ice leads to increased habitat for birds and polar hurricane-force winds make shipping traffic and the bears. These seas play a key industrial activities particularly potential for industrial fishing. role in regulating the world’s risky. The Arctic Ocean is climate and are the source of already suffering some of the life for coastal communities. effects of climate change. or most of history, the FU.S. Arctic Ocean was protected from large-scale industrial activities by sea ice, isolation, and the ability to develop resources in other, less risky regions. That reality is changing rapidly as receding sea ice and the growing world demand for resources have led to an explosion of corporate interest in the Arctic Ocean. The United States is at a crossroads with regard to energy, the environment, and human activities in the Arctic Ocean.

Alaska Wilderness League is working hard to ensure that these important marine areas are protected into the future from harmful development activities. Any plan for the future of America’s Arctic Ocean must include protections for the region’s dynamic web of life.

To learn more about Alaska Wilderness League’s Arctic Ocean campaign call 202-544-5205 or email [email protected].

122 C St NW, Ste 240 Washington, DC 20001 Tel: 202-544-5205 Your Land. Fax: 202-544-5197 Your Voice www.AlaskaWild.org

Photo Credits: © Steven Kazlowski/www.lefteyepro.com; © Florian Schulz /visionsofthewild.com AA lalass kk aa '' ss AA rr cc titicc S e l e c t e d W i l d l i f e V a l u e s

ARCT I C O CEAN

Hanna C h u kch i Shoal B e a u f o r t S e a S e a B owh ead w Point Barrow hale fall mi Barrow Dease gratio Inlet n

Herald Point Shoal Franklin Peard Smith Bay Cape Bay Halkett n Wainwright tio ra ig m Atqasuk Teshekpuk Harrison Icy Cape . Prudhoe g R Lake Bay Stefansson Kaktovik in Bay r Kasegaluk k Camden sp u Sound Lagoon p

k Bay H i

e p Nuiqsut . u k Demarcation l R l a I Deadhorse g a

h

h n . Bay

i u S

w n R

l

t

a

n a . i a

g National Petroleum h d R Point C R

K a

c a . K

k v . e o

Lay e R a a h t u v r w ik r n e e i a i k Sadlerochit l T o R r R d Reserve - Alaska p d k . . r Mountains a B a S . C u t a e o U K n R k A M s . t - u N R N R K . k i I a I . k T u g I v A l t i g T

R a o

Tit k s a A h n Ledyard o Romanzof Mountains i D l . l a E

l o

k i R l l k

k i

i a e k Bay l l i K A

o l k D k i s

o R lv R

k o R Cape Lisburne R .

K . C a

N . . . S . a R R. Arctic National ok R n T k u a A k tu er s t l h e U Colville R d P T z . u Davidson Mountains i n k i Wildlife Refuge p a p E

h E R e Utukok . S l

C i . Point Uplands n Hope Alaska Maritime e R . r a R l National Wildlife Refuge a k Cape E d u n v a Thompson u G t h k N C . a

R B D

Delong Mountains R n A A a

O k l R i

l t Arctic O o l . i

K n N Village R o S K at rk ak k R Anaktuvuk o e . . F j n R Gates of the Arctic Pass t e s e i a h n Kivalina H S National Park e E

e

i l Noatak & Preserve g o h National w C a Miles Kilometers Preserve y M A P F E A T U R E S 0 25 50 100 150 200 0 25 50 100 150 200 Whale feeding and migration areas Seabird colony Caribou concentrated calving area Salmon stream Waterbird nesting, molting, and/or staging area Marine mammal haulout area (goose molting area indicated by green hatching) (walrus and spotted seal) Polar bear denning and feeding areas Mid-summer sea ice Raptor nesting area Presidential withdrawal areas

November 2015 About important marine areas in America’s Arctic Ocean

n January 2015, President Hanna Shoal Barrow Canyon Complex Obama withdrew specific Hanna Shoal plays an essential Straddling the boundary Iareas of America’s Arctic role in the Arctic Ocean that is between the Beaufort and Ocean, such as the 1.6-million- only growing more important Chukchi seas, Barrow Canyon acre Hanna Shoal, from oil and with climate change. The is a key Arctic Ocean area for gas leasing in order to protect shoals are shallow enough to marine mammals and birds, subsistence values as well as divert warmer waters while especially during spring and marine mammals, other wildlife, also maintaining persistent ice fall migrations. Significant wildlife habitat, and to “ensure flows while the rest of the Arctic concentrations of bowhead and that the unique resources of Ocean melts around them in beluga whales, yellow-billed these areas remain available for the summer. As such, they are loons, brant, king eider, and future generations.” a stronghold for ice-dependent spectacled eider all use Barrow wildlife like the Pacific walrus, Canyon extensively. It is also polar bear, gray whale, bearded a critical sea ice and denning seal, and ringed seal. This area is habitat for polar bears and a also part of a migration corridor major foraging area for walrus. for ivory gulls, king eiders, and beluga whales. 122 C St NW, Ste 240 Washington, DC 20001 Tel: 202-544-5205 Your Land. Fax: 202-544-5197 Your Voice www.AlaskaWild.org

Photo: ©Steven Kazlowski/www.lefteyepro.com