Last great wilderness: the campaign to establish the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

313 Pages·2006·6.39 MB·English

by  Roger Kaye

Kaye
T L A S T
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“Last Great Wilderness is at once a great story and an
A G R E AT
authoritative history, documenting the power of wilderness M A
values and the determination of those who fought to PA L A S T
preserve a remarkable place.” I S
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N T W I L D E R N E S S
—Bill Meadows, President, The Wilderness Society

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“Never again in American history will an area as vast and wild G
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as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge be protected in a single S G R E A T THE CAMPAIGN TO ESTABLISH
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political action. With extraordinary research skills and the A THE ARCTIC NATIONAL
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passion of a lifetime spent exploring the Alaskan backcountry, L E
I WILDLIFE REFUGE
Roger Kaye tells the story of the most aggressive act of S
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wilderness preservation in America.”

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—Roderick Nash, author of Wilderness and the American Mind H T W I L D E R N E S S The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is at
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A the center of the confl ict between America’s
“Last Great Wilderness is much more than a valuable history of R W demand for oil and nature at its most pris-
the establishment of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It is C tine. Three decades before the battle over
T
Roger Kaye has been a wilderness
also a thoughtful exploration of the values and meanings I I oil development began, a group of visionary
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specialist and airplane pilot with the
of wilderness.” N L THE CAMPAIGN TO ESTABLISH conservationists launched a controversial cam-
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for over
—Dave Foreman, author of Rewilding North America A paign to preserve a remote corner of Alaska.
twenty years. He is an affi liate professor T D Their goal was unprecedented—to protect
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of Northern Studies at the University O THE ARCTIC NATIONAL an entire ecosystem for future generations.
of Alaska Fairbanks, where he teaches “In his absorbing and timely conservation history of the Arctic N E
Among these conservationists were Olaus and
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courses on environmental psychology and National Wildlife Refuge, Roger Kaye describes the wildlife, L Margaret Murie, who became icons of the wil-
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wilderness management. scientifi c, recreational, and symbolic values that motivated WILDLIFE REFUGE derness movement.
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those of us who worked for its establishment in the 1950s.
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It reveals why this great and magical wilderness must remain
D Last Great Wilderness chronicles their fi ght
protected and treasured.” L E and that of their compatriots, tracing the
COVER PHOTO BY SUBHANKAR BANERJEE I
AUTHOR PHOTO BY JAMES H. BARKER —George Schaller, Vice President, Wildlife Conservation Society FE S transformation of this little-known expanse of
mountains, forest, and tundra into a symbolic
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E landscape embodying the ideals and aspira-
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U tions that led to passage of the Wilderness Act
G in 1964.
E Roger Kaye
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L AST
G REAT
W ILDERNESS

