Sierra Club President Loren Blackford and her 17-year-old daughter Maya Dubno on the frozen ocean off the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Kiliii Yuyan.
On a long train ride today, my daughter Maya and I passed the time reminiscing about our spectacular Sierra Club trip to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge last month. Maya started with her favorite memory of the trip: “Wyatt [our guide] was teaching me how to read the river and captain the raft when we saw an enormous grizzly bear on the bank. I nearly dropped the steering paddle into the water." The crew beached the raft on a small gravel bar and scrambled to locate binoculars and cameras.Â
Wyatt, who grew up rafting Alaska's rivers, said it was one of the largest grizzlies he’d ever seen. “We’re lulled into a false sense of security by all the water around us," he told the group, "but that bear could be over here in 30 seconds flat.” With heightened adrenaline and respect, we watched as the bear caught our scent and stood on his hind legs to investigate before wheeling around and loping away.
I was in the other raft with our trip leader, Dan Ritzman, who expertly guided our craft slightly further down the river. Watching how close Maya and her raft-mates were to the bear, I was delighted that Dan’s opening remarks at the outset of the trip proved true for the third time in as many days: Bears in the Arctic Refuge aren’t accustomed to seeing humans, don’t associate us with food, and normally run away once they catch our scent. (To learn about the threat to their brethren in Wyoming, check out Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune’s recent blog post about the looming possibility of grizzly trophy hunting in the Cowboy State.)
While this visit to the Arctic Refuge was hands down one of the most wonderful and memorable experiences Maya and I have ever shared, we were there for an unfortunate reason. Last December, as part of the Omnibus Tax Bill, the U.S. Congress approved opening the Arctic Refuge for oil exploration. Several of my predecessors, past Sierra Club Board presidents and directors, called on our current board to redouble our efforts to defend the Refuge -- the largest and wildest protected area in the country and the symbolic heart of a decades-long existential struggle between the environmental movement and the extractive industries. The urgency of this matter was highlighted in last week's Washington Post article, “Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to Get Fast Review."
Ritzman, whose birthday flossing may have been the highlight of the trip for Maya, is the Sierra Club’s director of Lands, Waters and Wildlife program. (If teeth are all that come to mind when you think about flossing, check out this video). The purpose of the trip, designed by Ritzman, was twofold: 1) to raise funds for the fight to protect the Arctic Refuge; and 2) to raise the profile of this work with potential supporters, partners, and the broader public.
Our adventure started in Fairbanks, where Maya (above) and I experienced our first day of 24-hour sunshine and educated ourselves about the challenges of starting a car and other daily difficulties during the long, dark winter when temperatures regularly drop to 40 below zero Fahrenheit. The next day, after a last-minute scramble for fleece pants, we flew to Arctic Village, a Gwich’in community of about 250 people that borders the Arctic Refuge and is accessible only by bush plane or a long snowmobile ride.
The community’s sincere hospitality was apparent as we landed on the dirt airstrip and were greeted by a group of villagers -- mostly women (some elders, some with children) -- on ATVs, ready to shuttle us and our belongings to their community hall, where we would spend the night. Once we settled in, we were shown the old sod-roof church (left); beautiful beaded handicrafts; the Washeteria (which, as one of the only locations with running water, provides the community with bathrooms, showers, and washing machines); the surprisingly expensive store (where a small can of beans costs $4); and the cemetery, where handmade memorials marked the graves -- many of them commemorating children and young adults.
Maya’s and my favorite memory from Arctic Village is of sitting on the floor in the home of Gideon James, a Gwich’in elder, as he told stories about the history of his people and their dependence on the land -- specifically the caribou, which makes up 80 percent of their  diet. The Gwich’in refer to themselves as the Caribou People and have immense respect for the animals, taking pains not to hunt the leaders that guide the herd. They consider the caribou breeding grounds to be sacred and won’t set foot there during calving season. Sadly, these calving grounds are the very place now being considered for oil drilling. The contested "1002 area" is crucial to the survival of newborns, as it sits on the coast where sea breezes protect the infant caribou from the relentless mosquitos, which can drain up to a quart of blood from a caribou in a week.
The next day, a four-seater bush plane shuttled our group across the Brooks Range to the spot on the Hulahula River where we would start our eight-day rafting trip, which would take us all the way to the frozen shores of the Arctic Ocean. We were hardly prepared for all the sounds (ice sheets cracking and splashing into the river), smells (trampled lichen and really fresh air), tastes (tart lingonberries and bear berries), sights (endless vistas and sculptured ice), or the brisk breezes that would make us glad we’d found the fleece pants in Fairbanks and brought along extra pairs of gloves.
