The National Audubon Society is Trying to Save Teshekpuk Lake

Posted by Rosemary Drisdelle Sep 1, 2006

Do you love Christmas? If you're always open to new ideas for making Christmas a special time and you really know your local North or South American birds, consider joining in the Christmas Bird Count.

On page 22 of the September/October, 2006 issue of Audubon, there an article titled "Do Something!" It discusses the impending fate of Teshekpuk Lake and its surroundings, a unique and fragile environment in northern Alaska. Teshekpuk Lake lies just a few miles inland from the Arctic Ocean, between Smith Bay and Harrison Bay. It is surrounded by meadow, wetlands, and smaller freshwater lakes. The area is the molting ground for up to 60,000 geese each year, and also supports a variety of other bird species, including the rare Spectacled Eider and the Yellow-billed Loon, both threatened species. It's a vital area for other wildlife as well, and an important hunting and fishing area for native people.

In 1977, Teshekpuk Lake was identified as a special area in need of protection, and this was reiterated in 1998 when most of it was designated unavailable for oil and gas development. But those days are over: the US Bureau of Land Management is making the sensitive area of Teshekpuk available for oil exploration and development. If this goes ahead, the pristine landscape will soon be crisscrossed by roads and pipelines, and pockmarked by gravel pits and drilling pads.

Audubon is asking those who value wildlife and environment over a relatively small amount of oil to write to Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20240, or your U. S. representative. For more information, visit www.audubon.org/campaign/teshekpuk.

I'm not a U.S. citizen, so I can't write my representative, but in my own small way, I can still "do something" - I can spread the word.

Related article:

Teshekpuk Lake Threatened