L
A S T
G
R E AT
W
I L D E R N E S S
THE CAMPAIGN TO ESTABLISH
THE ARCTIC NATIONAL
WILDLIFE REFUGE
Roger K aye
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA PRESS
FAIRBANKS
© 2006 University of Alaska Press
P.O. Box 756240
Fairbanks, AK 99775-6240
www.uaf.edu/uapress
Publication of Last Great Wilderness was supported by a generous grant from the Alaska
Conservation Foundation, Anchorage, Alaska.
Printed in the United States
This publication was printed on paper that meets the minimum
requirements for ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (Permanence of Paper).
This book was printed on paper that was made with 30%
post-consumer content.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kaye, Roger, 1950 Dec. 31–
Last great wilderness : the campaign to establish the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge / Roger Kaye.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-889963-83-9 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-889963-83-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Alaska)—History. I. Title.
QH76.5.A4K39 2006
333.95’16097987—dc22 2005032845
Text and cover design by Dixon J. Jones, Rasmuson Library Graphics
Cover image by Subhankar Banerjee, Autumn on the southern taiga, east fork of the Chandalar
River Valley. All photographs by Subhankar Banerjee are from his book Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land (Mountaineers Books, 2003).
Photographs by Wilbur Mills are from Earth and the Great Weather: The Brooks Range
(Friends of the Earth, 1971), from Vanishing Arctic: Alaska’s National Wildlife Refuge
(Aperture, 1988), and from his personal collection.
Artwork by Olaus Murie on pages 25 and 226 is from Two in the Far North, by Margaret
Murie © 1978; used with the permission of Alaska Northwest Books,® an imprint of Graphic
Arts Center Publishing Company.
Contents
Map of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge vi
Acknowledgments viii
Introduction xi
Color plates following page 92
1 Genesis of the Campaign 1
2 To Northeast Alaska 23
3 A Last Great Wilderness 41
4 The 1956 Sheenjek Expedition 81
5 Wilderness, Wildlife Range, or Both? 113
6 Finally, Legislation Introduced 153
7 Senate Hearings 169
8 House Passage, Senate Inaction, Executive Action 201
9 A Symbol of Wilderness 213
Epilogue 227
Notes 229
References 259
Index 269
Prudhoe Bay
Deadhorse
Arctic AY
W
H
G
I
H
N C
National
O a
T
L n
A n
D
/ i
E n
Wildlife N g
I
L
E
P I R
I v
P i
A s
Refuge SK h
A a
L
A k
-
S
N R
A
R
T
0 Miles 100
0 Kilometers 150 ARCTIC NA
(ENLA
Barrow Prudhoe Bay
National
PRAeleatsrseokralveeu,m C I R C L E
Fort Yukon A R C T I C
Bettles YUKON
River TERRITORY
k
Y u k o n Fairbanks F or
ALASKA E a s t
Whitehorse
Trans-
Alaska
Pipeline
Anchorage
Juneau
0 200 Miles
0 300 Kilometers
Kaktovik
Barter I
Beaufor t Sea
R
a
l
u
h
a
l
u
H
Lake
Schrader
ARCTIC NATIONAL Ivvavik
R
Lake National
Peters WILDLIFE RANGE t Cr Park
ku Joe
(ESTABLISHED 1960) a
g
n
K o
Last Lake Fi
rt
h R
Vuntut
ATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE National
Park
ARGED AND RENAMED IN 1980)
Lobo Lake
Arctic U
N
Village
I C
T
A
E
D N
R R S AD Old Crow
T
n A
A
r e T
a e
l l E
a o S
d R C R
n e
ha p i n
u
C k c
e o r
j P
n
e
e
h
S
C I R C L E
A R C T I C
Y u k on R Ft. Yukon
Acknowledgments
This story owes much to many people. My greatest debt is to the
campaign participants who shared their remembrances. Most granted
multiple interviews, reaching back a half-century to recount things
thought, said, and done. They include Stewart Brandborg, George Collins,
Mercedes Eicholz, Charles Gray, Keith Herrington, Celia Hunter, Anore
Jones, Brina Kessel, Jim King, David Klein, Robert Krear, Margaret Murie,
William Pruitt, Wenzel Raith, Robert and Reggie Rausch, George Schaller,
John Thomson, Ivan Thorall, Margaret Tritt, Peter Tritt, and Virginia Wood.
Other informants who provided valuable insights were William Bacon III,
Michael Carey, Richard Carroll, Joshua Collins, Chuck Clusen, Cathy Stone
Douglas, Keith Echelmeyer, Simon Francis, Morva Hoover, Sandy Jamieson,
Frank Keim, Luna Leopold, Fran Mauer, Michael McCloskey, Debbie Miller,
Donald Murie, Martin Murie, Robert R. Olson, Sigurd Olson Jr., Jim
Rearden, Bill Reffalt, Moses Sam, Donald Seaton, Ted Swem, Averill Thayer,
Ray Trembly, and Joe Vogler.
I am indebted to scholars of various disciplines for their critical and
constructive reviews of the manuscript, especially political scientists James
Gladden and Tom Morehouse; psychologist Judith Kleinfl ed; oral historian
William Schneider; environmental historians Roderick Nash, Dan Philippon,
and Kevin Marsh; natural resource management professors Susan Todd and
Harry Bader; wildlife refuge system historian Bill Reffalt; arctic biologist Fran
Mauer; wilderness writers Kevin Proescholdt and Terry Tempest Williams; and
editor and wilderness historian Ed Zahniser. Other authorities who helped
viii