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Action Alert!


July 2010 Highlights

THE ALASKA COALITION


Mission: To preserve outstanding wildlife and wild public lands and waters in Alaska for future generations; to coordinate with organizations and businesses through national campaign strategies and grassroots education to assure lasting protection for Alaska’s national public lands and waters.  By speaking with a united voice, we demonstrate that Americans from all walks of life are dedicated to keeping Alaska wild.

What is the Alaska Coalition: The Alaska Coalition, a project of Alaska Wilderness League, is a partnership of nearly 1,000 groups from the conservation, sporting, labor, religious and business communities that has for more than 30 years worked together to safeguard Alaska’s public lands and waters - from the verdant tundra of the Arctic to the lush temperate rainforest of the Tongass National Forest.

In the spring of 2007, Alaska Wilderness League took on the responsibility of coordinating and facilitating the activities of the national Alaska Coalition.  This integration enhances the broader conservation community’s grassroots capacity to protect Alaska’s wild places.  The League and its staff now serve as the coordinators for the national Coalition as well as liaisons to state based coalitions.   

Our member organizations and businesses work together with our regional organizers to build support in Congress by urging their elected officials to pass wilderness legislation concerning Alaska.  Ultimately, we hope to add the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge to our nation’s wilderness preservation system, to conserve and restore key areas in the Tongass National Forest, to protect special places in the Western Arctic within the National Petroleum Reserve -Alaska, and to keep the sensitive waters of the Polar Bear Seas—the Beaufort and Chukchi—off the North Slope safe from oil and gas development.

ARCTIC OCEAN (Beaufort, Chukchi, Bering Seas)


The Arctic Ocean is one of the most productive, fragile, and least understood marine ecosystems in the world.  Unfortunately it is also one of the world’s most threatened marine environments. Made up of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, America’s Arctic Ocean is facing accelerating and dramatic changes due to climate change, along with proposals for massive and risky oil and gas development.

  • UPDATE: There will be no drilling in America's Arctic Ocean this summer!  In late May, President Obama announced his decision to postpone Arctic offshore drilling until at least 2011, saying: "All drilling must be safe."  We extend our gratitude and thanks to President Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar for their decision to suspend Shell Oil's plans for drilling in the Arctic Ocean this summer. We look forward to working with the administration to develop a comprehensive plan for the Arctic that determines if, when, where and how development should occur in the Arctic Ocean - and above all ensure that any development in these pristine waters is only allowed to proceed when it can be done safely. Click here to thank President Obama  and Secretary Salazar for sparing America's Arctic from offshore drilling this summer.

 UPDATE: Minerals and Management Service split is a good first step -  Alaska Wilderness League sincerely hopes that Sec. Salazar’s announcement to split up the Minerals and Management Service will begin a new era at The Department of the Interior where the oil industry will no longer have undue influence over oil and gas development decisions in our nation’s offshore areas. For many years now, MMS has been plagued with controversy – MMS’s Alaska regional office in particular was singled out in a recent Government Accountability Office report .  In Alaska, it is obvious that the relationship between industry and MMS has been much too cozy.  

  • UPDATE: Fool to the oil industries no more - As the BP Gulf disaster continues, we learn more about how statements by oil companies range from exaggeration to outright deception. In the Arctic, Shell made similar claims about their plans to drill in the Arctic Ocean as those made by BP about drilling in the Gulf, such as: “A large oil spill, such as crude release from a blowout, is extremely rare and not considered a reasonable foreseeable impact.” See BP and Shell statements in our advertisement here: http://www.alaskawild.org/wp-content/files/ArcticAd_5-20-10.pdf
  • UPDATE: Congress joined effort to delay Arctic drilling – Seventy-eight members of Congress sent a letter to President Obama in May urging him to delay Shell Oil’s plans for exploratory drilling in the Arctic Ocean. The letter, spearheaded by Reps. Jay Inslee (D-WA), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Lois Capps (D-CA), asked the president to halt this summer’s Arctic drilling plans until the causes of the Deepwater Horizon disaster are known and “the administration has subsequently put into place improved and rigorous prevention technology requirements.”  If you would like to know if your representative signed this letter, please email me and I’ll let you know. If your representative did sign on, we’d love to have you thank them!

