If you’re not already receiving our important emails – what are you waiting for? Just fill your basic info into the form below and we’ll keep you informed of vital opportunities to keep Alaska wild!  

• You will receive the AlaskaWild Update, our issues update sent via email every first and third Thursday of the month.
• Additionally, we will periodically email you our most urgent Action Alerts, highlighting ways that you can take action online to make a difference for wild Alaska.

We ask that you provide as much information as possible so that we can send you specific information about your state and your members of Congress. (Red asterisks indicate required fields.) But don’t worry, we will not sell your information or violate any terms in our privacy policy.

If you’re not already receiving our important emails – what are you waiting for? Just fill your basic info into the form below and we’ll keep you informed of vital opportunities to keep Alaska wild!  

Phyllis Mains

One leg of my Refuge journey followed the Sagavanirktok River, 30 miles south of the Arctic Ocean, where I watched twelve adult Muskoxen and one calf grazing the river banks. Two Pacific Loons swam on a small lake nearby. And I experienced the thrill of observing a mother grizzly bear as she watched her twin cubs play near the edge of a pond! To call them, the mother grizzly stood on her hind feet and pounded her chest with huge paws and cried over and over – woof, woof, woof – until the cubs ran to her and together, they disappeared from sight.

Moose (Credit: Phyllis Mains)

While kayaking on a wild lake one day, a bald eagle swooped down in front of me, snagged a fish, and flew to its nest high in a tree. Little ground squirrels entertained me at night. But nothing could prepare me for this ancient, moving ritual: watching the Porcupine Caribou Herd cresting the hills – at first a few, then hundreds and finally thousands – pouring over the passes!

Climate change brought an abundance of heavy thunderstorms and I experienced days of heavy rain, some sleet, and terrible insect infestations. Streams, only knee-high last year, became raging rivers. From my kayak, I observed a two-week-old moose calf struggling to swim across a flooded area, while its mother fretted frantically. Thankfully, the baby made it safely to her side and was rewarded with a warm suckle of milk. Many lakes and rivers reached flood stage, becoming too dangerous for me to cross.

Arctic Refuge (Credit: Phyllis Mains)

The lust for gas and oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge and other priceless habitats has created a new urgency to protect our last, best places in Alaska. There are no guarantees of success in activism, but we will lose these special places for certain if we don’t do what we can to protect them.

We need an emblematic, iconic image of the Arctic Refuge – instantly recognizable – to accompany this great undertaking. With so many indelible images, we want to know which one you think is best. Check out the photo selections below and cast your vote. Thanks!

Arriving at the White House

“This is history in the making – we Gwich’in and Inupiat sisters coming together to protect our Arctic homelands. As grandmothers and great-grandmothers we have a responsibility to our people to keep food on the table for our children, grandchildren, and the unborn.” – Norma Kassi, Gwich’in Steering Committee (Old Crow, Yukon Territory, Canada)

The group was small, so I was able to work together with each participant to set our agenda and plan some exciting meetings with the Obama administration. The core concerns were varied, but all need to be addressed: Food security, arctic health impacts from climate change and industrial development, tribal rights, and protecting the Arctic Ocean and calving grounds of the Arctic Refuge.

The highlight of the trip was meeting officials in the West Wing of the White House. Many of these women have been visiting Washington for years as part of the League’s Alaska Wilderness Weeks. Never before had the White House opened its doors to any of the participants! At the White House, we met with Tina Tchen, the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement (OPE), who said she hoped this would be the first of several meetings.

“One year we had 20 babies emergency-evacuated out of Nuiqsut for respiratory failures. Two of those babies can’t come back to the village now because the air quality is so poor. We need stronger regulations in place to protect the health of our community as we live just a few miles from the oil development.” – Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, Inupiat (Nuiqsut, Alaska)

Meeting with Indian Affairs

“We are caribou people. It’s our clothing, our story, our song, our dance and our food. That’s who we are. If you drill for oil here, you are drilling right into the heart of our existence.” – Sarah James, Gwich’in Steering Committee Chair (Arctic Village, Alaska)

Prior to meeting Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Larry Echohawk, we were invited to participate in a blessing ceremony with about twenty medicine men and spiritual leaders from around the country who had gathered in Washington. It was a profound experience that I will not soon forget. Mr. Echohawk listened intently to the group’s stories of living in the Arctic and their call for preservation of their way of life and shared his interest in strengthening government-to-government or “nation-to-nation” relations. He promised to visit Alaska in the summer to continue to see firsthand the struggles in their communities.

“You can’t put a price on the future of our people. We are being impacted by too much – climate change, proposed mining, and offshore oil development all around us. We have hope that the administration is listening.” – Caroline Cannon, Inupiat (Point Hope, Alaska)

The women universally considered the trip a great success and would like to make the voyage an annual event, bringing young women from their communities to mentor through the experience. We will be meeting next week to address next steps to keep the momentum alive!