A Journey Through the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, revered throughout the world, is now threatened by oil and gas drilling. Take action to protect this vital wildlife preserve.

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastline ©Malkolm Boothroyd

“One of the largest intact ecosystems in the world, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a place of breathtaking natural beauty and rugged wildness. These irreplaceable public lands in northeast Alaska are a global treasure − a haven for wildlife on a planet contending with increasing habitat loss and environmental damage. Now, this timeless landscape is at risk of destruction — from short-term, shortsighted oil drilling.” — Jamie Rappaport Clark, president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife

(Clockwise from top left) caribou calf ©Malkolm Boothroyd; red-throated loon ©Ken Madsen; polar bear mom and cub; bull caribou ©Malkolm Boothroyd

The coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is the most important onshore denning habitat for polar bears in the United States. Seismic testing and oil and gas development can disturb maternal bears to the point of abandoning their dens, and could send this imperiled species into further decline.

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ©Hillebrand/USFWS (top); red-breasted merganser with chicks (bottom left); snow geese (bottom right)

Pacific loon ©Malkolm Boothroyd

The coastal plain is the biological heart of the refuge. This vital expanse of tundra, lakes, streams, and wetlands provide essential nesting habitat for hundreds of species of migratory birds from all 50 states and six continents.

Porcupine caribou herd ©Ken Madsen (top); Pacific loon ©Malkolm Boothroyd (middle); Gwich’in people in Washington D.C. to protest drilling in the Refuge (bottom left); bull caribou in the fog ©Malkolm Boothroyd (bottom right)

The Porcupine caribou herd annually make one of the longest migrations of any land animal in the world to their calving grounds on the coastal plain. The indigenous Gwich’in people have relied on these caribou for millennia, calling the coastal plain “the sacred place where life begins.”

Arctic fox (left); caribou calf ©Malkolm Boothroyd (right)

Caribou herd ©Ken Madsen

Muskox (top left); Dolly Varden char in fall spawn colors ©V.Orange (top right); grizzly bear tracks ©Malkolm Boothroyd (bottom)

The Arctic Refuge also supports spawning habitat for Dolly Varden and other valued fish species, and provides room to roam for caribou, brown bears, wolves, muskoxen, Dall sheep, Arctic foxes, and many other wildlife species.

Canning River ©Katrina Liebich/USFWS

Oil development on the coastal plain would irreparably damage this vital ecosystem. The wilderness and habitat values would be forever destroyed by an industrial complex, replete with oil spills, leaks and pollution. Pipelines, drill rigs, buildings and other infrastructure accompanied by the noise of industrial development would threaten iconic wildlife and sensitive species that depend on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Take action to protect these unique and magnificent species that call the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge home:

Speak Out to Save the Arctic Refuge!