A Special Report by the National Audubon Society's Alaska State Office on Wildlife and Oil Development at Teshekpuk Lake, National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska WILDL IFE AND OIL DEVELOPMENT AT
Warren Harding as a source of oil for the U.S. Navy, the 23.5-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska ("Reserve") is the nation's largest single block of public land. In 1976, Congress transferred management authority from the Navy to the Department of the Interior and required...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.455.2870 http://www.arlis.org/docs/vol1/A/65186557.pdf |
| Summary: | Warren Harding as a source of oil for the U.S. Navy, the 23.5-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska ("Reserve") is the nation's largest single block of public land. In 1976, Congress transferred management authority from the Navy to the Department of the Interior and required "maximum protection " of fish, wildlife and other surface values during petroleum exploration in the Reserve. In 1980, Congress authorized leasing and development, but again directed the Secretary of the Interior to minimize ecological disturbance throughout the Reserve. Indeed, the Reserve has superb surface resources, including two caribou herds, world-class densities of raptors, millions of migratory birds, tens of thousands of molting geese, large concentrations of beluga whales and other marine mammals, vast wilderness landscapes, wild rivers, and rich geological, scientific, archaeological and paleontological sites. This booklet focuses on the area around Teshekpuk Lake—one of the most important wetland complexes in the entire circumpolar Arctic. Critical wildlife habitats in this wetland complex are now at risk from oil development proposed by the federal government. |
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