In September 2007, the concentration of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean was significantly less than ever previously recorded. Harlequin ducks and red-breasted mergansers are seen on swift-flowing rivers. Even for Americans who would never travel there, "he thought they would benefit knowing that it still existed in the condition it always had." Each year, thousands of waterfowl and other birds nest and reproduce in areas surrounding Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk fields and a healthy and increasing caribou herd migrates through these areas to calve and seek respite from annoying pests. The Arctic is mostly an ocean surrounded by land. In 1929, a 28-year-old forester named Bob Marshall visited the upper Koyukuk River and the central Brooks Range on his summer vacation "in what seemed on the map to be the most unknown section of Alaska. Fish & Wildlife Service website about the Refuge, Full list of all state parks, recreation areas and sites, historic parks and sites, and marine parks, National Wildlife Refuges of the United States, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arctic_National_Wildlife_Refuge&oldid=981972639, Protected areas of North Slope Borough, Alaska, Protected areas of Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, Landforms of Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2018, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 5 October 2020, at 13:30. "[3], In February 1930, Marshall published an essay, "The Problem of the Wilderness,", a spirited defense of wilderness preservation in The Scientific Monthly, arguing that wilderness was worth saving not only because of its unique aesthetic qualities, but because it could provide visitors with a chance for adventure. The coastal plain is 1,500,000 acres (6,100 km2). The National Wildlife Refuge System was founded by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903,[2] to protect immense areas of wildlife and wetlands in the United States. In response to this, Teddy Roosevelt established some of th… Much controversial, the polar bears are widely affected by the climate change happening in this region. ANWR includes a large variety of species of plants and animals, such as polar bears, grizzly bears, black bears, moose, caribou, wolves, eagles, lynx, wolverine, marten, beaver and migratory birds, which rely on the refuge. Here winds whip through the grasses of rugged, wave-pounded islands; and active volcanoes simmer, venting steam above collars of fog. These areas are suitable for wilderness designation, although there are presently no proposals to designate them as wilderness. Beginning as predominantly treeless tundra with scattered islands of black and white spruce trees, the forest becomes progressively denser as the foothills yield to the expansive flats north of the Yukon River. South of the coastal plain, the mountains of the eastern Brooks Range rise to nearly 9,000 feet (2,700 m). Since most of the refuge is very remote, access is difficult and expensive. It is a place of contrasts, where relics of a past war slowly rust in deserted valleys, while, nearby, great forests of kelp team with life. Then A Friend Called", "Trump administration opens huge reserve in Alaska to drilling", "Trump opens protected Alaskan Arctic refuge to oil drillers", "Wall Street backs away from Arctic drilling amid Alaska political heat", "Trump administration announces plans to drill in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge", "Climate Change in the Arctic | National Snow and Ice Data Center", "Quick Facts on Arctic Sea Ice | National Snow and Ice Data Center", "Arctic Refuge Has Lots of Wildlife—Oil, Maybe Not So Much", Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, An article about the land and the people of Arctic Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the BLM's final statement underestimated the climate impacts of the oil leases because they viewed global warming as cyclical rather than human-made. [15] A popular wilderness route and historic passage exists between the two villages, traversing the refuge and all its ecosystems from boreal, interior forest to Arctic Ocean coast. The Arctic is relatively covered by water, much of it is frozen. ", "Potential Oil Production from the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Updated Assessment", Congress moves to 'drill, baby, drill' in Alaska's ANWR. This area for possible future oil drilling on the coastal plains of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, encompasses much of the Porcupine caribou calving grounds. This food source impacts the health of polar bears negatively. Furthermore, Republicans claim that drilling will make the United States more independent from other countries because it will increase the oil reserves of the country. Wetlands and south-flowing rivers create openings in the forest canopy. [9] There are two sides of this debate: support for drilling and the opposition of drilling. "In Alaska alone," Marshall wrote, "can the emotional values of the frontier be preserved."[3]. Usually, the bears are known to dig their dens in November, then give birth to one to two tiny cubs in December or January. Caribou travel to the coastal plain during June and July to give birth and raise their young. Much of the debate over whether to drill in the 1002 area of ANWR rests on the amount of economically recoverable oil, as it relates to world oil markets, weighed against the potential harm oil exploration might have upon the natural wildlife, in particular the calving ground of the Porcupine caribou. Furthermore, this location also became a usual place for commercial whalers in the late 1800s, which led them to become permanent residents in the Refuge. [1] It is the largest national wildlife refuge in the country, slightly larger than the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. This limits their ability to hunt seals to build up fat for hibernation. This often leads them to relying on trash abundances for nutrition. Specifically, ANWR occupies land beneath which there may be 7.7 to 11.8 billion bbl (1.22 to 1.88 billion m3) of oil. Pregnant females are forced to move onshore at unusual times to dig their dens. Currently, there are no roads within or leading into the refuge, but there are a few Native settlements scattered within. River mouths and calving glaciers, are continually moving ocean currents contribute to a unique marine ecosystem in the Arctic. Nearly 50 of these species migrate along the coast to the refuge in September. [citation needed]. People who oppose the drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge believe that it would be a threat to the lives of indigenous tribes. When companies are exploring and drilling they are extracting the vegetation and destroying permafrost which can cause harm to the land. The rugged mountains of the Brooks Range are incised by deep river valleys creating a range of elevations and aspects that support a variety of low tundra vegetation, dense shrubs, rare groves of poplar trees on the north side and spruce on the south. Moreover, the practice of drilling could present a potential threat to the region as a whole. Shorefast ice tends to form later in fall. In 2001, proponents of the development of the oil fields at Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk, which would be approximately 60 miles (97 km) west of the Refuge, argued that Central Arctic caribou herd, had increased its numbers "in spite of several hundred miles of gravel roads and more than a thousand miles of elevated pipe."
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