The group quickly fell into a pattern of staying up until two or three in the morning and sleeping in late the next day in order to maximize our hours of beautiful midnight sun and animal sightings. The strategy paid off, as we saw five grizzlies, including a rare white grizzly with dark brown legs; several herds of caribou, many hazarding the swim across the river with their newborns; seals; moose; Dall sheep; foxes; lemmings; a ground squirrel that screeched at Maya when she peered into its hole; and birds from all over the world that migrate to the Arctic Refuge during the summer. Maya and I were divided over whether it was a good thing or a bummer that we saw polar bear tracks at our last campsite but not the actual bear. But we were on the same page in being amazed at the variety and abundance of plant and animal life in a place that many people -- especially in the Lower 48 -- think of as a barren wasteland.
Back in the Lower 48, sitting on Amtrak and reflecting on our journey, Maya and I pondered what it would take to inspire more people to take action to protect this beautiful place. I observed that people are more inclined to fight for something if they have experienced it in person. “You can educate people about the refuge and why keeping the drills at bay is so important, but the motivation to get involved has to come from within. Realistically, most Americans will never visit the refuge because it's so far away from the rest of the country. And yet, in its present, undeveloped state, the refuge represents something vitally important. It embodies and exemplifies our respect and love for the land.”
Maya looked out the window at the skyline of Philadelphia, the city where the Declaration of Independence was signed, and which American colonists once defended against the occupying troops of King George III of England.
“One of the founding values of the United States was freedom,” Maya mused. “I feel like the Arctic Refuge epitomizes freedom. It’s open land and it’s wild. Being there, I felt as free as I have ever felt anywhere. Having lived in New York City my entire life, my access to wild places has been relatively limited. Traveling to the Arctic allowed me to see and feel the extreme contrast between what I’m used to and truly wild nature. The fact that darkness never fell added to the feeling of freedom because you’re not even bound by the cycle of day and night. I think freedom is something people in this country care about deeply. Even if they never get a chance to visit the refuge themselves, they’ll feel their freedom has been compromised and impinged upon if it’s drilled.”
I hope she’s right. I hope enough people will recognize that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a crown jewel of American wilderness, that it is inherently worth protecting -- for the plants, animals, birds, and people who depend on it. But it is also worth protecting for what it represents: the very best of American values.
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Even though a majority of American voters oppose drilling in the Arctic Refuge, the fight won’t be easy, as the Trump administration recklessly fast-tracks approval. There are reasons for hope thanks, in large part, to Gwich’in leaders who are putting in endless hours in Alaska, Washington, D.C., New York City, and beyond, making a powerful case for protecting the refuge. Investors with over $2.5 trillion dollars of assets have signed a letter of support. They recognize that Arctic drilling is not only extremely risky and a huge blow against global efforts to prevent climate catastrophe, but also a bad investment and major reputational liability. By the time the first oil would come out of the refuge in 2031, the world will almost certainly have decided it doesn’t want or need this dirty, dangerous, dead-end fuel.
Activists are already mobilizing to make sure government and big banks understand this. They’ve demonstrated their power at Standing Rock, in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline; at the gates of the White House in opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline; at People’s Climate Marches in cities around the country and the world. They’re now ramping up in reaction to the threat facing the Arctic Refuge.
The Sierra Club continues to support the Gwich’n people in their fight to protect the caribou, the Arctic Refuge, and their way of life. Please sign the petition to Stand with the Gwich’in Nation and Protect the Arctic Refuge and stay tuned for additional action alerts!
Watch Dan Ritzman on CNN's Out Front Tonight with Erin Burnett.
To provide general support to the Sierra Club, please CLICK HERE.
For more inspiration and information about the Arctic Refuge, read:
Midnight Wilderness: Journeys in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a book by Debbie S. Miller
The Last Wilderness: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a book of photographs by Kennan Ward
Caribou Crossing, a novel by Kim Heacox
Arctic Voices: Resistance at the Tipping Point, an anthology with photos by Subhankar Banerjee
Also check out the November-December issue of Sierra magazine for amazing photographs and an inspiring article about the Arctic Refuge by fellow travelers on our rafting trip, Kilii Yuyan, who focuses on indigenous communities in the Arctic and magazine features writer, Brooke Jarvis.
All photos by Loren Blackford except where indicated.