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Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
Refuge during summer
Location in northern Alaska
Location	North Slope Borough and Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, USA
Nearest city	Barrow, Alaska pop. 3,982
Coordinates	68°45′N 143°30′W / 68.75°N 143.5°W / 68.75; -143.5Coordinates: 68°45′N 143°30′W / 68.75°N 143.5°W / 68.75; -143.5
Area	19,286,722 acres (78,051 km2)
Established	1960
Governing body	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR or Arctic Refuge) is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska, United States. It consists of 19,286,722 acres (78,050.59 km²) in the Alaska North Slope region.^[1] It is the largest National Wildlife Refuge in the country, slightly larger than the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is administered from offices in Fairbanks.

History[link]

The move to protect this corner of Alaska began in the early 1950s. National Park Service planner George Collins and biologist Lowell Sumner recruited Wilderness Society President Olaus Murie and his wife Margaret Murie into an effort to permanently protect the area. They were joined by thousands of the era's prominent conservationists.

The region first became a federal protected area in 1960 by order of Fred Andrew Seaton, Secretary of the Interior under U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1980, Congress passed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.

Eight million acres (32,000 km²) of the refuge, the Mollie Beattie Wilderness, are designated as wilderness area.^[2] The expansion of the refuge in 1980 designated 1.5 million acres (6,100 km²) of the coastal plain as the 1002 area and mandated studies of the natural resources of this area, especially petroleum. Congressional authorization is required before oil drilling may proceed in this area. The remaining 10.1 million acres (40,900 km²) of the refuge are designated as "minimal management," a category intended to maintain existing natural conditions and resource values. These areas are suitable for wilderness designation, although there are presently no proposals to designate them as wilderness.

There are currently no roads within or leading into the refuge, however there are a few scattered Indian settlements within. On the northern edge of the refuge is the Inupiat village of Kaktovik (population 258)^[3] and on the southern boundary the Gwich'in settlement of Arctic Village (population 152).^[3] A popular wilderness route and historic passage exists between the two villages, traversing the refuge and all its ecosystems from boreal, interior forest to Arctic Ocean coast. Generally, visitors gain access to the land by aircraft, but it is also possible to reach the refuge by boat or by walking (the Dalton Highway passes near the western edge of the refuge). In the United States, the geographic location most remote from human trails, roads, or settlements is found here, at the headwaters of the Sheenjek River.

Geography[link]

Natural-colour satellite image of the refuge. Thick white lines delineate refuge boundaries, and thin white lines separate areas within the park.

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Map.

Area 1002 of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain, looking south toward the Brooks Range mountains.

The refuge supports a greater variety of plant and animal life than any other protected area in the Arctic Circle. A continuum of six different ecozones spans about 200 miles (300 km) north to south.

Along the northern coast of the refuge, the barrier islands, coastal lagoons, salt marshes, and river deltas of the Arctic coastal tundra provide habitat for migratory waterbirds including sea ducks, geese, swans, and shorebirds. Fish such as dolly varden and arctic cisco are found in nearshore waters. Coastal lands and sea ice are used by caribou seeking relief from biting insects during summer, and by polar bears hunting seals and giving birth in snow dens during winter.

The Arctic coastal plain stretches southward from the coast to the foothills of the Brooks Range. This area of rolling hills, small lakes, and north-flowing, braided rivers is dominated by tundra vegetation consisting of low shrubs, sedges, and mosses. Caribou travel to the coastal plain during June and July to give birth and raise their young. Migratory birds and insects flourish here during the brief Arctic summer. Tens of thousands of snow geese stop here during September to feed before migrating south, and musk oxen live here year-round.

South of the coastal plain, the mountains of the eastern Brooks Range rise to over 9000 feet (3,000 m). This northernmost extension of the Rocky Mountains marks the continental divide, with north-flowing rivers emptying into the Arctic Ocean and south-flowing rivers joining the great Yukon River. The rugged mountains of the Brooks Range are incised by deep river valleys creating a range of elevations and aspects that support a variety of low tundra vegetation, dense shrubs, rare groves of poplar trees on the north side and spruce on the south. During summer, peregrine falcons, gyrfalcons, and golden eagles build nests on cliffs. Harlequin ducks and red-breasted mergansers are seen on swift-flowing rivers. Dall sheep and wolves are active all year, while grizzly bears and arctic ground squirrels are frequently seen during summer but hibernate in winter.

