Commenting on the Scoping for the Arctic Refuge Comprehensive Conservation Plan

 

Comments are due by Monday, June 7, 2010

 

Email your comments to: [log in to unmask]

Include ‘‘Arctic NWR CCP’’ in the subject line of the message.

 

Address your letter to:

Sharon Seim

Planning Team Leader

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

101 12th Ave., Rm. 236

Fairbanks, AK 99701

 

Sample comments you could include in your letter

 

We encourage you to begin your letter by describing your organization, your history with the Arctic Refuge, and why your (X number of) members care so much about protecting the Refuge.

 

We urge the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to conduct a full wilderness review and recommend wilderness designation for all non-designated Refuge lands, including the coastal plain (1002 area). This review and recommendation for wilderness designation will help ensure the unique wildlife, wilderness, and subsistence values of the entire Arctic Refuge are protected for future generations.

 

As we approach the 50^th anniversary of the Arctic Refuge, we have a historic opportunity to promote wilderness protection for this incomparable landscape. The Arctic Refuge is unique among Refuges – it was the only one established specifically to preserve wilderness values. The Refuge’s coastal plain is a vital part of a larger ecosystem and connected to existing wilderness through its scenic landscapes, watersheds, rivers, migrations, and broader ecosystem. Such a broad spectrum of diverse habitats occurring within a single protected unit is unparalleled in North America.

 

We support the Draft Arctic Refuge Vision in the CCP planning booklet:

“This untamed arctic landscape continues to sustain the ecological diversity and special values that inspired the Refuge’s establishment. Natural processes and traditional ways ebb and flow with the seasons; physical and mental challenges test our body, mind, and spirit; and we honor the land and its wildlife with respect and restraint. Through responsible stewardship this vast wilderness is passed on, undiminished, to future generations.”

 

We also support the Draft Goals for Stewardship listed in the CCP planning booklet, and particularly those focused on preserving natural biodiversity and ecological processes, wilderness values, and the national interest in passing this area on as a wild place to future generations.

 

A 2009 FWS study[1] showed that several things people value most about the Arctic Refuge are its wildlife, ecological processes, wilderness aesthetic, and spiritual values. We encourage FWS to strive to protect these values in their Comprehensive Conservation Plan. A 2010 FWS study[2] of the values of visitors to the Refuge demonstrated that the wilderness, vastness, remoteness, and sense of adventure were among the most positive influences on visitors’ experiences, and should also be management goals in the new CCP.

 

The Refuge should continue its focus on providing recreational opportunities with authentic adventure, solitude, challenges, risk, and self-reliance required of all visitors. The FWS should exercise restraint in managing the Refuge, and maintain a subtle presence in the Refuge.

 

The CCP should safeguard wilderness and wildlife values, along with the integrity of the ecosystem as a whole, through appropriate stewardship. This should include no intensive management and no manipulation of nature (for example, no predator control), except as deemed necessary to protect threatened or endangered species. This intact community of life should be allowed to exist in its natural diversity, with natural cycles and interactions persisting.

 

The Refuge is home to some of America’s most iconic wildlife species, including wolves, grizzly bears, muskoxen, and caribou. Numerous bird species begin their lives in the Refuge each year, before journeying across the nation and the globe. This means people across the country have the chance to see birds in their area that began their lives in the Refuge. Much of the Refuge’s Coastal Plain was also recently proposed as Critical Habitat for the threatened polar bear, and onshore denning habitat in the Refuge’s coastal plain is likely to become increasingly important to polar bears as their sea ice habitat melts due to global warming.

 

The CCP should strive to preserve the wildlife, wilderness, and subsistence values necessary to maintain the Gwich’in way of life for future generations. The Gwich’in people have lived in the region for thousands of years, and regard the coastal plain as “The Sacred Place Where Life Begins” because it has been the most frequently used birthing and nursery grounds for the migratory Porcupine Caribou Herd on which the social, economic, and spiritual fabric of their lives depends.

 

Oil and gas leasing, exploration and development in the Refuge would permanently harm the wildlife and wilderness values of the coastal plain and the Refuge as a whole. As we witness the devastation of an ecosystem in the Gulf of Mexico, the fundamental incompatibility of oil and gas development in wilderness is painfully evident. Furthermore, as climate change continues to impact this Arctic region, exacerbating those effects through further oil and gas development are unconscionable. The Refuge’s value as an intact ecosystem, where the effects of climate change can be studied, becomes increasingly rare and important every year.

 

To conclude, the Arctic Refuge is a national treasure that stands alone in its wildness, ecological integrity, beauty, and unique recreational opportunities. The agency should emphasize protecting these values so we can pass this incredible place on to our children undiminished. An important step for ensuring long-term protection is conducting a full wilderness review and making a wilderness designation recommendation in the Arctic Refuge CCP, along with instituting a management regime that aims to maintain the wildlife and wilderness values for which the Refuge was established.

 

Please conclude your letter with an individual message.