Yesterday President Obama proposed full wilderness designation for the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This the highest level of protection that can be bestowed on public lands in the United States, and there are few places as deserving.
I first visited the Arctic Refuge in the summer of 2000 with my brother. We hiked for five days from the Dalton Highway, through the mountains of the Brooks Range. We climbed ridges that allowed views out over the sweeping arctic plains. Years later as I began guiding wilderness trips, I’ve had the opportunity to visit on numerous occasions. The arctic coastal plain is not a place easily appreciated from afar. It’s the kind of place you have sink your feet into. It’s a place where you need to spend some time wandering the grassy tundra with a pair of binoculars. Watch a Yellow-billed Loon patrol a deep lake, peer at the mountains to the south where they rise, surprisingly high, into the cold air. Most importantly, the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a place where one can sit on a patch of dry tundra and neither see or hear a thing made by humans. Not for miles and miles.
That alone, makes the refuge worth protecting in its entirety.
Every image in this gallery was made within the boundaries of the Arctic Refuge. Enjoy.