The southern portion of the Arctic Refuge is within the Interior Alaska-Yukon lowland taiga (boreal forest) ecoregion. Beginning as predominantly treeless tundra with scattered islands of black and white spruce trees, the forest becomes progressively denser as the foothills yield to the expansive flats north of the Yukon River. Frequent forest fires ignited by lightning result in a complex mosaic of birch, aspen, and spruce forests of various ages. Wetlands and south-flowing rivers create openings in the forest canopy. Neotropical migratory birds breed here in spring and summer, attracted by plentiful food and the variety of habitats. Caribou travel here from farther north to spend the winter. Year-round residents of the boreal forest include moose, lynx, marten, wolverines, black and grizzly bears, and wolves.

Each year, thousands of waterfowl and other birds nest and reproduce in areas surrounding Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk fields and a healthy and increasing caribou herd migrates through these areas to calve and seek respite from annoying pests.

Drilling[link]

The question of whether to drill for oil in the ANWR has been an ongoing political controversy in the United States since 1977.^[4] The controversy surrounds drilling for oil in a 1,500,000 acres (6,100 km²) subsection on the coastal plain, known as the "1002 area".^[5] Much of the debate over whether to drill in the 1002 area of ANWR rests on the amount of economically recoverable oil, as it relates to world oil markets, weighed against the potential harm oil exploration might have upon the natural wildlife, in particular the calving ground of the Porcupine caribou.^[6]

See also[link]

• Alaska Wilderness League
• Arctic Refuge drilling controversy
• Jonathon Solomon
• National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

• Text of Wilderness Act of 1964
• Official ANWR website
• 360 panoramas of the ANWR documenting the changing climate, by Dr. Matthew Nolan, Professor, University of Alaska, Fairbanks
• Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
• An article about the land and the people of Arctic Wildlife Refuge

National Wildlife Refuge System
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
Official logo
Location	United States
Area	95,972,133 acres (388,385 km2)
Established	1903
Visitors	41,255,144 (in 2008)
Governing body	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

National Wildlife Refuge is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the world's premiere system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America's fish, wildlife and plants. Since President Theodore Roosevelt designated Florida's Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge as the first wildlife refuge in 1903, the System has grown to more than 150 million acres (610,000 km²), 555 national wildlife refuges and other units of the Refuge System, plus 37 wetland management districts.

The mission of the Refuge System is to manage a national network of lands and waters for the conservation, management, and where appropriate, restoration of fish, wildlife and plant resources and their habitat. The Refuge System maintains the biological integrity, diversity and environmental health of these natural resources for the benefit of present and future generations of Americans.

National Wildlife Refuges manage a full range of habitat types, including wetlands; prairies; coastal and marine areas; and temperate, tundra and boreal forests. The management of each habitat is a complex web of controlling or eradicating invasive species, using fire in a prescribed manner, assuring adequate water resources, and assessing external threats like development or contamination.

Among these hundreds of national refuges are home to some 700 species of birds, 220 species of mammals, 250 reptile and amphibian species and more than 200 species of fish. Endangered species are a priority of National Wildlife Refuges in that early sixty refuges have been established with the primary purpose of conserving 280 threatened or endangered species.

National Wildlife Refuges are also places for outdoor recreation. The Refuge System manages six wildlife-dependent recreational uses in accordance with the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act, including hunting, fishing, birding, photography, environmental education, and interpretation. Hunters visit more than 350 hunting programs on refuges and on about 36,000 Waterfowl Production Areas. Opportunities for fresh or saltwater fishing are available at more than 340 refuges. There is at least one wildlife refuge in each of the fifty states.

