Why destroy America’s foremostwildlife refuge for less oil than weconsume in a single year?

Nestled between the Brooks Mountain Range and the Beaufort Sea in NortheastAlaska, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain is home for nearly 200wildlife species, including polar bears, musk oxen and caribou. Every summer,millions of tundra swans, snowy owls, eider ducks and other birds migrate thereto nest, molt and feed. Because of its abundant and diverse wildlife, the refuge isoften likened to Africa’s Serengeti.

Scientists consider the coastal plain to be the biological heart of the entirerefuge. It is this very heart that has been targeted by some members of Congressand oil companies even though there is relatively little oil there, if any. Anyamount of oil from the refuge would not significantly reduce U.S. dependence onimported oil and would irreparably harm the wildlife that depend on this uniquehabitat.

If Congress allows oil drilling in the coastal plain, it would set a dangerousprecedent. Not only would oil development permanently scar this pristine, fragilewilderness, but it also would open the door to industrializing America’s lastremaining untouched wildlands.

Oil development would permanently harm polar bear denning habitatThe Arctic Refuge coastal plain is the most important

onshore denning area for Beaufort Sea polar bears,which range along 800 miles of the Arctic coast. Mostof the year, the bears roam along the sea ice in search

of seals and other food. In the fall, pregnant femalesseek den sites in which to give birth and nurse

their young. Denning polar bears are extreme-ly sensitive to industrial activity.

Females may abandon theirdens if disturbed, which

usually is fatal forcubs unable to

fend forthem-selves.

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Arctic NationalWildlife Refuge

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THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

Protecting Life on the Coastal Plain

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's coastal plain is home for nearly 200wildlife species, including polar bears, musk oxen, the Porcupine caribou herd,and millions of birds.

Oil development would permanently harm bird habitat During the brief summer season, morethan 135 bird species gather on therefuge’s coastal plain to breed, nestand make migratory stopovers.Among the many species that rely onthe area are snow geese, tundra swans,red-throated loons, snowy owls, eiderducks and a variety of shorebirds.Some of these birds are extremely sen-sitive to human disturbance. Snowgeese, for example, depend on thecoastal plain as a place to rapidly buildup fat reserves for their 1,200-mile non-stop migration to Southern Californiaand Mexico. Helicopters and airplanescan disturb snow geese from as far as 4 miles away. According to the InteriorDepartment, these kinds of distur-bances, along with destruction ofprime feeding areas, could prevent thebirds from accumulating the energyreserves essential to their arduousmigration, threatening their survival. ▼

Oil development would threaten caribou survival The Porcupine caribou herd has beencentral to the culture of Gwich’inIndians in Alaska and Canada for20,000 years. Every year, this vast herdof caribou travels hundreds of milesfrom Canada's Porcupine River regionto the coastal plain, where females givebirth in the spring. The plant growth onthe plain at that time of year nourishespregnant and nursing caribou, andcooling breezes along the coast helpdisperse insects that can drain morethan a quart of blood a week from thecalves and their parents. These uniqueconditions—and the fact that there arefewer predators in the coastal plain—offer newborn caribou a better chanceof surviving their vulnerable first fewweeks of life.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Servicehave concluded that oil development inthe coastal plain could destroy this deli-cate balance, prompting a major declineor displacement of the Porcupine cari-bou. Industrial facilities, such as roadsand pipelines, would force pregnantcaribou and nursing mothers to aban-don their preferred habitat. The only

places left for the herd to go have sub-stantially more predators, less high-quality forage, and significantly lessrelief from mosquitoes. According to arecent U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)study, even a small reduction in thenumber of surviving calves—less than5 percent in a single year—couldreduce the size of the herd.

Advocates of oil development pointto the Central Arctic herd, which inhab-its the Prudhoe Bay area, as evidencethat oil and wildlife can coexist. ButAlaska's Department of Fish and Gamereports that pregnant caribou have dra-matically shifted away from the oilfields, calving instead where there areno industrial disturbances. Studies alsoshow that as roads and pipelines grewcloser together in the Central Arctic’sKuparuk oilfields, concentrated calvingdisappeared from this area and shiftedto the south.

At 123,000 strong, the Porcupinecaribou herd is significantly bigger thanthe Central Arctic herd, but relies on acalving area, the refuge coastal plain,one-fifth the size of Prudhoe Bay.

Furthermore, scientists from theNational Academy of Sciences and the

USGS have concluded that thePorcupine herd is especially threatenedby development not only because of theabsence of a safe alternative calvingarea, but also because of its slow repro-duction rate.

Oil development would threaten muskoxen Completely wiped out in Alaska in thelate 19th century by hunters, muskoxenwere successfully reintroduced in thenorthern portion of the state. A smallpopulation of these animals now livesyear-round on the refuge's coastalplain. According to the InteriorDepartment, oil development in theregion would displace muskoxen froma large percentage of their preferredhabitat in all seasons, which wouldreduce their numbers.

A unique wilderness at stakeThe Arctic Refuge coastal plain is themost critical part of the delicate ecosys-tems that the Arctic National WildlifeRefuge was established to protect. It istoo fragile—and too valuable—to besacrificed for a relatively small amountof oil. We would not put a dam in theGrand Canyon, or cut down Sequoiatrees for firewood, so why would weallow oil derricks in one of our lastpristine wildernesses? Some placesshould be off-limits to oil drilling andindustrial development, and the ArcticRefuge is one of them. We have amoral responsibility to save wildplaces such as the Arctic Refuge forfuture generations.

122 C Street, NW, Suite 240Washington, DC 20001

202 544-5205 Fax 202 544-5197 www.alaskawild.org

122 C Street, NW, Suite 240Washington, DC 20001

202 628-1843 Fax 202 544-5197www.alaskcoalition.org

1200 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 400Washington, DC 20005

202-289-6868 Fax 202-289-1060www.nrdc.org

Every year, the Porcupine caribou herd migrates more than 700 miles to and from its calving grounds on theArctic Refuge coastal plain.

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© 2005 Natural Resources Defense Council

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