Polar bears | Gary Kramer/USFWS

What Makes the Arctic Refuge So Special?

Abundant Wildlife
The Arctic Refuge is home to an incredible array of biodiversity. While the Arctic Refuge is perhaps best known for its resident polar bears, this landscape is also one of the few places on Earth where polar, brown (grizzly), and black bears can be found coexisting.

Polar bears could possibly go extinct in our lifetimes. Only 30,000 or so bears exist today, and roughly 50 bears come into the Arctic Refuge each year in September, with denning beginning in the late fall. These bears are part of the Southern Beaufort Sea population, which numbers about 900 animals. The USFWS says the Arctic Refuge is the only national conservation area where polar bears regularly den and the most consistently used polar bear land denning area in Alaska. The refuge is critical habitat for these animals, particularly as concerns mount over species loss due to the reduction of sea ice due to climate change.

More than 200 species of birds utilize the Arctic Refuge, and whether or not you have visited the refuge, odds are good that you have seen one of these migratory species in your own backyard. Birds migrate from the Arctic Refuge to every state and territory in the United States, and some even venture to other continents! This remote corner of Alaska is truly connected to all ends of the Earth.

Hundreds of thousands of caribou roam the Arctic Refuge, comprised of several distinct herds. The Porcupine Caribou Herd, the largest within the Arctic Refuge, returns to the refuge?s Coastal Plain each spring to calve and raise their young. It is this Coastal Plain, also known as the "1002 Area", which would become the site of drilling operations were to proceed in the refuge.

Along with the species mentioned above, wolves, muskoxen, and a multitude of other species of wildlife can be found in the Arctic Refuge. For a more completelist, check out the US Fish and Wildlife Service's website.

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge | Steve Chase/USFWS

Wild and Untouched Landscape
Approximately eight million acres of the 19.6 million-acre Arctic Refuge has been congressionally designated as wilderness. A wilderness designation under the Wilderness Act of 1964 is the highest level of land protection that can be awarded to our public lands, and is reserved only for the wildest and pristine landscapes that remain "untrammeled by man."