Ecology | Save T-Lake

Besides being one of the most important and sensitive arctic wetland complexes in the Northern Hemisphere, the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area is home to the 45,000-head Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Herd, 60,000 molting geese, and is an important habitat for the threatened spectacled eider. Hundreds of species of birds migrate from six different continents in order to spend part of the year in Teshekpuk Lake.

And while the Department of the Interior would like to sell this amazing place to the highest bidder, we know that America simply won't let it happen.

Send a Letter
To the Bureau of Land Management

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I am writing to comment on the Draft Supplemental Integrated Activity Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for Northeast portion of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), which poses a threat to the currently protected and biologically important Teshekpuk Lake region.

At a minimum I urge the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) not to take any action that will remove current protections for this incredibly important area.  I urge BLM adopt Alternative A, the �No Action,� alternative.  Furthermore I urge the agency to increase protections by making additional areas of the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area that are important to wildlife and subsistence off limits to any oil and gas development.

The Teshekpuk Lake area is one of the most important wetland complexes in the entire circumpolar Arctic.  The area contains vital habitat for migratory shorebirds and waterfowl, and other wildlife, including the 45,000-head Teshekpuk Lake Caribou herd.

Because of its abundance of wildlife the area is also critically important to the maintaining the subsistence-based culture of the Inupiat people of Alaska�s North Slope.

The Teshekpuk Lake area has been protected for thirty years from oil and gas development through four administrations by Secretaries of Interior from Cecil Andrus to James Watt.  There is no viable reason for the current administration to remove these long-standing protections.

At a time in our history when our country must combat global warming and overcome its addiction to oil, it makes so sense to damage this biologically valuable habitat with oil and gas development that will contribute greenhouse gas emissions.

I thank you for considering my comments and urge BLM to maintain the current protections for vitally important habitat in the Teshekpuk Lake region and indeed extend these protections to include additional areas.

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