Why should we protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge?

Why should we protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge?

The Arctic Refuge is at risk of energy development. This process could threaten local wildlife, indigenous cultures, and the global climate. Although 95% of the North Coast of Alaska is already open to drilling, the last 5% is now at risk of being developed for oil and gas exploration.

How oil and gas drilling could disrupt the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge?

Oil development would bring roads, airstrips, heavy machinery, noise and pollution. This would damage the refuge’s fragile tundra ecosystem and disrupt age-old migration and denning patterns for caribou, polar bears and other animals.

Why should we save Arctic foxes?

SAVING THE ARCTIC FOX Crafty, agile and well adapted to survive extremely low temperatures, this fox is an integral part of the Arctic ecosystems that circle the northern part of the planet. The last administration failed to protect many species on the brink of extinction. Help save them now.

What are the potential environmental impacts of Arctic drilling onshore in the Arctic National wildlife Refuge or offshore in the Arctic Ocean?

Allowing drilling in the Arctic Ocean would add new environmental stressors – from pollution, to noise and other forms of disturbance – to marine wildlife that are already feeling the brunt of warming sea and air temperatures.

How drilling would negatively affect the biodiversity in Alaska?

But many more species would suffer under the combination of rising temperatures and new drilling; some birds could die off. These effects combined with development-related impacts across the ranges of many bird species may result in extinction during the 85-year scope of this analysis,” the EIS said.

What biotic factors affect the Arctic life?

Biotic Factors: Low Shrubs (sedges, reindeer mosses, liverworts, and grasses), Crustose and Foliose Lichen, Herbivores (lemmings, voles, caribou), Carnivores (arctic foxes, wolves, polar bears), Migratory Birds (ravens, snow buntings, falcons, loons), Insects (mosquitoes, flies, moths, grasshoppers), Fish (cod.