Print Window Close Window Introduction The National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska lies in the north-central third of Alaska's arctic between the Brooks Range and the Arctic Ocean. It is a deceptive land, harsh and unforgiving yet as delicate as the scales of a butterfly's wing. At first you are struck by a sense of barrenness, of loneliness as penetrating and pervasive as the ever present breeze. Then your eyes grow accustomed to the immense distances and the diminutive vegetation, and you realize you are surrounded by a startling number and diversity of living things. White-fronted geese appear as if by magic among the tussocks; arctic poppies nod and dance in the wind; a long-tailed jaeger hovers just at the crest of a low hill before folding its wings and diving toward the tundra. In the distance what looked like a scattering of stones turns out to be grazing caribou. The first World War brought home to the United States Navy the critical significance of oil. In a bid to guarantee itself a long-term supply of the precious fuel, it convinced Congress of the need for a series of petroleum reserves where domestic sources of oil could be "stockpiled" for the future. In 1923 President Harding set aside 23 million acres in Alaska's arctic as Naval Petroleum Reserve Number Four. This choice was based on surface geological features and the existence of natural oil seeps in the area. In 1976, Congress transferred jurisdiction over the reserve to the United States Department of the Interior and changed its name to the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. This history has bequeathed the Reserve with a rather unique semi-protected status: although open to oil and gas leasing, seismic surveys and exploratory drilling, the Reserve has been closed to development or production of oil and gas reserves. Because of the its remoteness, and because no major discoveries of oil have been made in it despite the early bullish prognostications, the area did not receive much attention until 1999 at which time 800,000 acres in the north east corner were leased to British Petroleum, Atlantic Richfield Company and others. Long, cold winters and a dearth of solar energy are dominant forces behind the ecology of the Reserve. Winter usually arrives early in September and doesn't release the land from its icy grip until May. Though snowfall is low, nearly perpetual winds cause ground blizzards with nearly zero visibility: wind chills can drag the temperature down as low as -150° Fahrenheit! Summers are short and cool, and despite the long hours of daylight many lakes and lagoons do not melt until mid June. Coastal areas are frequently shrouded in fog rolling in off the Arctic Ocean. Atqasuk Wetlands Much of Alaska's North Slope receives less than 11 inches of precipitation a year. However, the summers bring very little evaporation, and permafrost just inches below the surface leaves only a shallow layer of soil to absorb rainfall or snowmelt. For these reasons, it is one of North America's greatest wetland habitats, at least for part of the year. One particularly significant section of this complex is the Atqasuk Wetlands located in the north-central part of the Refuge. Here, thousands of lakes sparkle in the late summer sun. Seen from above, they appear oddly symmetrical, shaped as they are by the prevailing east-west winds. Between the lakes, wet sedge meadows provide food for millions of seasonal waterfowl and shorebirds which at times congregate in such densities that the whole landscape appears to be in motion from the sheer number of them. This is the primary habitat for Spectacled and Stellar's eider on the North Slope--who share it with Canada, White-fronted and Snow geese, Black brant, nine other species of duck, Tundra swans, Pacific, Red-throated and Yellow-billed loons, as well as numerous plovers and shorebirds. In places along the Meade River, which ambles through the wetlands, Pleistocene sand dunes have been exposed. Here, the delicate Drummond's bluebell makes its last valiant stand, a holdout from a time several million years ago when such exposed, sandy environments were widespread in the north. Other relics from the Pleistocene can be found in the Reserve as well, making it an important window into the past for scientist. Colville River Watershed One of the most spectacular and important areas in the Reserve is the Colville River. Flowing from west to east along the Brooks Range and then north into the Arctic Ocean, the Colville is the largest river on Alaska's North Slope. It supports over twenty different species of fish including arctic char, pink and chum salmon, burbot, long-nosed suckers, sculpin and sticklebacks. Moose browse the willows along its banks far out onto the Arctic Coastal Plain. Grizzlies prowl the gravel bars searching for roots or carcasses washed down with the current. Wolves, too, hunt along the valley bottoms, hoping to surprise a moose or caribou making use of the relatively insect-free open areas. More conspicuous than these, and more important in terms of preservation, are the phenomenal numbers of raptors that utilize the cliffs for nesting. One of the healthiest populations of peregrine falcons in the world makes use of the ledges and crannies along the river to raise their young, as do gyrfalcons, and rough-legged hawks. In places, and at the right time, these winged hunters are so thick you can spot them on every shelf or hump large enough to support a nest. Golden eagles soar overhead, hunting ground