ARCTIC REFUGE


The Arctic is all around us. Every year, birds that begin their lives on the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge journey to all 50 states and across six continents, before heading back to the Arctic, where the cycle of life begins again. The Arctic is the origin of life for more than just birds – numerous species of mammals bear their young on this vast expanse of tundra including polar bears, caribou and more.  As we mark the 50th anniversary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, we must do everything we can to be sure that this last wild haven remains protected for generations to come. 

  • ACTION: HR39 (Udall-Eisenhower Arctic Wilderness Act) – Currently, there are more than 100 cosponsors.  Please check here to see if your representative is a cosponsor.   If not, please encourage him/her to sign on now by clicking here!
  • ACTION: S231 (Bill to designate a portion of the Arctic Refuge as wilderness) – There are currently  26 cosponsors.If your senator hasn't already done so,please encourage him/her to become a cosponsor. 
  • UPDATE: The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) is currently in the process of revising the Arctic Refuge’s management plan. These plans must be updated every 15 years for every wildlife refuge in the nation, as mandated inthe National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997. This plan, called the Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP), will help determine how the Refuge is managed, and significantly, gives FWS the historic opportunity to review the Coastal Plain and other non-wilderness lands in the Refuge for their suitability as wilderness. At the end of this process, the agency can recommend that these areas be designated wilderness. Ultimately, Congress will need to pass a law to make this designation official, but this is an important step in the right direction towards protecting the Refuge!  FWS is currently taking your comments, through June 7th, 2010. 
  • ACTION: Submit your comment to US Fish & Wildlife Service to Protect the Refuge
  • UPDATE: Arctic bird kite-flying to showcase widespread support for Arctic Refuge - Concerned citizens showed their support for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in May by telling the Obama administration to protect our nation’s wilderness icon – and by flying a kite. Supporters were testifying at FWS hearings in Washington, DC and Anchorage, Alaska on the Arctic Refuge’s CCP.  They also gathered to celebrate the vital role that the Arctic Refuge, and its Coastal Plain in particular, plays in our nation’s natural heritage by flying Arctic bird kites. These kites demonstrated widespread, nationwide support for the Refuge by featuring the names of thousands of Americans who pledged to join the fight to gain long-term protection for one of our nation’s last great wild places during its 50th anniversary year.  Similar kite-flying events will take place throughout the year across the country. If interested in joining an event or starting your own, go to: www.alaskawild.org/kites

MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: Should Obama make a National Monument in Alaska?; Activists fly kites for ANWR at US Capitol; Groups Speak Out on ANWR; Alaska's delegation eyes ANWR; ANWR wilderness designation talks pit conservation against resources; Fight over Arctic wildlife refuge heats up; Make noise for a quiet place: Support wilderness in ANWR; Don’t believe the hype; ANWR wilderness designation talks pit conservation against resources; Our view: Keep ANWR in play; Tally taken during public testimony in Fairbanks shows support for protecting ANWR; ANWR caribou; Is Arctic refuge grass greener?

  • FREE VIDEO: Alaska Wilderness League has a video about the Arctic Refuge, written and narrated by acclaimed author Terry Tempest Williams.  If your organization would like a copy or would like to show it to folks, please email me at anna (at) alaskawild.org.

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT (BLM)


We applaud the Obama administration for the decision to protect Bristol Bay as a national treasure in Alaska by withdrawing it from consideration for oil and gas development through 2017. Although this decision makes us hopeful for the future of Bristol Bay, we are not ready to celebrate yet. It just does not make sense to protect the offshore without protecting the onshore. Our wild Alaskan salmon stocks are literally connected to the ocean, river, and the surrounding BLM lands—the whole ecosystem must be protected to preserve wild salmon. The Administration should take the next logical step in protecting Bristol Bay’s world-class fishery by encouraging the Bureau of Land Management to include onshore protections for wild salmon’s spawning and rearing waters and lands. The right time to protect Alaskan wild salmon is now.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

  • UPDATE: Arctic leaders share experiences from Gulf Coast trip; push for halt to Arctic drilling planned for this summer - Four Alaska Native leaders, visited the Gulf of Mexico coast to view the destruction of the Deepwater Horizon disaster firsthand, and then made their way to Washington in late May to ask administration officials and Congress to stop drilling planned for their backyard. These leaders and the communities they represent urged government leaders to keep what happened in the Gulf from happening to the ocean and surrounding coasts that they have depended on for thousands of years.

