This incomparable wilderness is habitat to more than 250 animal species, including wolves, grizzlies, caribou and millions of migrating birds. It is also the subject of an intense lobbying campaign by the oil industry. Unless we stop them, this world-class wilderness will become a vast oil development field.

Outstanding wildlife, beauty and recreation mark this arctic wilderness of boreal forests, dramatic peaks, and tundra. At 19 million acres, this northeast Alaskan refuge is the largest in the nation.

It features a complete range of arctic and subarctic ecosystems, with an extraordinary assemblage of wildlife. The 1.5 million-acre coastal plain- the unique area most important to wildlife - is being eyed by the oil industry for a sprawling oil field.

Polar and grizzly bears, wolves, muskoxen, and snow geese are just a few of the more than 250 animal species that use the coastal plain. Millions of birds from as far away as the Chesapeake Bay, Africa, and Antarctica nest and rear their young on the coastal plain and prepare for their long migration. The coastal plain is the most significant on-land polar bear denning habitat in the U.S.

The 150,000-strong Porcupine Caribou Herd has used the coastal plain as a calving area for centuries, traveling hundreds of miles from wintering grounds in Canada and the U.S. No alternative to this sensitive habitat exists for the caribou herd. The annual gathering of the herd is a spectacle reminiscent of Africa's Serengeti and of the enormous herds of buffalo that once thundered across the Great Plains. The Gwich' in people, a nation of Athabaskan Indians, depend on the herd for their subsistence and culture.