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LESSON 7
Living in the Tundra
ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE (ANWR)
(2 class periods)
Focus
To familiarize students with the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Northern
Alaska and the clash of land usage of the area between conservationists, Aboriginal peoples
and the oil companies.
Objectives
The students will:
 appreciate the topography and ecology of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the
annual migration of the caribou herds in this region;
 identify the locations of mountains, refuges, oil wells, areas leased for drilling and the
migratory routes of the caribou in Northern Alaska;
 appreciate the complexity of the challenge of drilling for oil in a sensitive environmental
area;
 collect magazine articles, newspaper clippings and other resources that relate to human
response to the land, speciﬁcally the tundra. (These will also be a resource for the inquiry.)
Teacher Background
 For this lesson you will need the video Oil on Ice, which is provided with this unit. The
DVD describes the importance of the ANWR as the summer grazing site for the caribou,
the current debate about the use of the refuge for oil exploration and the position of the
Gwich’in Aboriginal communities. Completing a copy of the student’s guided viewing
worksheet (SR 7-1) prior to teaching the lesson is recommended.
 The December 1988 issue of National Geographic has two excellent articles:
“Caribou — The Majestic Wanderers” (pp. 846–857) and “Oil in the Wilderness: An
Arctic Dilemma” (pp. 858–871). A good map on the caribou migration: pp. 860–861.
 The April 1997 issue of National Geographic has a more recent article entitled “Oil on
Ice,” which examines the dilemma of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge. A similar article, “Oil Field or Sanctuary,” can be found in the August 2001 issue.
 For current information on oil development in Alaska, visit the following Web sites:
 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: http://www.r7.fws.gov/nwr/arctic/arctic.html
(oﬃcial ANWR site). This site includes developments in the oil industry. There are
also maps of caribou migration patterns based on electronic tagging of herds. An
excellent resource.
 Save the Arctic Refuge http://www.savearcticrefuge.org/ (activist site). Includes links
to background information and other sources.
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 Before this lesson is taught, ask the students to collect magazine articles and newspaper
clippings, along with any other resources they may ﬁnd about the human response to the
tundra, and bring them to class. These will be shared at the end of the lesson.
Teacher Preparation
The following preparation needs to be made for this lesson:
 Prepare class sets of
WS 7-1
SR 7-1
WS 7-2
 Prepare a transparency of WS 7-2
Oil on Ice “Guided Viewing Worksheet”
“Human Response in Alaska”
“Map of a Tundra Region”
Teacher’s Copy of “Map of a Tundra Region.”
 Arrange for the projection of the DVD Oil on Ice for two class periods. (The DVD runs
for 58 minutes.)
 Ensure that students have gathered articles related to human response to the tundra.
Supplement their material with any information you may have gathered yourself.
 Several Canadian examples could be referred to in this lesson, should the teacher wish to
do so. Consider the construction of the Norman Wells Pipeline, beginning in the 1930s
and extending into the 1990s. Also consider the Mackenzie Pipeline Commission of the
1970s and the resurgence during the past several years.
Learning Activities (2 class periods)
CLASS PERIOD ONE
 Ask the class to consider a hypothetical scenario in which oil is discovered under the
school property by an exploration company who is willing to pay the Christian school
community millions of dollars for them to relocate, buy a new property and build a new
school. Discuss what would happen to the school site and how people would feel about
seeing the buildings torn down, bulldozers come in and a drilling rig assembled. Ask the
students to predict what the school board would decide and why that decision would be
made. (Keep this discussion brief — ten minutes maximum.
 Distribute WS 7-1, Oil on Ice “Guided Viewing Worksheet,” and explain to the class that
they are about to view a documentary about an oil exploration proposal in a very delicate
location in the arctic biome, Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge region. Walk
through the questions to prepare the students for this activity.
 Begin showing the DVD Oil on Ice to the class.
 Pause the showing of the DVD ﬁve minutes before the end of the class. Determine
how well the students were attending to the DVD by discussing their guided viewing
worksheet responses.
