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The Arctic Refuge Under Attack

© Connie Troutman

The Wilderness Society has launched a web-based campaign to raise awareness and garner support from Americans nationwide to protect the unique wilderness of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and deliver those individual opinions directly -- and immediately -- to President Clinton. The goal of the cyber campaign is to convince the President to designate the treasured wildland as a national monument, and thereby protect it from oil drilling.

The Web site -- http://www.wilderness.org/arctic/index.h... -- serves as a central resource for Arctic information and action. It provides a Take Action utility that allows visitors to send customizable emails immediately to President Clinton -- right from their desktops. The Wilderness Society hopes that the speed and word-of-mouth characteristics of the Internet and email will make the designation of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge a reality before it's too late.

The Arctic Refuge, located in northeastern Alaska, is under attack from oil companies wanting to drill even though experts estimate there is only a sixth month supply of oil within this beautiful wilderness. If oil exploration and drilling were allowed to occur in the Arctic Refuge, it would have a devastating effect.

Congress has not acted on legislation to provide Wilderness protection to the coastal plain, and oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge has once again been inserted into the debate on America's energy policy -- with pro-drilling arguments that conveniently sidestep the fact that Arctic oil cannot, in reality, do anything to alleviate current high oil prices or America's energy needs.

In a recent poll conducted by The Wilderness Society and the Alaska Wilderness League , Americans voiced their opinions 56 percent to 29 percent that drilling isn't worth the risk it poses to the environment and wildlife. And according to experts, consumers wouldn't see any changes in oil prices.

This region is home to a vast number of migratory birds, grizzlies, arctic foxes, caribou, wolverines, polar bears and many more wildlife populations. The rich pageant of wildlife found within the Refuge includes more than 160 bird species, 36 kinds of land mammals, nine marine mammal species, and 36 types of fish. It is also home to the Inupiat Eskimo and Gwich'in Indian communities.

The Arctic Refuge is among the most complete, pristine, and undisturbed ecosystems on earth. Here coastal lagoons, barrier islands, arctic tundra, foothills, mountains, and boreal forests provide a combination of habitats, climate, and geography unmatched by any other northern conservation area - conditions that support the Refuge's diverse community of life.(Source:FWS)

Caribou grazing

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