Within sight of almost half of all Alaskans lies a little known tidal estuary. Perched along Turnagain Arm on the northwestern Kenai Peninsula, the 27,000-acre Chickaloon Flats is the only part of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge that touches marine waters. It represents 7% of the total estuarine area in Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound, the two water bodies that form the peninsula. As such, it’s a small but important part of the Pacific Flyway for migratory shorebirds and waterfowl.
Read on for a full summary of the good, the bad, and the ugly of this year’s wildlife regulation changes in the Interior and the Western Arctic.
Comment by May 6th to secure enhanced protections for wildlife!
Catch our latest podcast interview on critically endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales!
Our Kenai Peninsula Coordinator, Teresa Becher, was just awarded a 2023 'Partners in the Spotlight Award' from NOAA fisheries! These national awards recognize partners who have expanded and enhanced recovery of the country's most imperiled marine species.
Today, the Bureau of Land Management’s release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement aimed at selling off the sacred coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas exploitation marks the latest move in the administration’s rushed disregard for Indigenous rights, science, and public process.
On January 14, 2019, we joined several other conservation groups by signing a letter to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) requesting that the public comment period deadline for the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) pertaining to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program be extended beyond the 45 days originally advertised (currently due by February 11, 2019), and that additional public hearings be held across the nation so that members of the public outside of Alaska who value this national treasure are also given an opportunity to have their voice heard.
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