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Living in the Tundra
 Collect the incomplete worksheets for your personal review after class.
CLASS PERIOD TWO
 Hand the incomplete worksheets back to the students, and then resume showing the
remainder of the DVD.
 Once the viewing is complete, brieﬂy discuss the remaining questions on the guided
viewing worksheets with the class. Collect the worksheets for your review after class.
 Distribute copies of WS 7-2, “Map of a Tundra Region.” Ask students to identify the
general area it shows. “What part of the world does this map represent?”
 Distribute SR 7-1 “Human Response in Alaska.” Have the students use an atlas to place
on the map as many of the items listed as they can.They may work together. Be sure
students follow their “Map Rules” from Lesson 2 (p. 51).
 After students have worked on their maps for seven or eight minutes, put up the
transparency of the Teacher’s Copy of WS 7-2, and complete the map with the students.
Label the potential and present oil wells on the coast. Using a red pencil crayon, draw in
the migratory routes of the caribou.
 Students will need to have their map completed before next class period.
 Have students share their articles and clippings about the human response to land and
the tundra in particular.
Evaluation
Mark
 WS 7-1, Oil on Ice “Guided Viewing Worksheet”
(check for completion and understanding of the documentary)

 WS 7-2 “Map of a Tundra Region”
(check for completion, neatness and accuracy)
/10
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WS 7-1
Student’s Copy
Oil on Ice Guided Viewing Worksheet
As you watch the DVD, jot down a short answer to the following questions:
1. Name some of the wild animals shown to be
living in the Arctic.
2. What does ANWR stand for?
A ___________________________
N ___________________________
W ___________________________
R ___________________________
3. Describe the landscape in the ANWR area.
4. What modern industry is already established in
the Prudhoe Bay area?
5. What has been constructed from Prudhoe Bay,
over the Alaskan mountains to the seaports on
the south coast?
6. What accident happened in Prince William
Sound in 1989?
7. How important is the oil industry to the State of
Alaska?
8. Where do the Gwich’in people live? What animal
do they depend on for food?
9. Where do the caribou herds migrate each spring?
Why?
10. What do people fear will happen to the caribou
if oil exploration and drilling are allowed in the
ANWR?
…continued
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WS 7-1
Student’s Copy cont’d
Oil on Ice Guided Viewing Worksheet
11. Why did the Aboriginal people move inland to
Niuqsut from the Arctic coast?
12. What did these people notice about the caribou
when a new oilﬁeld was developed nearby?
13. What beneﬁts have the Niuqsut peoples
received from the oil industry? What have they
lost?
14. What does she mean when the Aboriginal
woman said that “we have a vested interest in the
caribou”?
15. What did President Bush promote in 2000?
16. America burns about _______ gallons of oil a
second.
17. What does “climate weirding” mean?
18. What is the European “purple people eater”?
19. What do people opposed to more Arctic oil exploration suggest that Americans do about oil needs?
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WS 7-1
Teacher’s Copy
Oil on Ice Guided Viewing Worksheet
As you watch the DVD, jot down a short answer to the following questions:
1. Name some of the wild animals shown to be
living in the Arctic.
•
•
bears, caribou, ptarmigan, mountain goats,
mink, polar bears, muskox, wolverines, wolves,
arctic foxes, ground squirrels.
snowy owls, geese, seagulls, eagles
3. Describe the landscape in the ANWR area.
•
windswept, few houses, few roads, mountains,
ice ﬂoes, water, scrub brush, valleys, rivers,
rock, snow, lots of shrubs, willows, trees
(coniferous), ﬂowers and buds in spring for
short time, 180 species of birds ﬂy through
5. What has been constructed from Prudhoe Bay,
over the Alaskan mountains to the seaports on
the south coast?
•
an oil pipeline
7. How important is the oil industry to the State
of Alaska?
