Project Update

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT (BLM)

We look forward to working with the new BLM director Robert Abbey to help reverse the damaging decisions made by the Bush administration and establish stronger protections for threatened public lands in Alaska. We encourage Sec. Salazar to help direct the agency toward achieving this goal and return Alaska’s public lands back to public hands. For Bristol Bay, we ask him to direct the Department of Interior (DOI) to create a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement that would adopt the strongest possible protections for the lands and waters of Bristol Bay; re-conduct the review of the rivers on BLM lands using a watershed-level approach; and incorporate findings from the Nushagak River Watershed Traditional Use Area Conservation Plan to ensure fisheries and traditional ways of life are not sacrificed to short-sighted development.

• ACTION: Click here to tell Secretary of the Interior Salazar to direct the BLM to create a real management place for Bristol Bay.
• UPDATE: In October, Alaska Wilderness League's BLM staff along with Trout Unlimited, National Parks Conservation Association, native Alaskans, fishermen and chefs attended a Bristol Bay lobbying week in Washington D.C.   BLM issues related to the Bay continue to provide a wonderful opportunity to educate the Alaska delegation and the new administration about a potential mining district in the heart of Bristol Bay which hosts the world’s largest salmon runs on the planet as well as mining impacts in other areas we work where significant resource issues exist on BLM lands across throughout the entire state. In a larger context for BLM lands throughout the state, it is our hope that by gaining movement on the Bay plan-where we have also built the most public support, that we are able to draw attention to the overarching systemic issues which affect the four other planning areas we work and which also had plans completed under the previous administration. Some of these issues include:  The lifting of historic mineral withdrawals, minimal or no protections recommended to protect critical resources, missing or inadequate analysis work, the prohibition for conducting Wilderness Inventories, flawed public processes and public interest findings- to name a few.
  

ARCTIC OCEAN

The Obama administration must not allow risky, aggressive oil development to move forward in America’s Arctic - an area recently deemed crucial for the polar bear’s future. Oil and gas drilling would simply make things worse for the polar bear – as well as the numerous other wildlife and Inupiat people who depend on the Arctic’s environment to survive. We know too little about the Arctic to open this sensitive, unique environment to massive industrial development.

• ACTION: Please click here to action alert encourage the Obama Administration to protect the polar bear!
• ACTION:   A sign on letter will also be circulated soon with a December 15^th deadline. 
• UPDATE: The U.S. Mineral Management Service (MMS) approved Shell Oil's exploratory drilling in the Beaufort Sea.  See these articles for more: MSNBC and Alaska's KTUU
• UPDATE: The Obama administration announced that it plans to designate more than 200,000 square miles in Alaska and off its coast as "critical habitat" for the polar bear.   According to the Washington Post: "The total area proposed for critical habitat designation would cover about 200,541 square miles -- about half in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast. About 93 percent of the area proposed for the polar bear is sea ice, with the remaining 7 percent made up of barrier islands and land-based dens of snow and ice. Designation as critical habitat would not, in itself, bar oil or gas development but would make consideration of the effect on polar bears and their habitat an explicit part of any government-approved activity." <font> </font>
• UPDATE: There is "Much Less Stable Ice for Polar Bear, Experts Say". <font> </font>
• UPDATE: On Aug. 21 this year, a blowout ripped through an oil drilling rig operating in Australian water, more than 100 miles offshore.  See here for the Anchorage Daily News Opinion piece on how Australia’s experience is a cautionary task for Alaska.
• UPDATE: An Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force -  (an establishment of a National Ocean Council) Interim Report addressed environmental stewardship needs of the Arctic Ocean as one of nine priority objectives in the implementation strategy recommended by the Task Force.  The Arctic Ocean was the only specific area singled out as a priority. The Task Force is now turning to developing a framework for Marine Spatial Planning- which is sort of like zoning for the ocean, while still holding five additional public meetings around the country.  The final report and recommendations will be issued later in the year.  

ARCTIC REFUGE

As we begin a year-long celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (established December 6, 1960), now is the time to protect America’s last great wilderness once and for all. We owe it to future generations to ensure that this vast, wild place remains untouched. 

• ACTION: HR39 (Udall-Eisenhower Arctic Wilderness Act) - Up to 77 cosponsors.  Please check here to see if your representative has yet to cosponsor.   If not, please encourage him/her to signon now by clicking here!
• ACTION: S231 (Bill to designate a portion of the Arctic national Wildlife Refuge as wilderness) - currently  25 cosponsors.  If your Senator hasn't already done so, please encourage him/her to get on as a cosponsor. 
• ACTION: Sign petition asking President Obama to Protect America's Arctic.
• ACTION: <font>Alaska Wilderness League has a brand new video about the Arctic Refuge, written and narrated by acclaimed author Terry Tempest Williams.  If your organization would like a copy or would like to show it to folks, please email me- anna@alaskawild.org. </font>

