A new WCS-led study that analyzed 17 years of migratory bird-nesting data in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, revealed that nest survival decreased significantly near high-use oil and gas infrastructure and its related noise, dust, traffic, air pollution, and other disturbances.
A new WCS-led study that analyzed 17 years of migratory bird-nesting data in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, revealed that nest survival decreased significantly near high-use oil and gas infrastructure and its related noise, dust, traffic, air pollution, and other disturbances. Prudhoe Bay is the site of intensive energy development and is located on the Arctic Coastal Plain, one of the most important avian breeding grounds in the world. Millions of birds nest here, with some then migrating through every state in the nation to wintering grounds in Central and South America, even Africa, with others crossing the Pacific Ocean to Russia, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica.
The findings, described in the journal Avian Biology, come as the U.S. recently approved the $8 billion Willow oil project – a controversial, long-term effort to drill in Alaska’s largest remaining untouched wilderness in the U.S., the 36,875 square mile National Petroleum Reserve (NPR-A) west of Prudhoe Bay. Willow’s planned infrastructure borders the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area, one of five regions within the NPR-A that have been set aside from production due to significant ecological importance or subsistence value – in this case nesting waterfowl and shorebirds, as well as caribou.
Read more at: Wildlife Conservation Society
A new WCS-led study revealed that nest survival decreased significantly near high-use oil and gas infrastructure in the Arctic. (Photo Credit: Kayla Scheimreif/WCS)