The National Wildlife Refuge System faces a number of challenges and ongoing issues, including urban intrusion/development, habitat fragmentation, degradation of water quantity and quality, climate change, invasive species, increasing demands for recreation, and increasing demands for energy development. However, the system has had numerous successes, including providing a habitat for endangered species, migratory birds, plants and numerous other valuable animals; implementation of the NWRS Improvement Act, acquisition and protection of key critical inholdings, and establishing leadership in habitat restoration and management.

An important success for the refuge system has been the creation of Comprehensive Conservation Plans (CCPs)for each refuge, which must be completed by the end of 2012, with a subsequent review process to follow. CCPs must be consistent with the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) goals for conservation and wildlife management.^[1][2]

The CCPs outline conservation goals for each refuge for fifteen years into the future, with the intent that they will be revised every fifteen years thereafter. The comprehensive conservation planning process requires several phases, including: a scoping phase, in which each refuge holds public meetings to identify the public’s main concerns; plan formulation, when refuge staff and FWS planners identify the key issues and refuge goals; writing the draft plan, in which wildlife and habitat alternatives are developed, and the plan is submitted for public review; revision of the draft plan, which takes into consideration the public’s input; and plan implementation.^[3][4]

A major requirement of each CCP is that it adheres to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Each plan must therefore propose several potential alternatives to habitat and wildlife management on the refuge and identify their possible impacts on the refuge. Additionally, NEPA requires FWS planners and refuge staff to engage the public in this planning process to assist them with identifying the most appropriate alternative.^[5]

Comprehensive Conservation Plans are important documents for guiding wildlife and habitat management on national wildlife refuges. The completed CCPs are available to the public and can be found on the FWS website.^[6][7]

History[link]

Statistics (as of 2008)[link]

Pelican Island was the nation's first wildlife refuge

Physical features[link]

• Area of land under management = 95,972,133 acres (388,385 km²)^[8]
• Area of wetlands = 23,952,089 acres (96,931 km²)^[8]
• Number of management units = 586 refuges^[8]
• Number of Wilderness areas = 75^[8]
• Area of Wilderness = 20,699,257 acres (83,767 km²)^[8]
• Length of rivers within the National Wild & Scenic Rivers System = 1,086 miles (1,748 km)^[8]
• Length of refuge boundary with Mexico = 120 miles (190 km)^[8]

Management[link]

• Area of wetlands restored in 2008 = 28,186 acres (114 km²)^[8]
• Area burned in 2008 to reduce hazardous fuels = 436,422 acres (1,766 km²) (WUI 116,134 acres (470 km²) ; non-WUI 234,638 acres (950 km²); other 85,650 acres (347 km²))^[8]

Visitation[link]

• Total visitors in 2008 = 41,255,144^[8]
• Total visits in 2008 = 75,237,594^[8]

Volunteers[link]

• Total volunteers in 2008 = 35,833^[8]
• Total volunteer hours in 2008 = 1,389,886^[8]
• Value of volunteer hours in 2008 = $27,116,675.86 (based on Independent Sector's current dollar value of $19.51)^[8]

Personnel[link]

• Total staff = (2004 total, awaiting 2008 figures) 3,809 FTE’s (full-time equivalents, thus two half-time employees count as one FTE)^[8]
• Number of refuge enforcement officers = 402 (includes 259 full time and 143 dual function employees) (source: Washington Office)
• Number of firefighter = 538 FTE's (accounts for 800 firefighters—3000 additional non-fire-funded personnel with fire qualifications)(source: NIFC)

Special Management Areas[link]

In addition to refuge status, the "special" status of lands within individual refuges may be recognized by additional designations, either legislatively or administratively. Special designation may also occur through the actions of other legitimate agencies or organizations. The influence that special designations may have on the management of refuge lands and waters may vary considerably.

There is a wide variety of special land designations that currently overlay national wildlife refuges that total 175 refuges. Authority for designation of some special management area types (e.g., Research Natural Areas) on refuges lies solely with the Service. For most special management area types, responsibility is held by or shared with others.

Among the other varied special management area types found on refuges are Cultural Resource Sites, Historic Sites, Research Natural Areas, Wilderness, Wild and Scenic Rivers, National Natural Landmarks and National Trails. Some overlay designations may place refuges within international networks of protected lands, such as Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserves and Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention).

