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The Last Great Wilderness Click Here for the Current Situation The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a vast, wild land that has been called America's Serengeti because of its diverse and thriving wildlife populations. The Refuge runs from the mountains of the Brooks Range north to the Arctic Ocean, including habitats such as tundra, boreal forest, barrier islands, and coastal lagoons. America does not have many more places like the Refuge, where nature continues to exist pristine and undisturbed. While part of the Refuge has an official wilderness designation, the fate of the biological heart of the Refuge--the 1.6 million acre coastal plain--remains undecided. An act of Congress could either protect the plain as wilderness or open this special land to oil exploration and drilling. A Biological Heartland The Arctic Refuge is the only U.S. refuge encompassing a complete spectrum of arctic and subarctic ecosystems. This combination of habitats helps support the Refuge's biodiversity. Over 180 species of birds migrate to the Refuge each summer. Visitors include five species of loon, tundra swans, golden plovers, snowy owls and the Arctic tern, which migrates 15,000 miles from Antarctica each spring. Black, grizzly, and polar bears all live in the Refuge. Marine mammals such as the bowhead whale depend on the rich coastal waters off the Refuge's coast. The coastal plain is the calving ground for the 130,000-member Porcupine Caribou herd. Back to Top A Cultural Survival The Gwich'in people hold the Coastal Plain to be sacred because it is the birth place for the Porcupine Caribou herd, upon which Gwich'in subsistence and culture depend. In 1988, prompted by the threat of oil exploration on the Coastal Plain, the Gwich'in people held their first unified gathering in one hundred years. Gwich'in from Alaska and Canada came together to talk about the caribou and their culture. This meeting ended with a consensus resolution to protect the Coastal Plain from oil drilling. The Gwich'in formed the Gwich'in Steering Committee to educate others about the Gwich'in stance. Today, the Gwich'in remain unified and determined to keep the Refuge closed to drilling. Learn More U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Arctic Refuge website Back to Top Arctic | Boreal Forest | Denali Watch | Local Issues | Mining | Camp Habitat | Coal Bed Methane | Links Contact Us | Who We Are | Join Us | Donate | E-Mail Us | Back to Main Copyright © 2002 - Present, Northern Alaska Environmental Center. All rights reserved. 830 College Road, Fbks, Alaska 99701 Tel: 907- 452-5021.   Fax: 907-452-3100 info@northern.org Designed by WebWeavers, LLC