> Home > Alaska Action Alerts > Keep the Arctic Refuge coastal plain wild!

Keep the Arctic Refuge coastal plain wild!

Action needed by 15, 2011

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has released a draft revised Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  This is an important milestone in that USFWS will formally consider Wilderness for the Refuge's Coastal Plain – the biological heart of our nation’s wilderness icon.   As part of this plan, a full Wilderness Review was done for the Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain for the first time ever - presenting a historic opportunity to protect the Arctic Refuge for future generations.

We’ve waited over fifty years for this moment: to finally protect the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness. Over the years, Americans like you have been fighting to protect the biological heart of the Arctic Refuge.  

The Arctic Refuge is about its unique wildlife, wilderness and recreational values, not its development potential. Oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Refuge would permanently harm wildlife and wilderness. Once this wilderness is destroyed, it’s gone forever.
 
Now is our chance to finally protect this magical place forever.  By protecting the Arctic Refuge we will protect the home for polar bears, grizzly bears, musk oxen, Dall sheep, wolves, wolverines, birds from all 50 states, and caribou. Already the warming Arctic is threatening the land and wildlife, and it is our job to protect this land and not hand it over to Big Oil. 

Take Action:

The best thing you can do is to write your comment to US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) urging it to recommend a wilderness designation for the Arctic Refuge’s Coastal Plain to protect it from oil and gas development.

Send comments to the USFWS.  CLICK HERE to sign!

Public Meetings:

•  Anchorage---
  ◦  Open House at US Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Office*, 3-9 pm, September 20, 2011
  ◦  Public Hearing at Wilda Marston Theater*, 3-9:30 pm, September 21, 2011
•  Fairbanks---
  ◦  Open House at Pioneer Park Civic Center*, 3-9 pm, August 24, 2011
  ◦  Public Hearing at the Carlson Center*, 3-9:30 pm, October 19, 2011
•  Arctic Village--- New Date Arctic Village Community Hall, 5-9 pm, October 4, 2011

• Fort Yukon--- New DateFort Yukon Tribal Hall, 5-9 pm, October 28, 2011
• Kaktovik--- New DateKaktovik City Hall, 5-9 pm, October 25, 2011
• Venetie---Venetie Community Hall, 5-9 pm, September 1, 2011

• By email to ArcticRefugeCCP@fws.gov

  • By mail to:

  • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
    Arctic NWR - Sharon Seim
    101 12th Ave., Rm 236
    Fairbanks AK 99701

  • By fax to 907-456-0428

More Information:

Lindsey.Hajduk@sierraclub.org

www.chillthedrills.org

Main CCP webpage for all information:  http://arctic.fws.gov/ccp.htm