 

There is no demonstrated or reliable way to contain and clean up a large spill in the harsh and remote Arctic waters. A blowout like the one that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico would have catastrophic impacts on fish and wildlife in the region. Alaska Native communities rely on subsistence fishing, whaling, and hunting in this area.

 

One of the tribes represented during the trips to the Gulf and DC, the Native Village of Point Hope, is a federally recognized native tribe located in the oldest continuously inhabited community in North America. Community members rely on subsistence use of Arctic animals such as bowhead whale, seals, walrus, fish and more.

 

TONGASS NATIONAL FOREST


Alaska Wilderness League continues to oppose the “Sealaska bill” (S. 881/H.R. 2099) which would transfer to private ownership some of the richest and most biologically productive lands in the Tongass National Forest. These lands are targeted for clearcut logging, threatening the intricate ecosystem and its small forest-dependent communities and thriving local industries. This bill has sparked widespread controversy and may undermine the ongoing collaborative dialogue on the future of the Tongass. The Sealaska bill only serves to reaffirm the old, divisive way of doing business. Any congressional action on the Tongass must include the strongest protections possible for valuable, intact old-growth and restore important fish and wildlife habitat damaged by past logging.  

·         ACTION: Contact your Members of Congress and urge them to oppose  the "Sealaska bill!" Send a message to Congress that any action on the Tongass must include the strongest protections possible for America’s rainforest!

·         ACTION: In an effort to protect the wildlands of the Tongass, we would love for you to pass along the attached Chef sign on letter to any chefs you know who care about supporting the use of wild Alaskan salmon and protecting the Tongass.  Please pass chefs onto me at: anna (at) alaskawild.org.

·         UPDATE: The Sealaska Bill had hearings in the House Natural Resource Committee (March 2010) and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (October 2009). Additionally, Senator Murkowski’s Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee staff has held a series of listening sessions across Southeast Alaska that highlighted the conflict in the region. Later this Spring, the Senate Committee is expected to mark-up the legislation.

·         UPDATE: On May 26, 2010 the US Forest Service released its long awaited ‘transition framework’ for the Tongass National Forest.  Realizing the importance of an intact Tongass, the Obama administration has made a serious commitment to transitioning the economy of Southeast Alaska away from reliance on unsustainable old growth harvest, and towards a more economically and ecologically sound future.  By putting people to work restoring the forest, this plan not only creates jobs in the woods but will also serve to protect and enhance valuable fish and wildlife habitat.  Alaska Wilderness League looks forward to working with the Obama administration to make this transition framework a successful reality.   

·         EVENTS: Alaska Wilderness League and Braided River Books will be having holding events with Amy Guilick to talk about her book, Salmon in the Trees during June and August.  Please see here for more on events in Portland, Washington, D.C. and Juneau.

·         MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: Former Fish and Game officials oppose Sealaska lands bill; Letter warns Alaska governor about Sealaska lands bill; Tongass logging 'would harm rare species'; Deadline approaches for Sealaska-SEACC talks; Trees grow salmon and salmon grow trees in the Tongass; Salmon in the Trees: Life in Alaska’s Tongass Rain Forest ; Book shows Tongass Forest fed by nutrients of fish; New course charted for Alaska's Tongass National Forest; Feds Announce Timber Program for Tongass Forest; Private Sealaska meetings on land bill yield nothing

·         FREE VIDEO:  We have a Tongass video that we would love to have Alaska Coalition groups use and show to your members.   If you're interested in receiving a copy of the video, please email me at anna (at) alaskawild.org.

WESTERN ARCTIC/THE RESERVE

The National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska is one of Alaska’s best kept secrets and one of our nation’s greatest natural treasures. The administration and Congress must work to keep important habitat areas within the Reserve protected from destructive industrial development. Over the coming months we will be working to ensure these areas are not included an oil and gas lease sale planned for August 2010.

  • FREE VIDEO:  We have a new Reserve video available for viewing.   If you, your group or business is interested in showing the video, please contact anna (at) alaskawild.org to receive a copy!