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Photo by Fran Mauer/USFWS
Background
Take Action Now
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Facts
Resources and Links
For More Information
Background:
The future of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is being decided and we need your help to Keep it Wild! The Fish and Wildlife Service is beginning to revise the Refuge's Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP). The Plan will make important decisions regarding the degree to which the Refuge will remain natural, wild and free. It will guide many aspects of Refuge management, especially “on the ground” activities and uses of the Refuge. This also presents an historic opportunity to recommend the Plan include a wilderness review for all non-Wilderness Refuge lands, including the coastal plain.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is an irreplaceable national treasure, the crown jewel of America's wilderness. It has no comparison in its vastness, remoteness, awe-inspiring landscapes and wildlife. Protecting the Arctic from both incremental changes caused by visitors and development/industrial exploitation is a great challenge that must be addressed by the revised plan. A strong, effective plan is essential to keeping the Arctic wild.
We've posted information below on the Refuge, suggestions for ensuring a strong CCP, and other resources. Please be sure to bookmark this page and keep checking back for updates to this page, including alerts and more information.
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Take Action Now:
Help keep the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge wild by sending in your comments today. Fish & Wildlife Service is looking for public input on important questions regarding the Refuge’s future, including whether additional areas should be designated as Wilderness. Comments are being accepted through June 7, 2010.
The Alaska Chapter of Wilderness Watch has brought together the collective knowledge of veteran Arctic Refuge activists and former agency stewards to identify provisions that will be essential for an effective plan. Included in these suggestions, called the Arctic Refuge Last Great Wilderness Comprehensive Conservation Plan Alternative, are:
• Wilderness and Ecological Values
• Indigenous Cultures and Subsistence Use
• Recreation
• Information and Interpretation
• Access
• Inholdings
• Climate Change
• Agency Actions
Please consider incorporating some of this information in your comments. You can read the Suggested Provisions online or download a Word document by clicking here.
We encourage you to include airstrip impacts in your comments, also. Here is some information:
 AIRSTRIP IMPACTS IN THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
Background: Landing of airplanes on sensitive tundra surfaces creates scars with exposed soil and leads to erosion. The number of such landing sites in the Arctic Refuge has increased significantly over the past 30 years. Landing on sensitive surfaces is currently unrestricted in the Refuge, with only one exception. Section 1110 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act generally allows access by airplanes (even within designated Wilderness) for traditional activities. The law, however, also requires that such use “shall be subject to reasonable regulations by the Secretary to protect the natural and other values ...” Thus far, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has not attempted to regulate airplane landings on sensitive surfaces throughout the  Refuge. Meanwhile, the airstrips continue to proliferate, and resulting scars become more egregious.
What you can do: Urge that the revised plan address the airstrip issue by embarking on a regulatory process, which adopts adequate restrictions to allow impacted areas to heal, and prevents new impacts from occurring. This will not result in denying access to the Refuge. Landing of airplanes on durable surfaces such as gravel bars along rivers, barren rock ridges, snow surfaces with ski planes, or on water with float planes will be allowed to continue, and will provide reasonable access without causing serious impacts. For more information contact: Fran Mauer, Wilderness Watch Alaska Chapter Representative. Click here to read Wilderness Watch's comments, prepared by our Alaska Chapter.
If you've visited the Refuge, it's especially important to talk about why it's important to you.
TO COMMENT:
1) Go to the Arctic Refuge planning website.
2) Download the Planning Booklet.
3) Use the comment form to provide your comments—send them electronically or print the form and send via mail. Or email them directly to: ArcticRefugeCCP@fws.gov.
4) Request to be placed on the mailing list.
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 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Facts:
• Originally established by Executive Order in 1960 for "preserving unique wildlife, wilderness and recreational values," Congress doubled its size in 1980 through enactment of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
• At 19.3 million acres, the Nation’s largest refuge. It extends 200 miles north to south.
• Has 8 million acres (40% of the Refuge) of Wilderness.
• Contains a full range of arctic and subarctic habitats.
• Inupiat Eskimos and the Athabascan Indians have lived here for thousands of years.
• More than 20 rivers run through it, with three designated Wild Rivers—the Sheenjek, Ivishak and Wind.
• Home to 45 species of land and marine mammals, 36 species of fish, and more than 194 species of birds from six continents. Wildlife includes:
— The 120,000 Porcupine Caribou herd migrates throughout the Refuge and uses the coastal plain to give birth and raise young.
— Muskoxen and thousands of Dall sheep.
—All three North American bears live here—black, grizzly and polar.
• No roads, trails or commercial developments—visitors must travel by foot, boat or plane.
• According to FWS, "The Arctic Refuge is a place where the mystery of nameless valleys remains alive, where visitors can experience solitude, self-reliance, exploration, adventure, and challenge."
Photo by Fran Mauer/USFWS
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 Resources and Links:
• Arctic NWR website
• FWS Map of the Arctic NWR
• FWS Arctic NWR brochure
• Celebrating a Wilderness Legacy, The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, essay by Roger Kaye (Word document download)
• Letter to FWS by Johanna Eurich, urging an end to game spotting by plane (Word document download)
• Proceedings of the National Academy of Science paper: Human predators outpace other agents of trait change in the wild
Photo by Fran Mauer/USFWS
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For More Information:
Fran Mauer, Wilderness Watch Alaska Chapter Representative
George Nickas, Wilderness Watch Executive Director: 406.542.2048
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