|
Tell the Fish and Wildlife Service that wildlife must come first on Alaska's refuges
Of all the land protected in our magnificent National Wildlife Refuge System, 60 percent is in Alaska. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is now drafting long-range management plans for all 16 Alaska refuges. The first plan, now available for public comment, will set the tone and direction for the plans that follow.
If the agency gets it wrong on this plan—and so far it has—the future for the others is dark. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to protect these matchless places. Please take a moment to tell the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to put wildlife first in Alaska’s 16 wildlife refuges, starting with the 200 species that live in the Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuges. The deadline for comments is Monday, May 31.
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Wildlife must come first on Alaska's refuges
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
Please consider the following comments as you prepare the final Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP)and Environmental Impact Statement for the Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuges.
During the centennial year of the National Wildlife Refuge System, the nation reaffirmed its long and steadfast commitment to our refuges, the only federal land specifically dedicated to protecting our nation's wildlife. It is critically important, then, that the management plans for each and every refuge maintain the "wildlife first" philosophy, which is the guiding priority of the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Therefore, it is crucial that you strengthen the agency's preferred alternative and the management categories in the CCP for the Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuges.
Please eliminate any allowance for oil and gas exploration, leasing and development in all of the management categories for Alaska's Refuges. Just like oil and water, oil and wildlife don't mix. According to a new report from the General Accounting Office, oil and gas activity has caused severe damage on the national wildlife refuges where it is allowed. In addition, the National Academy of Sciences has documented the host of associated impacts, such as air and water pollution, that come with industrial development. Oil and gas exploration, leasing, or development simply don't belong in any of Alaska's wildlife refuges.
It is crucial that you include in the final plan a wilderness review and recommendation. A 1988 Fish and Wildlife Service review found millions of acres suitable for permanent wilderness protection; this proposed plan is glaringly silent on the subject of wilderness. All Americans depend on this natural wildness to sustain us, our cultures, and economies. In Alaska, hunting, fishing, recreation, tourism, and subsistence all owe their existence and future to the wilderness and wildlife of places like the Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuges.
I welcome the Fish and Wildlife Service's recognition that private helicopter flights and road construction have no place in Alaska's Refuges. Please retain that prohibition. The plan for the Alaska Peninsula and Becharof refuges, and upcoming plans for the other 14 refuges in Alaska, should also prohibit oil and gas exploration, development and leasing, utility lines and pipelines, recreational snowmobiles and off-road vehicles.
Thank you for considering these comments.
Sincerely,
|
Campaign Launched:
May 26, 2004
|
The Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposed plan (called “Comprehensive Conservation Plans” or CCPs) for the Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuges would allow a range of incompatible activities. First and worst is a provision to allow oil and gas exploration, which inevitably paves the way for drilling later. It would also allow power lines, pipelines, recreational snowmachines and four-wheelers in the refuges. To make matters worse, the agency is shirking its responsibility to identify places that are worthy of permanent protection as wilderness.
What the plan proposes for the management of the Alaska Peninsula and Becharof refuges for the next 15 years is bad enough. But it will also serve as a prototype for management plans for Alaska’s 14 other refuges, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The agency is on a dangerous course and if we don’t change that direction now, it will be even harder to stop destructive activities in Alaska’s other spectacular refuges.
Unparalleled natural beauty and biological diversity
The Alaska Peninsula is a land of towering mountains, active volcanoes, broad valleys, breathtaking fjords, majestic tundra, and glacial lakes. The Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuges are located in the heart of the peninsula.
The refuges provide habitat for approximately 200 species of resident and migratory wildlife. Marine mammals, seabirds, and waterfowl use the coastal areas. Bald eagles, hawks, falcons, and owls nest on the rock pinnacles. Caribou, moose, brown bears, wolves and tundra swans all use the refuges’ tundra lowlands. Five species of Pacific salmon spawn in the streams and lakes. The natural bounty of refuge lands also supports a traditional subsistence lifestyle for residents of 12 nearby villages.
Wildlife and millions of acres of wilderness
In a 1988 review, the Fish and Wildlife Service found that approximately 4 million acres of the Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuges qualify for permanent protection in the National Wilderness Preservation System. Yet in the current proposal, the agency has failed to conduct a wilderness review on the two refuges, and failed to recommend permanent protection for some of the most pristine land and richest wildlife habitat in the state.
The natural, scenic condition of the land, integrity of the ecosystem and opportunities for solitude (all essential characteristics of wilderness) are the dominant features of the landscape of the two refuges. All Americans depend on this natural wildness to sustain us, our cultures, and economies. And in Alaska, hunting, fishing, recreation, tourism, and subsistence all owe their existence and future to the wilderness and wildlife of places like the Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuges.
In the crosshairs
Despite these tremendous natural values and national legacy, the Fish and Wildlife Service faces mounting pressure to sacrifice the beautiful landscape of the Alaska Peninsula. The State of Alaska, which has apparently never seen a landscape it didn’t want to drill, log or mine, and the current administration are aggressively pushing for drilling on the Peninsula and are trying to skew the refuges’ planning effort to grease the skids for these commercial interests.
The Fish and Wildlife Service’s draft preferred alternative would allow oil and gas exploration (including destructive, disruptive seismic surveys and core sampling that are a clear prelude to an all-out push for drilling). The alternative would allow utility corridors, with attendant power and telephone lines, and pipelines. Simultaneously, it places no limits at all on joyriding recreational snowmobiles.
No mystery about the impacts
Like oil and water, oil and wildlife don’t mix. According to a new report from the General Accounting Office, oil and gas activity has caused severe damage to the National Wildlife Refuges that allow it. Oil and gas exploration, leasing, and development simply don’t belong in any of Alaska’s refuges, and they shouldn’t be allowed here.
The Fish and Wildlife Service draft preferred management alternative does appear to rule out private helicopter flights, oil and gas leasing (but not exploration), and road construction in most of the Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuges. That is good. Unfortunately, though, the plan lays the groundwork for allowing all these activities, and others just as damaging, in the other 14 refuges in Alaska.
Please Take Action Now
The deadline for comments on the CCP for the Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuges is Monday, May 31. Time is short and even shorter because of the Memorial Day weekend. Please comment soon to help up protect these important places! If you’d like to write your own letter, and we hope you will, we’ve provided a sample letter that contains the most important points.
Contact information
Regular mail:
Peter Wikoff, Planning Team Leader
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Refuges
1011 East Tudor Road-Mail Stop 231
Anchorage, AK 99503
E-mail: fw7_APB_planning@fws.gov
|
