TAKE ACTION: ASK THE BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT (BLM) NOT TO ELIMINATE PROTECTIONS FOR IMPORTANT ARCTIC WILDLIFE HABITAT!

At more than 22.5 million acres, the National Petroleum Reserve—Alaska (NPR-A) is the largest contiguous block of public land in the United States. The Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976 mandated that the BLM manage Alaska's western Arctic and recognized that the reserve contained a number of important values—subsistence, recreational, fish, wildlife, historical, and scenic—that should be conserved through balanced management. This mandate later resulted in the designation of five special areas—Kasegaluk Lagoon, Utukok River Uplands, Peard Bay, Teshekpuk Lake, and Colville River—where most parcels were made “unavailable for leasing.” But now the BLM is asking for comments on whether to open these areas to oil and gas development.

ACT NOW: URGE THE BLM TO KEEP SPECIAL AREAS IN PROTECTED!

The NPR-A is North America’s "duck factory" and is relied upon by millions of migratory birds for habitat, including large concentrations of waterfowl. It includes two caribou herds harvested by more than 40 communities for subsistence; supports grizzly bears, arctic wolves, arctic foxes, and wolverines; and hosts internationally recognized densities of nesting raptors.

In 2013, the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the BLM approved a land management plan for the NPR-A after conducting an extensive public process that spanned more than three years and involved 17 formal public meetings, consultation with Alaska Natives, and deliberations with four cooperating agencies. The final science-based plan met the mandate for balanced management of the NPR-A to protect globally important wildlife habitat while providing certainty for industry by allowing areas for extraction of oil and gas.

Now, the BLM is using a process allowing the public to comment only by hard-copy mailed-in remarks on whether to allow future development in and around special areas.

That's why we are here to help. We will collect your online comments and physically hand-deliver them to the BLM office in Anchorage, Alaska. Please ask the agency to expand opportunities for public comment and to leave the NPR-A's "unavailable for leasing" areas free from development.

- The Pew Charitable Trust