squirrels and ptarmigan, staking out their territory with the shadow of their seven-foot wingspan. Along the lower reaches of the river, at Ocean Point, the Colville holds another surprise. Here, prehistoric currents have exposed some of the most important and productive dinosaur finds in the arctic. Once, the meat-eating Albertosaurus stalked duckbill hadrosaurs through this valley, to mention just several of the different dinosaur species that once roamed the area. Ocean Point and the Liscombe bone-beds are the northernmost Cretaceous deposits in the world and may help answer many questions about dinosaur extinctions and the history of global climate changes. Kasegaluk Lagoon Along the Chukchi Sea coast and partially within the existing boundary of the Reserve lies a series of sheltered barrier islands which forms one of the largest coastal lagoon systems in the world. Extensive salt marshes provide habitat for hundreds of thousands of waterfowl and shorebirds, including major populations of brant, a black-necked goose about the size of a mature mallard. Spotted seals and beluga whales also concentrate here during the summer to feed in the rich, shallow waters. Ringed seals come in off the ice to breed and pup on the islands. Because of the rich marine mammal populations, Kasegaluk Lagoon is extremely important to the Inupiat peoples of the area who still rely heavily on traditional subsistence activities for their livelihood. Teshekpuk Lake For sheer volume of wildlife, the network of coastal lagoons, deep water lakes, wet sedge grass meadows and river deltas of the Teshekpuk Lake area are unsurpassed in the Reserve. Not only is this region the calving grounds for the 26,000 Teshekpuk caribou, but it also provides vital habitat for up to 60,000 molting geese, including a large proportion of the world's population of brant, as well as Spectacled and Stellar's eiders. At times in the fall as the birds congregate prior to embarking on their southward migration, the air above the wetlands actually shimmers with birds and the sound can be almost deafening. If you come at the peak of congregation, the experience will leave you speechless. Within the Teshekpuk Lake area is another example of the paradoxical nature of the arctic--a region of active sand dunes. Called the Pik Dunes, they are the only ones of any significance on the North Slope and scientists feel they may hold clues to understanding major climate fluctuations over the last 12,000 years. Here, caribou gather during the early summer to find relief from the hordes of insects that can make life on the tundra nearly unbearable at times. Utukok Highlands Comprising over four million acres in the southeast corner of the Reserve, the Utukok Highlands is a favorite calving area for the Western Arctic caribou herd which congregates in the rolling hills by the tens of thousands in the spring. Caribou are ancient and highly adapted animals. Always on the move, they are the most efficient walkers of all the large deer; pound for pound a caribou requires less energy to travel a given distance than does any of its relatives. Efficiency can be measured in other ways as well. Winter foods such as lichen contain so little nutrients that for most animals the process of digesting them costs more than it yields; yet caribou use lichen regularly to get them through the long winters. Even so, late summer forage is crucial to caribou winter survival, and the Utukok Highlands provides some of the best in the Reserve. For this reason it is an important migration route for both the Western Arctic and the Teshepuk caribou on their way to winter grounds to the south. Because of the high caribou numbers, the uplands are prime habitat for grizzlies and wolves as well. Scavengers such as wolverines, red fox and ermine scour the rolling hills for the carcasses of animals fallen prey to winter, old age or predation. Many songbirds migrate to this area and utilize its resources during nesting. Native Peoples Harsh and unforgiving on the surface, for those plants and animals that have evolved to survive in the Reserve, it is an unbelievably rich environment. This has enabled small but enduring populations of humans to make it their home over the millennia. The town of Barrow, at the very northernmost tip of the United States, is one of the oldest inhabited sites in Alaska; archaeologists have found evidence that it has been more or less continuously occupied for at least 4,500 years. Even before that, as many as 11,000 years ago, Paleo-indians hunted caribou, musk-ox and woolly mammoth along the grassy northern slopes of the Brooks Range. The indigenous people living in the Reserve today, the Inupiat Eskimo, still rely on seal, whale, caribou, bear and waterfowl for a large proportion of their sustenance, supplementing seasonal or minimal incomes. Hunting provides not only much needed food for the table, though. It also reaffirms a deep cultural connection to the land and defines who the Inupiat are. It provides them with a link to their past and to their spirituality. Conclusion The rich animal resources of the Reserve draw a few, adventurous visitors every year despite the area's remoteness. People come to partake in the bounty of nature as it unfolds in a spectacle rivaled by very few other parts of the world. Most of these adventurers return home with a sense of wonder, not only at the multitude of creatures they have seen, but also at the sheer vastness of the landscape and the sense of timeless, undisturbed wilderness the Reserve embodies. |