"Arctic National Wildlife Refuge" Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by CThomasB

"There are extremely few places left on the planet that can be called truly pristine, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of them." -Edward O. Wilson

"...this last American living wilderness must remain sacrosanct." -Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas

After the 51-49 Senate vote on March 16th, 2005 to defeated the Cantwell amendment that would have removed authorization to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from the proposed 2006 federal budget, myself and a group of seven other Northland College students had strong feelings about it and felt the need to take some kind of action and bear witness to the natural beauty inherent in the Alaskan Arctic, so we decided to create our own independent study trip to Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We wanted to experience the issue and place first hand and gain the perspectives from both sides if the issue from locals, environmental groups, government, pro-drilling, and anybody else we could reach. We wanted to collect all of this knowledge and experience, through photographs, video, writing, art and music, and be able to bring it back home to present to as many people as we could to help generate and increase awareness of and involvement in the issue of oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Established in 1960 as a promise to the American people to preserve "wildlife, wilderness and recreational values", the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a 19.6-million-acre wildlife sanctuary that lies in the remote northeast corner of Alaska. It is an immense area consisting of compressed and delicate habitats in the high mountains of the Brooks Range, lower peaks, glacial valleys, rugged foothills, canyons, lakes, marshes, lagoons, rivers, and the fabled coastal plain ("the biological heart of the Refuge") next to the Beaufort Sea. Often called the "American Serengeti", because of the spectacular spring caribou migration, the Refuge is the wildest place left in the U.S. and is home to 36 species of land mammals, nine species of marine mammals, at least 36 species of fish, and 180 species of birds from 6 continents, including caribou, polar bears, bowhead whale, moose, muskoxen, Dall sheep, arctic foxes, wolverines, grizzlies, snow geese, all of which depend on this fragile, unique ecosystem for survival.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is now under intense political and corporate pressure to be opened for oil drilling and your awareness, involvement and action is needed now to help save this invaluable place.

Here are some websites where you can find more information and ways to get involved:

Union Of Concerned Scientists - The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Is loss of a pristine wilderness worth the oil that might be gained?

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service - Alaska - Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Defenders Of Wildlife - Help Save The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

NRDC - Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: A Wilderness Worth Far More Than Oil

Sierra Club - Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

The Wilderness Society - Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

National Wildlife Federation - Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

• Pros:Gorgeous, undeveloped, protected, natural area.
• Cons:Threatened by proposed oil drilling.
• In a nutshell:An important natural area that needs to be saved from the devestation of oil drilling.