Alaska Conservation Foundation has been at the center of many successful environmental initiatives since its inception. Unsustainable development threatens Alaska. Together, we can be the solution and create a healthy balance for the ecosystems and economies of Alaska.
The Issues:
The Tongass National Forest
The world’s largest remaining old-growth coastal temperate rainforest is at risk from clearcutting and privatization. The U.S. Forest Service continues to offer large tracts of this old-growth forest for intensive logging. Private interests, having already logged their own portion of this ancient forest, constantly lobby Congress to put more of the Tongass in private hands. Yet further clearcutting will come at the expense of those who rely on the intact forest to support the region’s healthy fishing and tourism industries.
The Tongass supports some of the largest wild salmon populations left anywhere in the world. These salmon have provided for the Native people of the region for thousands of years. They support healthy populations of brown bears, wolves and bald eagles as well as a vibrant local fishing tradition.
By purchasing Alaska Posters, you help protect the majestic old-growth rainforest in the Tongass National Forest and advance enduring opportunities for economic and cultural vitality in Southeast Alaska.
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Alaska’s Arctic is one of the most ecologically productive and significant places on Earth. A fine balance between what is frozen and what is thawed exists. The region’s fish and wildlife species have profound impacts on Alaska’s Arctic ecosystems, as well as the livelihoods and ways of life of the indigenous people. Although remote and undisturbed, the Arctic is under constant threat from the massive reserves of oil, coal, gas, and minerals housed underground.
Alaska’s Arctic has the nation’s largest oil fields, which are steadily expanding their footprint across the tundra and offshore. There is pressure to drill in critical wildlife areas such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain, Teshekpuk Lake, as well as offshore in the icy waters of the Chukchi Sea. Shrinking ice cover may bring new shipping traffic to a region that has no marine safety infrastructure and no margin for environmental error. An oil spill the size of the recent Gulf of Mexico spill would mean permanent disaster for the entire region.
ACF provides operational support to groups organizing in the region, including Gwich’in Steering Committee and Northern Alaska Environment Center, and provides project funding to keep the Arctic region in the national spotlight to ensure that the Arctic Refuge is never opened for drilling. ACF’s Alaska Native Fund also helps to empower Alaska Native groups to organize and find financial support.
By purchasing Alaska Posters, you help protect this vulnerable part of the world for future generations.
Oceans
A vast, natural treasure and a vital part of the nation’s economy… but Alaska’s oceans are in trouble. The arctic ice pack is drastically shrinking while the ocean’s entire underwater ecosystem is being disrupted as warmer water moves steadily north.
As carbon dioxide pollution floods the atmosphere, it dissolves into the world’s oceans, making them more acidic, which is starting to kill off the microscopic marine life at the base of the ocean food chain. Oil companies are eager to drill in Alaska’s stormy, ice-choked northern waters, even though any spill would be a disaster in the Arctic seas.
Alaska Conservation Foundation supports and provides funding to groups like Bering Sea Elders and Alaska Marine Conservation Council as well as Alaska Native tribes working on a range of issues. Alaska Conservation Foundation also provides operating support to groups that are helping protect the rest of Alaska’s oceans and stands ready to help those groups by responding to urgent new threats and emerging opportunities.
By purchasing Alaska Posters, you help keep Alaska’s ocean defense forces strong and its coastal communities healthy.
