Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – Six Great Quotes from Mardy Murie
With all the recent news about potential drilling in the coastal plains of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), here is a brief introduction to help you become informed on this issue as a hunter angler conservationist – along with six great quotes from the late legendary conservationist Margaret “Mardy” Murie who knew the country well and was one of its greatest ambassadors.
First, what is ANWR, and where is it located? This huge expanse of public land spans over 19.5 million acres in one of the most remote, roadless corners of North America. It extends over 200 miles north to south, from the Arctic Ocean to the Brooks Range. This landscape is an incredibly rich ecosystem that is home to caribou, polar bears, rolling open tundra and endless mountains. ANWR’s location in the far northeast corner of Alaska along the Canadian border make it the one of the wildest places in the western hemisphere. From a management perspective, ANWR is a National Wildlife Refuge, meaning its administered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in the Department of Interior. ANWR was officially designated by the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation (ANILCA) Act of 1980 and consists of the following management classifications on the ground:
- 8 million-acre Mollie Beattie Wilderness – 2nd largest wilderness in United States.
- 1.5 million acres ‘Area 1002’ along the Coastal Plain- This is Ground Zero for the Drilling Debate
- 10 million acres of minimal management – not wilderness but managed in a “natural state”
Why should we care about this incredible place? ANWR is one of the most ecologically diverse boreal landscapes on Earth and is home to the ancestral birthing grounds of the Porcupine Caribou herd – which at an estimated population of 169,000 have the longest migrations of any mammal on Earth. These arctic rangers travel 1500 miles from the forests of northern Alaska and Northwest Canada to the coastal plains on the Beaufort Sea every year to rear their calves, right in the plains known as “Area 1002”.
What is the risk and debate surrounding drilling? At stake is the 1.5 million acre “Area 1002″. This debate is not new. Proponents have long argued it can take the pressure off of imported oil from OPEC nations and create jobs – bringing this to the political trenches no less than 50 times since 1977. Conservationists are convinced the payoff isn’t worth the risk – Dr. Olaus Murie was quoted as saying as far back as 1963 – ” It takes a lot of territory to keep this alive, a living wilderness, for scientific observation and for esthetic inspiration. The Far North is a fragile place.”
If you’re looking for a quick summary from Wikipedia about the decades long debate surrounding whether or not to allow oil drilling and energy production – click HERE
For anybody who wants to read a riveting life story about all of this, check out Margaret “Mardy” Murie’s classic book Two in the Far North. Mardy and her husband Dr. Olaus Murie lived incredible lives and are two of America’s greatest conservationists. Mardy’s book depicts her early years as she grew up in Fairbanks during the pre-World War I years and was the very last passenger on the famous Valdez dog and horse trail stretching across the remote Alaska wilderness from Fairbanks, over the Alaska Range and to Valdez. Mardy was the first female to graduate from the University of Alaska and she married Olaus Murie at 3am – an hour before sunrise on August 19, 1924 in a small village on the Koyukuk River.
Olaus and Mardy spent their honeymoon in the Endicott Mountains dogsledding up the Koyukuk Country and into the lonely northern mountains – researching caribou migrations, food patterns and habits. This is a woman who not only fought hard to designate and protect the ANWR, she experienced it first hand. Mardy Murie was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998 and the 2002 J. N. Ding Darling Award for her great conservation leadership. She later died in Moose, Wyoming at the age of 101.
Here are of six of my favorite quotes from Two in the Far North:
- “From the hilltop, we saw rank after rank of shelved and peaked hills, little lakes and streams, all gold and green, a quiet empty land seeming to speak mutely of the lonely but seeking lives lived there in other times”.
- “ Outside, the north wind is banging at the stovepipe and shouting at the yellow half moon that winter is treading at his back and he makes woolly ripples in the moon’s path across the black river”
- “You know, someone has to be alert all the time. We must watch Congress daily. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is in such a precarious position right now, politically.”
- “If we allow ourselves to be discouraged, we lose our power and momentum. That’s what I would say to you of these difficult times. If you are going to that place of intent to preserve the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or the wild lands in Utah, you have to know how to dance”.
- “I’m counting on the new generation coming up. I have to believe in their spirit, as those who came before me believed in mine. “
- “Do I dare to believe that one of my great grandchildren may someday journey to Sheenjek and still find the gray wolf trotting across the ice of Lobo Lake? Yes, I do still dare to believe!”
This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. You can find it on Amazon by clicking HERE.
Todd Waldron is a Hunt to Eat Ambassador from the NY Adirondacks and is a life member of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.
