The Bureau of Land Management has officially started a new planning
process for the entire Western Arctic Reserve. This is a great
opportunity to tell the Obama administration to protect the Arctic from
dirty industrial fossil-fuel development. Please take action before Oct
1, 2010
Sample letter: Alaska State Office, Bureau of Land Management
Attention: NPR-A Planning Team
222 W. 7th Ave., #13
Anchorage, AK 99513


Subject: Scoping Comment for NPR-A Area-wide Plan

The NPR-A, or Western Arctic Reserve, comprises the largest unprotected
tract of public land in the United States. It provides habitat for a wide
variety of Arctic species, and its wilderness values are second to none. 
As the BLM develops the new Area-wide Plan for the reserve, I urge you to
provide "maximum protection" for areas with high value habitats. The new
plan should consider important values in the reserve, including the
area's unparalleled wildlife, subsistence, wilderness and recreation
values. Furthermore, the BLM should consider protecting the entire
western Arctic as a wilderness area.

Congress has required that "maximum protection" be given to "special
areas" in the reserve. These areas include: 

- Teshekpuk Lake, the third largest lake in Alaska, which lies at the
heart of one of the single most productive and wetland complexes in the
circumpolar Arctic. The area surrounding Teshekpuk Lake provides
important habitats for waterbird nesting, molting and staging, as well as
critical caribou calving and insect relief areas for the Teshekpuk Lake
caribou herd.

- The Colville River is the largest river draining the North Slope of
Alaska and one of the most important raptor nesting areas in the world,
accounting for approximately 100 pairs of peregrine falcons, as well as
numerous pairs of gyrfalcons, rough-legged hawks and golden eagles.  

- Kasegaluk Lagoon provides a unique barrier island ecosystem located
along the northwestern coast of the reserve. Up to 3,500 beluga whales
gather in the lagoon to feed and bear their young, and the area is also
important for spotted seal as a haulout area. Kasegaluk Lagoon is an
important feeding area for both polar bears and grizzly bears. 

- The Utukok River Uplands in the southwestern part of the reserve
contain the heart of the calving area of the 490,000-animal Western
Arctic caribou herd, the largest caribou herd in Alaska. The Utukok
Uplands Special Area also provides important habitat for wolves and
supports an unusually high density of wolverines.

Other important areas within the Reserve also deserve strong protection
under the new Area-wide Plan. These include: the Dease Inlet-Meade River
area that provides important wetland habitat for waterfowl, loons and
shorebirds; Peard Bay and adjacent wetlands that provide high-density
shorebird and waterfowl habitat as well as denning for polar bears; and
the Ikpikpuk River and adjacent wetlands, which have exceptional values
for fish and wildlife and a high-density nesting area for peregrine
falcons in the headwaters.

In addition to protecting these important "special areas," the BLM should
consider protecting the entire Western Arctic Reserve as a wilderness
area. As the BLM develops the new Area-wide Plan, I urge that the BLM
identify and analyze a full range of management alternatives that include
the strongest possible protections for the Western Arctic Reserve.

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