• UPDATE: Alaska Wilderness League recently honored Rosemary Ahtuangaruak with our Voice of the Wild award.   The celebration took place at the Burke museum at the University of Washington.   Rosemary is Inupiaq from Nuiqsut, Alaska, a tiny village on the Colville River near the Beaufort Sea of the Arctic Ocean.  Nuiqsut is four miles from the Alpine Oil Field, a satellite oil field of Prudhoe Bay within the boundary of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A).  Gas flares from Alpine can be seen from the village on a regular basis.  As a community health practitioner in Nuiqsut, Rosemary saw first hand the impacts of industrial pollution on children and elders in her community.  She is the former mayor of Nuiqsut is currently on the board of the Inupiaq Community of the Arctic Slope, the regional tribal government for the North Slope, and is an executive council member of the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council.  She is also on the advisory committee of the Alaska Wilderness League's Environmental Justice Program.  For years Rosemary has fought tirelessly for the health and protection of her people and the Arctic's unparalleled wilderness that has sustained her culture for thousands of years.  She is a grandmother and raised her five children to hunt and gather traditional foods with the seasons.  Rosemary is a graduate of the University of Washington Medex Northwest Physician Assistant Program.    
  

• UPDATE: Also in November, our environmental justice program brought six arctic indigenous women to Washington D.C. to participate in an Arctic Indigenous Women Leaders Trip.  Their mission was to educate decision makers about the issues facing Arctic communities, to share their stories with the media, and to network with and inspire one another.  Their visit fell just a week after President Obama held the largest-ever tribal nations summit in Washington to affirm his commitment to working with and honoring our nation's First People. Food security, arctic health impacts from climate change and industrial development, tribal rights, and protecting the Arctic Ocean and calving grounds of the Arctic Refuge were the core issues of concern identified by each participant.  The group spent two days visiting with the Administration, Congress and others in power, including the Governor's office and the Canadian Embassy.

Mae Hank, Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, Sarah James, Norma Kassi, Lorraine Netro, Caroline Cannon

Sample News Clippings and Interviews: Reuters Video Blog; Associated Press/Fairbanks Newsminer; Alaska Public Radio

WESTERN ARCTIC/THE RESERVE

The Reserve is one of Alaska’s best kept secrets and one of our nation’s greatest natural treasures. The administration and Congress must work to keep special areas within the Reserve protected from destructive industrial development.

• ACTION: We have a new Reserve video available for viewing.   If you, your group or business is interested in showing the video, please contact anna@alaskawild.org to receive a copy!

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<font>TONGASS NATIONAL FOREST</font>

The campaign to protect our Tongass National Forest continues to build toward enactment of the strongest levels of protection possible for high-value, priority conservation areas such as Port Houghton, a spectacular sanctuary for wildlife and fish along the famed Inside Passage. Work is continuing among diverse stakeholders to develop a shared vision for the future, one that includes durable protections for extraordinary old-growth rainforest and valuable wild salmon habitat, a transition away from old-growth logging to a more sustainable, community-focused timber program, and the resolution of native land entitlements. Thousands of activists across the country continue to be critical to success by contacting Members of Congress and building support for this achievable vision. As we close 2009 and look toward 2010, the League is focused on ensuring even broader support for protection of wild watersheds in our Tongass and letting Congress know that any legislative action must meet the needs of a broad range of stakeholders and include durable conservation measures for America’s rainforest.

• ACTION: We have a new Tongass video that we would love to have Alaska Coalition groups use and show to your members.   If you're interested in receiving a copy of the video, please let anna@alaskawild.org know.
• ACTION: Our Tongass National Forest is a unique national treasure that we must safeguard for future generations.  Nowhere else on earth does so much old growth forest remain vibrant, healthy and wild?  Unfortunately, too much of the most valuable fish and wildlife habitat remains open to clearcut logging. Congress is currently considering legislation that would hand over public lands with high ecological and community values to a private corporation for intensive clearcut logging.  It's the wrong way forward.  Please take action today and encourage your members and business partners to act as well!
• UPDATE: A subcommittee of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on the Sealaska Lands bill on October 8, 2009. The Obama Administration and the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council testified in opposition to the legislation.
• UPDATE: Alaska Wilderness League, Trout Unlimited and Audubon held a Tongass focused Fly-in/Wilderness Week - October 4-7th with chefs from the lower 48 and commercial fishermen from Southeast Alaska. The diverse group of advocates sent a strong message to Congress that any lasting solution on the Tongass must include strong and durable protections for wild salmon habitat. See here for Executive Chef of Salty's on The Columbia, Dana Cress' blog.

From left to right - Cindy Shogan, Executive Director, Alaska Wilderness League; Dana Cress, Executive Chef, Salty's on The Columbia (Portland, OR); Ben Hasty, Executive Chef, Epoch at the Exeter Inn (Exeter, NH); Heather Hardcastle, commercial fisher, Taku River Reds (Juneau, AK); MJ Adams, Executive Chef, The Corn Exchange Restaurant and Bistro (Rapid City, SD); Doug Rhoades, commercial fisher (Craig, AK).

Conservation Alliance Grants

• In 2009: $30,000
• In 2008: $35,000
• In 2007: $35,000
• In 2007: $30,000
• In 2006: $60,000
• In 2005: $70,000
• Grand Total: $260,000

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