Grandmothers Growing Goodness Condemns DOI’s Plans to Open Western Arctic for Drilling
Yesterday, Secretary Doug Burgum announced plans to open up an additional six million acres in the Western Arctic (National Petroleum Reserve- Alaska) to oil and gas leasing – a plan that, if successful, will result in the devastating elimination of protections for subsistence and wildlife in the region.
Last year, Nuiqsut Trilateral Incorporation, a non-profit organization representing Kuukpik, the Native Village, and the City of Nuiqsut, negotiated a right of way (ROW) protecting the core caribou calving habitat area of Teshekpuk Lake. It is unclear whether the Secretary still intends to honor that agreement.
Grandmothers Growing Goodness Condemns Trump’s Day One Executive Order Threatening Communities, Wildlife, and Health in the Western Arctic
Yesterday, President Trump announced an executive order that directs the Secretary of Interior to roll back protections for Special Areas in the Western Arctic and turn back the clock four years to reinstate plans to drill in the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area. This move is dangerous and undermines the Biden Administration’s years of engaging with Tribes and building a sound scientific record that underscored the necessity of protecting special areas, wildlife, and Native Alaskans in the Western Arctic.
Alaska Native Communities Celebrate New Protections for Teshekpuk Caribou Herd, Tribes in the Western Arctic
(Nuiqsut, Alaska) – Today, Alaska Native communities are welcoming new measures to protect their subsistence, cultural, and traditional activities. In an announcement today, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI)’s recognized significant subsistence resource values, the need for co-management, and the importance of establishing new Special Areas to protect subsistence use in the Western Arctic.
Alaska Native Communities Ask BLM to Designate a New Nuiqsut Subsistence Use Special Area
(Nuiqsut, Alaska) – Today, the Biden Administration concluded its Request for Information on Special Areas in Alaska’s Western Arctic, in which it solicited public input on how to update protections in existing Special Areas, expand existing Special Areas, and create new Special Areas. As a part of this process, Grandmothers Growing Goodness, Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic (SILA), and Native Movement submitted joint comments to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to designate a new Nuiqsut Subsistence Use Special Area, which would include an area that Native Alaskans rely on most for all of their subsistence uses, among other asks.
Alaska Native Organizations Welcome New Opportunity to Protect Lands and Communities in the Western Arctic
Alaska Native Organizations Welcome New Opportunity to Protect Lands and Communities in the Western Arctic.
Grandmothers Growing Goodness Launches New TV, Digital Ad Campaign Thanking Biden For Strengthening Protections for America’s Arctic
Today, Grandmothers Growing Goodness launched a new TV and digital ad campaign thanking the Biden administration for announcing unprecedented safeguards to strengthen protections for lands and Alaska Native communities in Alaska’s Western Arctic.
Alaska Native Communities Applaud Unprecedented Safeguards to Protect Lands and Communities from Oil and Gas Development
The Biden Administration just took historic action to protect the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) with a new rule to ensure any resource development in the Arctic is balanced with protections for Alaska Native communities and the lands and wildlife that shape our lives.