Arctic National Wildlife Treaty

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  • Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
    • Background
      • National wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska.
        • Consists of 19.6 million acres reserve.
        • One of the most intact American landscapes, where natural processes are mostly uninfluenced by humans.
        • A fragile and ecologically sensitive ecosystem.
          • Harsh climate and short growing seasons provide little time for species recovery.
      • Home to 37 land mammal species, 8 marine mammals, 42 fish species, and over 200 migratory bird species.
      • Established in 1960 to protect the wildlife, wilderness and recreational qualities.
      • Its glaciated peaks, northern forests and tundra are home to polar bears, caribou, muskoxen and wolves.
      • 1.5 million acre Coastal plain descends from the Brooks Mountain range to the Arctic Ocean.
        • Calving ground for one of North America's last great caribou herds.
          • Forced to move into mountains where forage is low and predators are more abundant.
          • Caribou can cover 2,500 miles year as it travels between winter grazing and summer calving grounds.
      • Big Oil and the state of Alaska would receive 90% of government revenues generated from drilling.
      • Warmed more than 4 degrees Celsius in last 50 years.
      • In 2015, Barack Obama effectively band oil exploration on 22 million acres of federal land. (12 million in the ANWR).
      • Oil production began at Prudhoe Bay in 1997 and peaked in the 1980s, when Alaska produced a 1/4 of U.S. oil.
        • Declining at a rate of 10% a year.
          • Left Alaska with a $3.5 billion budget deficit, and forcing it to spend $10 million a day to make ends meet.
      • Offshore waters believed to have 30 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 180 million cubic feet of recoverable gas.
    • Impacts of fossil fuel extraction
      • Costs
        • Drilling on coastal plain would affect wildlife.
          • Species would suffer displacement, increased mortality and slower reproduction rates.
          • Scarce fresh water supplies diverted to ice roads would no longer be available for fish and wildlife.
          • Activities such as seismic testing, aircraft and vehicle noise, or human presence can cause mother bears to abandon dens and cubs.
          • Die from acute poisoning or suffer a slow death from debilitating illness to ingestion, due to oil and chemical exposure.
          • Disrupt food chain/web.
        • Periodic spills and poullution
          • Prudhoe Bay and North Slope, 60 miles west of the ANWR, has hundreds of toxic spills of crude oil every year
          • One fire at the drilling site sent up a plume of black smoke that was seen for hundreds of miles.
        • Devastate indigenous Gwich'in people dependant on caribou's sustained productivity for subsistence economy and cultural identity.
      • Benefits
        • At peak production could supply up to 1.45 million barrels of oil per day.
          • 1/4 of what the U.S imports from OPEC countries.
        • Approximately generate $150-296 billion in federal revenue, which can help debt.
          • Total government revenue (including royalties, leases and taxes) could be as much as $440 billion.
        • Create jobs - ranging from 55,000 to 130,00.
        • Increase energy security, by decreasing dependnence on hostile countries.
          • Import decrease by 1 barrel for every barrel of ANWR oil production.
    • Future
      • Jan, 2015 => U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released final comprehen-sive conservation plan.
        • Recommends coastal plain is federally designated as wilderness.
      • Protecting the most vulnerable species.
        • Protect North Slope from disturbance.
          • Limit oil and gas exploration and development that disturb wildlife and destroy habitat on coastal plain tundra.
          • Drilling in the 1002 area, should be permanently prohibited.
        • Maintain linkages to areas of tundra adjacent to the refuge.
          • Some more threatened species may move to broader expanses of the tundra outside the refuge.
        • Invest in research and monitoring of vulnerable species.
          • Model the impacts of climate change on wildlife more accurately.
          • In particular, the 16 most vulnerable species to ensure management strategies enhance their ability to respond to climate change,
    • Climate Change Vulnerability Index
      • Modelling and assessment tool developed by NatureServe.
      • Exposure: The magnitude of changes directly related to changes in climate conditions.
      • Sensitivity: The degree to which the changes will affect the species.
        • Includes species character-istics, disperisal ability, versatility of diet and habitat, dependence on snowy areas, response to natural disturbances and genetic variation in population.
      • 16/38 mammals are extremely vulnerable.

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