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For more than 50 years, prominent scientists and conservationists have called for the protection of what is now the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska. First set aside by Dwight D. Eisenhower as the Arctic National Wildlife Range in 1960, this is the United State's only conservation unit that encompasses an entire Arctic ecosystem.

When President Eisenhower acted, he had the wisdom and foresight to include the entire ecosystem both north and south of the Brooks Range, including the biologically rich coastal plain considered essential to the integrity of this ecosystem. In 1980, Congress enlarged the original range to protect additional wildlife habitat and establish the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. At 19 million acres, it is the largest wildlife refuge in the U.S. Combined with the adjacent Ivvavik and Vuntut national parks in Canada, the Arctic Refuge comprises one of the largest protected ecosystems in the world.

Unfortunately, since Congress expanded the refuge in 1980, there has been continued debate about the future of the 1.5-million-acre Arctic Coastal Plain, where there is also potential oil development. The coastal plain is the biological heart of what is now an intact, wild Arctic ecosystem, which supports the 120,000-animal Porcupine Caribou Herd, millions of migratory birds, and a full-complement of large predators, such as wolves and grizzly and polar bears.

The coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge represents only five percent of Alaska's Arctic coastal plain - most of which is available for oil and gas development. Audubon's position is that the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge should be permanently protected as designated Wilderness. We believe this provides a balanced approach for managing our nation's Arctic resources and is compatible with the purposes for which the refuge was established.