On January 9, 2007, President George W. Bush announced that he had lifted a presidential withdrawal on oil and gas drilling in the North Aleutian Basin, the region encompassing Alaska’s Bristol Bay. This withdrawal had been put in place by President Bill Clinton in 1998 and was meant to prevent the leasing of this area to companies until 2012. President Bush’s reversal of the moratorium on drilling paves the way for this area to be offered for leasing during the 2007-2012 Minerals Management Service’s Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) leasing program (U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 2007).
Besides being the site of oil and gas resources, Bristol Bay also houses some of the world’s most productive fisheries. Furthermore, the region is home to a variety of marine wildlife, some labeled as endangered or threatened. The purpose of this website is to investigate the potential consequences of opening Bristol Bay to oil and gas drilling, on the fisheries, ecosystems and wildlife of the region.
 Photo by William Bowan (1) |
 Map by WWF International Arctic Programme (2) |
 Photo by www.milosphotos.com (3) |
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I am a graduate student in Duke University's Master of Arts in Teaching Program. This website was created for the course Biology 217: Ecology & Global Change, taught by Professor Robert Jackson.
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