WESTERN ARCTIC PUBLIC LANDS FACE LOSING RECENT PROTECTIONS

In April 2024, President Biden announced new, historic protections for +13 million acres of America's Western Arctic (NPR-A), taking a significant leap forward on climate, conservation, and the protection of sacred land.

However, the Trump Administration is working to rescind those protections. The Department of the Interior is proposing to remove Special Area protections in favor of fast-tracking oil and gas leasing and infrastructure development in the Western Arctic. Home to the dens of endangered polar bears, the nests of endangered birds, caribou migration routes, and climate-critical wetlands, Special Areas in the Western Arctic represent some of the most ecologically and culturally sensitive public lands in the country.

SAFEGUARDING AMERICA'S NATURAL HERITAGE

The regulations announced by President Biden's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the Department of the Interior for America's Western Arctic represented a critical step toward our climate commitments by limiting new oil and gas development. 

The regulations would help protect the wildlife and lands that regional Indigenous communities have depended on for generations for subsistence hunting and gathering, as well as for traditional cultural practices.

KEEPING ARCTIC SPECIAL AREAS SPECIAL

The federally designated Special Areas of America’s Western Arctic represent areas of unique biological and cultural value, including Arctic wetlands that act as carbon-sinks and provide habitat for global populations of migratory birds, denning habitat for polar bears, marine nurseries for beluga whales, and traditional hunting grounds of Indigenous communities.

These are landscapes that nurture America's natural and cultural heritage, and the Trump Administration's efforts to rescind Biden-era protections places the privatization of public lands above the best interests of endangered wildlife as well as Indigenous communities. 

What happens in America’s Arctic impacts everyone on Earth. Our Arctic Special Areas are “special” not only for Americans, but for humanity.