THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

Protecting Life on the Coastal Plain

hy destroy America’s foremost Arctic Ocean Coastal Plain Prudhoe Bay (1002 Area) wildlife refuge for less oil than we

consume in a single year? Trans- Alaska Oil WNestled between the Brooks Mountain Range and the Beaufort Sea in Northeast Pipeline Alaska, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain is home for nearly 200 Arctic National

wildlife species, including polar bears, musk oxen and caribou. Every summer, Wildlife Refuge CANADA U.S.A. millions of tundra swans, snowy owls, eider ducks and other birds migrate there to nest, molt and feed. Because of its abundant and diverse wildlife, the refuge is often likened to Africa’s Serengeti. Porcupine River Scientists consider the coastal plain to be the biological heart of the entire refuge. It is this very heart that has been targeted by some members of Congress and oil companies even though there is relatively little oil there, if any. Any Oil development would amount of oil from the refuge would not significantly reduce U.S. dependence on permanently harm bird habitat imported oil and would irreparably harm the wildlife that depend on this unique During the brief summer season, more habitat. than 135 bird species gather on the If Congress allows oil drilling in the coastal plain, it would set a dangerous refuge’s coastal plain to breed, nest precedent. Not only would oil development permanently scar this pristine, fragile and make migratory stopovers. wilderness, but it also would open the door to industrializing America’s last Among the many species that rely on remaining untouched wildlands. the area are snow geese, tundra swans, Oil development would permanently harm red-throated loons, snowy owls, eider polar bear denning habitat ducks and a variety of shorebirds. The Arctic Refuge coastal plain is the most important Some of these birds are extremely sen- onshore denning area for Beaufort Sea polar bears, sitive to human disturbance. Snow which range along 800 miles of the Arctic coast. Most geese, for example, depend on the of the year, the bears roam along the sea ice in search coastal plain as a place to rapidly build of seals and other food. In the fall, pregnant females up fat reserves for their 1,200-mile non- seek den sites in which to give birth and nurse stop migration to Southern California their young. Denning polar bears are extreme- and Mexico. Helicopters and airplanes ly sensitive to industrial activity. can disturb snow geese from as far as Females may abandon their 4 miles away. According to the Interior dens if disturbed, which Department, these kinds of distur- usually is fatal for bances, along with destruction of cubs unable to prime feeding areas, could prevent the fend for birds from accumulating the energy them- reserves essential to their arduous Nicklin/Minden Pictures selves. migration, threatening their survival.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's coastal plain is home for nearly 200 wildlife species, including polar bears, musk oxen, the Porcupine caribou herd, and millions of birds. USGS have concluded that the Porcupine herd is especially threatened by development not only because of the absence of a safe alternative calving area, but also because of its slow repro- duction rate.

Oil development would threaten muskoxen Completely wiped out in Alaska in the late 19th century by hunters, muskoxen

Kenneth R. Whitten/AlaskaStock.com were successfully reintroduced in the Every year, the Porcupine caribou herd migrates more than 700 miles to and from its calving grounds on the northern portion of the state. A small Arctic Refuge coastal plain. population of these animals now lives Oil development would places left for the herd to go have sub- year-round on the refuge's coastal threaten caribou survival stantially more predators, less high- plain. According to the Interior The Porcupine caribou herd has been quality forage, and significantly less Department, oil development in the central to the culture of Gwich’in relief from mosquitoes. According to a region would displace muskoxen from Indians in Alaska and Canada for recent U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) a large percentage of their preferred 20,000 years. Every year, this vast herd study, even a small reduction in the habitat in all seasons, which would of caribou travels hundreds of miles number of surviving calves—less than reduce their numbers. from Canada's Porcupine River region 5 percent in a single year—could to the coastal plain, where females give reduce the size of the herd. A unique wilderness at stake birth in the spring. The plant growth on Advocates of oil development point The Arctic Refuge coastal plain is the the plain at that time of year nourishes to the Central Arctic herd, which inhab- most critical part of the delicate ecosys- pregnant and nursing caribou, and its the Prudhoe Bay area, as evidence tems that the Arctic National Wildlife cooling breezes along the coast help that oil and wildlife can coexist. But Refuge was established to protect. It is disperse insects that can drain more Alaska's Department of Fish and Game too fragile—and too valuable—to be than a quart of blood a week from the reports that pregnant caribou have dra- sacrificed for a relatively small amount calves and their parents. These unique matically shifted away from the oil of oil. We would not put a dam in the conditions—and the fact that there are fields, calving instead where there are Grand Canyon, or cut down Sequoia fewer predators in the coastal plain— no industrial disturbances. Studies also trees for firewood, so why would we offer newborn caribou a better chance show that as roads and pipelines grew allow oil derricks in one of our last of surviving their vulnerable first few closer together in the Central Arctic’s pristine wildernesses? Some places weeks of life. Kuparuk oilfields, concentrated calving should be off-limits to oil drilling and The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service disappeared from this area and shifted industrial development, and the Arctic have concluded that oil development in to the south. Refuge is one of them. We have a the coastal plain could destroy this deli- At 123,000 strong, the Porcupine moral responsibility to save wild cate balance, prompting a major decline caribou herd is significantly bigger than places such as the Arctic Refuge for or displacement of the Porcupine cari- the Central Arctic herd, but relies on a future generations. bou. Industrial facilities, such as roads calving area, the refuge coastal plain, Design: Jenkins & Page, NYC and pipelines, would force pregnant one-fifth the size of Prudhoe Bay. © 2005 Natural Resources Defense Council caribou and nursing mothers to aban- Furthermore, scientists from the Printed on recycled paper with 30 percent don their preferred habitat. The only National Academy of Sciences and the post-consumer content.

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