ALASKA WILDERNESS LEAGUE

And

SIERRA CLUB

 

 

CONTACTS:

Karen Tigges:  515-274-0545

Jane Clark:       515-223-5047

Lois Norgarrd: 952-881-7282

 

GOT ICE DES MOINES?

Polar Bear to Search for Ice and Public Support for Arctic Home

 

DES MOINES – On Saturday, December 19, a wandering polar bear will be searching for ice in Des Moines while asking the public to speak out in support of the federal government’s newly proposed critical habitat for the polar bear in America’s Arctic.  

 

Late last month, the Department of the Interior (DOI) proposed that a wide swath of Arctic waters and land – including the majority of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – be designated as critical habitat for the threatened polar bear under the Endangered Species Act. Currently, a 60 day public comment period on the proposed designation is underway.

 

However, at the same time DOI is making several key decisions on oil and gas drilling in these same lands and waters. In the same week that they announced the proposed critical habitat, they also approved a plan for Shell Oil to drill in the Arctic’s Beaufort Sea in 2010. As a result, a polar bear will be in Des Moines at the Brenton Skating Plaza seeking out ice and to ask the public to sign postcards telling DOI to ensure that the decisions they make don’t make things worse for this imperiled species. 

 

WHAT: Alaska Wilderness League’s polar bear mascot will be speaking out about protecting its Arctic habitat.

WHO: Ice-P (Alaska Wilderness League’s polar bear)

 

WHERE: Brenton Skating Plaza, 520 Robert D. Ray Dr., Des Moines

WHEN:  Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 2:00 p.m.

VISUALS: Polar bear mascot, plus informational handouts and postcards to sign. 

Press and TV reporters will be invited to cover the event.

For more information visit www.alaskawild.org