Refuges may also be included within much larger special management areas designated by other agencies or organizations, such as Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserves, National Marine Sanctuaries, Estuarine Sanctuaries and Biosphere Reserves. Management policy and procedural guidance for Service special management areas is currently found in the Refuge Manual. Revised guidance is in preparation for incorporation into the new Service Manual. Special management area training for administrators and refuge managers currently includes multi-agency sponsored and university correspondence courses.

See also[link]

• List of National Wildlife Refuges
• List of National Wildlife Refuges established for endangered species
• List of largest National Wildlife Refuges
• Timeline of environmental events
• Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges
• Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus
• United States Fish and Wildlife Service
• National Wildlife Refuge Association
• State wildlife trails (United States)

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Fischman, Robert (Fall 2005). "The Significance of National Wildlife Refuges in the Development of U.S. Conservation Policy". Journal of Land Use and Environmental Law 21:1–?. Indiana Legal Studies Research Paper No. 19. doi:10.2139/ssrn.699482.
• Schroeder, R. (2008). "Comprehensive conservation planning and ecological sustainability within the United States National Wildlife Refuge System". Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy 4(1):38–44.

External links[link]

• Official website of the National Wildlife Refuge System
• Legislation
• Official Web site of the Blue Goose Alliance—a non-profit organization promoting the establishment of the National Wildlife Refuge Service as a separate agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior
• National Wildlife Refuge Association—A nonprofit entity supporting the National Wildlife Refuge System
• RefugeWatch—A blog that follows news and events from the National Wildlife Refuge System
• The National Wildlife Refuge Association
• NWRS - Refuge Planning
• The Cooperative Alliance for Refuge Enhancement (CARE)
• The short film National Wildlife Refuge System (2005) is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
• The short film Teddy Roosevelt - National Wildlife Refuge System (2005) is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2010)

A wildlife refuge, also called a wildlife sanctuary, may be a naturally occurring sanctuary, such as an island, that provides protection for species from hunting, predation or competition, or it may refer to a protected area, a geographic territory within which wildlife is protected.^{[citation needed]} Such wildlife refuges are generally officially designated territories, created by government legislation, though the land itself may be publicly or privately owned. Also, the Chernobyl nuclear accident site has accidentally become a wildlife refuge.^{[citation needed]} It preserves the animals that are endangered or about to be extinct.

History[link]

In the 3rd century BC, King Devanampiya Tissa declared the area around Mihintale, Sri Lanka as a sanctuary for wildlife,^[1] probably the first of its kind in the ancient world. According to stone inscriptions found in the vicinity, the king commanded the people not to harm animals or destroy trees within the area.^{[citation needed]}

The first American wildlife refuge, Lake Merritt Wildlife Refuge at Lake Merritt, was established by Samuel Merritt and enacted in California state law in 1870 as the first government owned refuge.^[2] The first federally owned refuge in America is Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge and was established by Theodore Roosevelt in 1903 as part of his Square Deal campaign to improve America.^{[citation needed]}. At the time, setting aside land for wildlife was not a constitutional right of the president. More recently, a bi-partisan group of US House of Representatives members established the Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus to further the needs of the National Wildlife Refuge System in the US Congress.^{[citation needed]}

Today there are several national and international organizations that have taken the responsibility of supervising numerous systems of non-profit sanctuaries and refuges in order to provide a general system for sanctuaries to follow.^{[citation needed]} Among them, the American Sanctuary Association monitors and aids in various facilities to care for exotic wildlife. Their accredited facilities follow high standards and a rigid application processes to ensure that the animals under their care are avidly cared for and maintained.

See also[link]

• Animal sanctuary
• Conservation area
• Crown Game Preserve — designation of wildlife refuges in Ontario, Canada
• Elephant sanctuary
• Fossil Park
• National Park
• National Wildlife Refuge Association
• National Wildlife Refuge System
• Nature reserve
• Protected area
• Zoo

References[link]

External links[link]

• IUCN protected area categories

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