Peter Matthiessen in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

The acclaimed travel and nature writer journeyed into Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) last summer to see for himself the rugged land the Bush administration would like to open to oil drilling. In a thoughtful essay in the February issue of Outside, Matthiessen writes about his sightings of cream-colored grizzly bears, musk ox, golden eagles, polar bears and porcupine caribou. What would happen if the area was opened to drilling? For starters, the caribou “would probably calve farther to the east, producing fewer young and altering the migration patterns on which Gwich’in villages and the whole ecosystem depend,” Matthiessen writes. “And this disruption of a fragile wilderness would almost certainly lead to widespread ecological degradation.” Matthiessen’s essay isn’t available online, but the magazine’s Web site does feature many of photographer Subhankar Banerjee’s stunning images from the region, and they’re well worth a visit.

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