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The Natural Wonders of Alaska
By Akiko Seki
 hen
you think of Alaska, you may think of its gorgeous wildlife and
beautiful waters in your mind. Alaska is a water-rich state. It
has  a tremendous
diversity of water resources, including more than a million lakes
larger than five acres, over 12,000 rivers, thousands of streams
and creeks (365,000 miles of rivers and streams), at least 170 million
acres of wetlands, and 44,226 miles of coastal shoreline waters.
Alaska also has over 150 watersheds.
 he
lakes of Alaska develop great depths of ice in the fall andwinter.
Ice 3-5 feet thick is common for a lake in mid-winter. Many of central
Alaskan lakes are stocked with fish, such as lake trout, whitefish,
and grayling, because lakes are very deep and rich enough in food
and oxygen. The richest lakes are near the ocean and feature massive
runs of all five species of salmon (Coho, Chinook, Sockeye, Chum,
and Pink). The rivers run very cold due to general climate and the
influence of glaciers on the water content. The Alaska Range, the
Wrangell Mountains, and Brooks Range retain their snow year-round
in the upper elevations, supplying ice-cold water to rivers and
streams. The fish use these rivers as highways to their spawning
grounds in clear tributaries. Shallow rivers freeze to the bottom,
forcing fish to move to larger, deeper rivers over the long winters.
  ven
though it is said, "Alaska never lacks its beautiful water,"
the water-rich state faces increasing water pollution. Increasing
surface runoff due to population growth, logging, and mining are
some of the major sources of this pollution. According to a hydrologist
in Alaska, "clear-cut logging has impaired salmon and other
wildlife habitat in Southeast Alaska; cruise ship pollution has
harmed marine waters in the inside passage of Southeast Alaska;
the oil industry has affected watersheds in Cook Inlet and Kenai
Peninsula; and mining occurs in many places."
 ike
our watershed groups of Pennsylvania, over a hundred
of the Alaskan watershed groups have been working to prevent further
water degradation, recover polluted watersheds, and improve the
water quality. Among them, Cook Inlet Keeper is one of the very
active groups, protecting the Cook Inlet watershed. This area includes
Anchorage, where nearly half the state's population lives, and the
population is growing rapidly. The Cook Inlet Keeper is taking measures
to monitor water quality, provide environmental education, and give
citizens tools to promote clean water. Also, even ten years after
the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, many organizations are still
working to recover the waters.
 s
human hands have been touching the Alaskan waters and wilderness,
now, one of its pristine treasures is in front of those hands amid
an oil drilling controversy. That is the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge (ANWR).
The 19.6 million acre refuge is located in the northeastern corner
of Alaska, east of Prudhoe Bay. The 1.5 million acre coastal area
within the refuge, the so-called "1002 Area," is the area
that lawmakers are debating whether to open to oil development.
The coastal plain is the last five percent of the entire Alaskan
coastal plain that is not open to oil drilling. The 1002 Area comprises
just eight percent of the ANWR, yet boasts nearly 200 species of
wildlife, such as the Porcupine caribou herd, polar bears, wolves,
grizzly and brown bears, muskoxen, arctic foxes, and various kinds
of birds.
 n
the controversial coastal plain, there are ten small size rivers,
including the Canning River, the longest north flowing river on
the refuge, the Kongakut, the Hula Hula River, the Jago River, the
Aichilik River, and the Katakturuk River. According to the American
Water Resources Association, lakes in this area number only a few
hundred, while lakes of Prudhoe Bay area are counted in the thousands.
Compared to other areas, the lakes in the 1002 Area are small and
shallow puddles. The coastal area has far fewer water resources.
  ow,
what will happen to those waters and wildlife, when the 1002 Area
is opened to oil drilling? For oil exploration and development,
a large amount of water is needed. Billions of gallons of freshwater
from lakes and rivers are used for ice roads, ice bridges, ice pads,
winter airstrips, and camp use. Ice roads have been constructed
to provide roads for vehicles during wintertime instead of gravel
roads, by compacting snow on tundra and applying water. Ice pads
have been used to support heavy drilling rig, by laying down six-inch
deep piles of ice chips and cementing them with water. According
to Phillips Alaska, Inc., one mile of a six inch thick and forty
feet wide ice road requires 1 to 1.5 million gallons of water, and
a single ice pad requires 2 to 3.6 million gallons. Water resources
are limited in the 1002 Area. Removal of massive quantities of freshwater
from the lakes and rivers would drain them, and affect water quality
and normal flow of the rivers.
ot
surprisingly, these changes would limit water use for  fish
and other wildlife that rely on it. Many species like muskoxen and
birds depend on the riparian willow habitats provided along river
flood plains. Birds need river deltas and adjacent wetlands for
staging, feeding, and nesting activities. The oil development also
has an enormous influence on animals in the area. The 130,000-member
Porcupine Caribou herd uses the coastal plain as calving ground.
Female Polar Bears come to the area to give birth and nurse their
young cubs. Industrial facilities, such as roads and pipelines,
would force them to move away from preferred habitat and abandon
their dens.
 any
activist groups argue that oil from the refuge would comprise only
one to three percent of oil demand for its fifty-year extraction
period. The EPA shows that increasing fuel efficiency for automobiles
by just three miles per gallon would save more oil within ten years
than might be produced from the refuge. We do not have to depend
on imported oil if we change our behavior. Once human hands touch
the pristine wildland, it would not be recovered so easily. Have
we not already seen our mistakes many times? Do not forget the mistakes.
Check out the following websites for more information:
National Wildlife Federation http://www.nwf.org
Trustees for Alaska http://www.trustees.org
Alaska Coalition www.alaskacoalition.org
Alaska's Clean Water Action http://www.state.ak.us/dec/acwa/
Alaska Watershed Stewardship http://www.uaf.edu/coop-ext/landresources/watershed/
The Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group www.pennpirg.org
Special thanks to Akiko Seki for researching and writing this month's
National Watersheds feature. Akiko has been working for GreenWorks
for several months as a full time researcher and Assistant Producer.
Originally from Japan, she is a recent graduate of the University
of Pennsylvania. You can read more of Akiko's adventures by visiting
the 'Between
Cattails' archives.
Special thanks also go to Pamela Miller and Alaska Coalition for
contributing valuable information.
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