BLM asks for input on protections for NPR-A

Following up on a rule released earlier this year, the federal Bureau of Land Management today issued a “Request for Information” that gives the public an opportunity to provide input as the agency considers new or expanded Special Areas in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska to better protect wildlife populations and Indigenous ways of life in the Western Arctic. 

Identifying and protecting high-value lands and wildlife habitat is required under Section 104 of the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976 and the new regulations. With today's Request for Information, the BLM will consider whether to begin a process provided in the rule that was released in April. In response, The Wilderness Society released the following statement from its interim Alaska director, Meda DeWitt: 

“We welcome the opportunity to provide input on how to best protect the lands, clean air and water, and other resources of the Western Arctic for generations to come. This is an important step toward managing the Western Arctic in a way that honors the needs of the region’s Indigenous peoples, wildlife and other globally significant resource values, while recognizing the threat that climate change poses to Arctic peoples, conservation and communities around the world.” 

At approximately 23 million acres, the reserve is the largest single remaining unit of public land in America—bigger than 10 Yellowstone National Parks, and nearly the size of the state of Indiana. Under the area’s Integrated Activity Plan, nearly half of the reserve’s lands enjoy enhanced protections in designated Special Areas. 

It is the cultural homeland and subsistence area for Alaska Native communities and supports robust, wild ecosystems and resources on which those communities depend, including: caribou, geese, loons, whitefish, salmon, polar bears and bowhead whales.