The Department of the Interior has gutted protections for millions of acres of ecologically and culturally significant lands known as “Special Areas” in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (“Reserve”) in Alaska’s Western Arctic. A previous regulation generally protected these lands from leasing and industrialization, affording the required “maximum protection” for their extraordinary values. Defenders of Wildlife condemns the repeal of crucial protections for the lifeblood of both the region’s wildlife and the communities of the Western Arctic.
“The Special Areas rule defined and drilled into practice Interior’s legally required conservation responsibilities in the Reserve—responsibilities that apply most forcefully in Special Areas that BLM has already identified as needing maximum protection,” said Nicole Whittington Evans, Defenders of Wildlife’s senior director for Alaska and Northwest programs. "The Trump administration is doing nothing but recklessly plundering our public lands and wildlife and sacrificing wildlife habitat to benefit oil industry friends that aim to keep us dependent on fossil fuels."
For nearly 80 years, Defenders of Wildlife has worked to protect and restore America’s wildlife at risk of extinction, advancing a vision of a future in which wildlife thrives, sustained by broad public support and a resilient network of healthy lands and waters. With a network of more than 2 million supporters, Defenders is an advocate for innovative solutions to safeguard wildlife for generations to come. To learn more, please visit https://defenders.org/newsroom or follow us on Instagram @defendersofwildlife.
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