AlaskaWild Update #274 - March 7, 2008
- Administration Seeks More Logging in the Tongass
- Oil Companies Bid on Tracts in the Chukchi Sea’s Polar Bear Habitat
- Notes from Alaska: Among Polar Bears
Administration Seeks More Logging in the Tongass
The Bush administration recently announced its intention to log some of the most significant roadless areas of the Tongass. The decision was in response to a court order to revise the Forest Service’s old, illegal land management plan for the Tongass. Nearly two years ago, the courts found that Forest Service was using dramatically inflated numbers that suggested a greater demand for timber and encouraged more logging.
Although the Forest Service has now revised its old, illegal plan, the core problems remain. The Tongass is still the only national forest in our country where logging is permitted in roadless, intact watersheds. And the most ecologically and culturally important lands of the Tongass are still open to the timber industry.
Thankfully, there is congressional interest in protecting the Tongass and finally settling a decades-old conflict. Rep. DeLauro (D-CT) is leading the efforts to adopt a more responsible and realistic approach to managing the Tongass’ resources. DeLauro has introduced a bill that would designate the most significant areas in the Tongass as Wilderness. With the administration unwilling to responsibly manage our nation’s wildest forest, take action and take the issue into your own hands. Urge your member of Congress to cosponsor this important bill and protect the Tongass for future generations.
Oil Companies Bid on Tracts in the Chukchi Sea’s Polar Bear Habitat
On February 6, the Minerals Management Service – a sub-agency of the Department of the Interior – held an oil and gas lease sale in Alaska. The sale offered nearly 30 million acres of prime polar bear habitat in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea to the oil and gas industry.
Seven oil companies bid on tracts in the Chukchi Lease Sale, demonstrating industry’s growing interest in Alaska’s icy waters. The bids totaled more than $2.6 billion for 488 blocks, with each block covering three square miles. (Alaska Wilderness League was blogging live at the lease sale – click here to read its coverage.) Eager to allow oil companies to have their way, the Bush administration has recently opened almost all of Alaska’s waters to the oil and gas industry. Perhaps unsurprisingly, these decisions have been made despite very limited research and knowledge about how development would affect a region already undergoing serious changes due to global warming.
The administration’s own environmental impact statements found at least a 35% chance that drilling in the Chukchi Sea would produce a major spill of over 1,000 barrels of oil. Meanwhile, despite decades-old guarantees, industry has failed to develop technology to fully recover an oil spill. These risks, coupled with uncertainty about how drilling would negatively impact marine mammals like polar bears and local subsistence communities, has helped create substantial local and national opposition to the drilling plans.
In addition to legal challenges, drilling plans in the Chukchi Sea have prompted congressional action. Sen. Kerry (D-MA) has introduced legislation that would halt any new oil and gas development activities until key requirements are met, including completion of an assessment by the National Research Council on data needed to establish an ecological baseline for the region. This data will help determine how wildlife and subsistence activities are and will be affected by climate change and future oil and gas development. Take action and urge your senators to cosponsor this important legislation.
Notes from Alaska: Among Polar Bears
By Betsy Beardsley, Arctic Environmental Justice Program Director, Alaska Wilderness League
I’ve never seen a polar bear in the wild. Being one of the lucky few to travel to remote arctic villages for work, I used to hope that I’d see one in its natural habitat.
On a recent trip to Pt. Hope, polar bears had been spotted around every corner of the village. Seven bears had come into or nearby the village within a week’s time. We were told to take serious precautions – not to walk very far without a gun through town, to stay indoors at night. One elder said the blizzard whiteout conditions we were experiencing were a polar bear’s playground.
The blizzard had seized Pt. Hope in a flash. The snow came down hard and the gusts of 45 MPH winds made it virtually impossible to see. The wind moved the snow on the ground like a plow, covering up doorways and cars in minutes. In three hours time the entrance to our hotel was completely shut in by snow.
I kept thinking of the polar bears playing out there. While the force of the wind could barely allow me to trudge 10 yards out in the storm, a polar bear could walk across the whole town impenetrably.
It’s not often that polar bears congregate near the village. Several Pt. Hope residents called this the season for polar bears near their community. They keep trash and anything else that may lure a polar bear indoors and away from temptation. Although many people seemed to have a good polar bear story, not everyone had actually seen a polar bear up close. That’s the way they would like to keep it.
My friend Elijah has the best polar bear story. He was napping out on the Chukchi Sea ice after a day of whaling. He awoke to find a polar bear staring at him from 10 feet away. Both were surprised by one another and the polar bear moved away quickly.
An elder told me of a time he was heading home from hunting with a group of people. They were in a boat skimming the coastline. He said they passed 19 polar bears on the way home. They too were all heading somewhere.
One of my colleagues took his skis out on the lagoon the day we arrived in Pt. Hope. He had a kite fastened to him as a sail. A group of people gathered on one side of the lagoon and appeared to be watching him. Later he found out they were watching a polar bear.
I know if you see a grizzly bear you are supposed to remain calm and alert it of your presence. Experts caution not to run from a brown bear. Rather, it is better to crouch down with your hands and arms protecting your head if the bear charges.
I’ve actually had a couple close encounters with grizzlies. Once while fishing from the shore of a narrow river, a bear appeared from the tall grass on the opposite bank. He stepped down into the river, stopped within 20 feet of me, and began fishing. After catching a fish with his paw, he carried it with his teeth disappearing into the brush behind me. Frozen in fear, I just remained still.
I don’t know what I’d do if I saw a polar bear. Seeing that grizzly – even though it was scary – was okay because I was in familiar territory. I know how to fjord across a river if I have to. However, the Chukchi Sea environment is quite different. Big piles of ice line the coastline. A polar bear could easily appear behind a block of ice leaving you nowhere to seek shelter.
The Inupiaq have lived among the polar bear for thousands of years. They know their behavior, habits and habitat. When a subsistence family needs the meat or fur of a polar bear to survive, the animal gives himself up. Otherwise, the Inupiaq leave the polar bears alone. They don’t need to see them, like I thought I did.
In his book the Snow Leopard, Peter Matthiessen describes the months-long search through the Himalayas for the reclusive animal. He travels over high peaks and treacherous terrain in winter just to catch a glimpse. In the end, he learns the reward is not about finding a snow leopard, but the journey that takes him there.
My trip to Pt. Hope taught me that I’d rather not see a polar bear in the wild. I know they are out there and that’s good enough for me.
