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U.S. Geological Survey Biological Science Report: USGS/BRD/BSR-2002-0001

Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain Terrestrial Wildlife Research Summaries

Memorandum

United States Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Office of the Director

Reston, Virginia 20192

Date: March 29, 2002

To: Secretary

Through: Bennett W. Raley, Assistant Secretary - Water and Science

From: Charles G. Groat, Director, U.S. Geological Survey

Subject: Report on Wildlife on the Arctic Coastal Plain

The attached publication, Arctic Wildlife Coastal Plain Terrestrial Wildlife Research Summaries, scheduled for release today, represents a compilation of already published and updated information about wildlife in the 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and some surrounding lands.  Most of the sections, including those on land cover, muskoxen, polar bears and snow geese, consist of information already peer reviewed and published.  Three chapters, "The Porcupine Caribou Herd," "Caribou Forage Quantity and Quality," and "The Central Arctic Caribou Herd" contain updated information, and have received additional peer review through the scientific publication process.  Given the current congressional debate about the potential for oil exploration and development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, I would like to clarify certain aspects of this report.

The analyses of potential oil and gas development on particular species will likely draw the most interest.  Studies summarized in the report about muskoxen, polar bears and snow geese demonstrated that with mitigation the effects of human development on their populations and habitat could be minimal.  With regard to the Porcupine Caribou Herd (PCH), the report contains some new information about the nutritional importance of the calving ground, habitat trends, herd dynamics and demography, and potential effects of development.

The report indicates that any impact on the PCH from oil development would depend on the type of development and where the development is located.  Five different fictional development scenarios were simulated to assess the potential effects of development of the 1002 area.  These five scenarios demonstrate that the impact may range from none to substantial.  Because I am concerned that these five scenarios may not be those that are being evaluated by Congress, I have asked the scientists who undertook these studies to provide additional analyses of these new scenarios, and to make this information available as soon as possible.  I anticipate receiving this supplemental information with the next 7 to 10 days.

The Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain Terrestrial Wildlife Summaries report has been compiled in HTML format at: http://www.absc.usgs.gov/1002/index.htm