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Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 17:21:33 -0500
From: Lanny Schwartz <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: ANWR Article release
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Sierra Club Members:

I have not previously contributed to this mailing list.  To introduce
myself, I am a UNI biology professor.  In late June, 1989 I was in Alaska
on a special tour sponsored by the U. of Alaska.  We went through the
Prudhoe Bay oilfields and then van toured the Dalton Highway to Fairbanks.
My impression then was that there really was no conflict between wildlife
and oil development, much as I didn't want to believe it.  Caribou, arctic
fox, snowy owls, ptarmigan, and even musk ox were readily seen.  Exotic
(for us in the lower 48 states) birds were abundant and nesting, such as
species of jaegers, loons, gulls, Merlins, bluethroats, etc I returned to
Prudhoe Bay and again toured the oilfields toward the end of this last
July.  It is not the same place.  Many new fields within and surrounding
the orginal fields have been opened.  I would guess there are more
buildings, roads, etc, by a factor of 10.  Although it is not a fair
comparison because of the differing times of the year.  Two caribou and one
litter of arctic fox were the only wildlife seen.  Perhaps many of the
breeding birds had already completed their nesting and were gone.  One
clutch of white-fronted geese was the only nesting activity.

I also spent 10 days camping in ANWR in August, probably 150 miles SE of
the oilfields.  It is a marvelous place.  With the low timberline, the
crumbly shale mountains made it look like the back side of the moon.  I saw
numerous grizzlies, some muskok, Dall Sheep, and a wolverine.  You just
don't realize what a pall of civilization hangs over the US, until you are
up in the sparkling air of ANWR.  I haven't drunk from a mountain stream in
30 years, but I did there, greatly enjoying the beautiful clean water.

This is just my personal essay for you.  I think if ANWR were opened to oil
development, it too would be just a foot in the door that would similarly
expand.  I hope we can work to keep this beautiful pristine area, the way
it is now.
                Orlando "Lanny" Schwartz
                910 Juanita Avenue
                Cedar Falls, IA 50613
                319-266-0995 (home)