Lance Holter's Kongakut River Diary provides for our readers a perspective of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) that is uniquely applicable to the Cortez Chronicles theme. It is a story embracing adventure, challenge, common sense, introspection, skillful management of resources and survival -- a story that embodies the very essence of personal solitude. Woven within the framework of this theme the reader will find a delicate balance between environment, the caribou, and an essential and environmentally sensitive people who have managed the land and the wildlife for countless generations.

Make no mistake about it -- the stakes are high in ANWR. Underlying the possibility of up to 3.5 billion barrels of crude oil, a paltry six months' U.S. oil consumption at best, is the very survival of the flora and fauna² of the region, including the Porcupine Caribou Herd (Alaska's largest) and the way of life of a unique and irreplaceable people, the Gwich'ins, whose ancestors have lived throughout recorded history in complete symbiotic rapport with nature.

The Gwich'in people and the Caribou are one -- they thrive to assure each other’s survival. And now the introduction of oil drilling alone will undermine their relationship, for this land is very delicate³. The land, the caribou and the Gwich'in people themselves are on the brink of disaster as the U.S. congress prepares to authorize their systematic destruction for the sake of a quantity of oil that will have no appreciable effect on U.S. shortages.

The following links comprise a comprehensive look at ANWR that will at best provide the insight so desperately missing in Washington, D.C., and at worst turn your stomach in indignation.

 
L. Fox

Gwich'in Brochure	"Iizhik Gwats'an Gwandaii Goodlit"
www.oilonice.org	Caribou in the Arctic Refuge
arcticcircle.uconn.edu	The Gwich'in of Alaska and Canada
www.oldcrow.ca	Old Crow, Yukon - The Porcupine Caribou Herd
www.uaf.edu	Alaska Native Languages - Gwich'in
earthmath.kennesaw.edu	The Gas Mileage of ANWR - Do the math yourself!
amazon.com	Subhankar Banerjee: "ANWR - Seasons of Life and LandB"
Guest Articles	Trekking ANWR
Correspondence	Additional background material

^1a|^1bKongakut River Diary copyright 2004, Lance Holter.  Mr. Holter is a conservationist and wilderness enthusiast living in Paia, Maui.  Scott Heller is an adventurer seeking to see wild places before they are forever changed.

²Arctic fox, Tern, wolf, Polar Bear, Bald Eagle, caribou, Dall sheep, grayling, Grizzly bear, gyrfalcon, Harlequin, loon, marten, Merganser, musk ox, rough-legged hawk, scooter, seal, weasel and other species mentioned in the article.

³The slow-growing tundra, for example, is estimated to take a hundred years to retake the muddy tracks left by a single errant vehicle in the environment of the Arctic Circle.

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