•
largest oil ﬁnd in America (in the ANWR) — it
is the “energy storehouse”
•
lots of revenue from oil/gas royalties for
Alaskan people
9. Where do the caribou herds migrate each
spring? Why?
•
Porcupine caribou herds migrate hundreds
of miles from the boreal forests of Alaska and
Canada, crossing the Porcupine River, to the
coastal plain of the ANWR (i.e. the 10-0-2
region), to calve and to take advantage of the
summer growth.
2. What does ANWR stand for?
A rctic
N national
W ildlife
R efuge
4. What modern industry is already established in
the Prudhoe Bay area?
•
oil exploration/development
6. What accident happened in Prince William
Sound in 1989?
•
March 24, 1989: the Exxon Valdez oil spill
8. Where do the Gwich’in people live? What
animal do they depend on for food?
•
8000 Gwich’in people live in the north in both
Alaska and Canada, north and south of the
Brooke Range
•
depend on the caribou for food
10. What do people fear will happen to the
caribou if oil exploration and drilling are
allowed in the ANWR?
•
Caribou stay away from noise and human
activity. People fear that they will move away
from the area.
Since the oil industry takes lots of water, all
wildlife will be disrupted.
…continued
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WS 7-1
Teacher’s Copy cont’d
“Oil on Ice” Guided Viewing Worksheet
11. Why did the Aboriginal people move inland to
Niuqsut from the Arctic coast?
•
12. What did these people notice about the caribou
when a new oil ﬁeld was developed nearby?
moved 18 miles inland to follow abundance of
animals, caribou, and ﬁsh, i.e. to keep their way
of life, continue to live oﬀ the land, sea, and air,
to maintain their strong community
13. What beneﬁts have the Niuqsut people received
from the oil industry? What have they lost?
•
•
Beneﬁts: training opportunities; job
opportunities, better services — i.e. natural gas,
water and sewers, a better standard of living
changes in migration pattern
•
there were no caribou near the oil ﬁeld
14. What does she mean when the Aboriginal
woman said that “we have a vested interest in the
caribou”?
•
What they lost: jobs don’t last long; culture is
disappearing; it is becoming harder to subsist in
their own way
15. What did President Bush promote in 2000?
•
•
President Bush proposed to develop the ANWR
for oil drilling.
Gwich’in elders gave their people a mandate
to protect the area. They have the porcupine
caribou herds, and that is all they have. They
make many of the things they need from all
parts of the caribou. They need the caribou
in order to keep their identity as Gwich’in
people — their culture and way of life.
16. America burns about 10 000 gallons of oil a
second.
•
(The world burns 1 cubic mile of oil per year.)
17. What does “climate weirding” mean?
18. What is the European “purple people eater”?
•
•
a hybrid car that meets the requirements of the
Kyoto protocol for fuel eﬃciency in cars — runs
oﬀ of hydrogen fuel cells
•
“green” car
it is climate change that is more than climate
warming; “climate weirding” is when the
weather changes a lot and becomes more
violent and less predictable
19. What do people opposed to more Arctic oil exploration suggest that Americans do about oil needs?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
build fuel eﬃcient cars: redesign them!
behave intelligently — do things diﬀerently; be wise
use alternate fuels; renewable resources to produce, e.g. use wind power
use less fuel
protect climate — cheaper to save fuel than to buy fuel; consider how much money is pent on military
intervention;
put the beauty of the land ﬁrst; remember our spirituality
look ahead and understand the consequences of our actions
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SR 7-1
HUMAN RESPONSE IN ALASKA
 Several feature articles in National Geographic Magazine examine the ongoing debate over
oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. All have good images and maps, and
together they can be used to look at the time line of the debate.
 The December 1988 issue of National Geographic has an excellent section on
“Caribou,” (pages 846–857) and on “An Arctic Dilemma” (pages 858–871). There is
a good map on the caribou migration on pages 860–861.
 The April 1997 issue of National Geographic has a more recent article titled “Oil on
Ice,” which examines the dilemma of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge. The article includes a simple map showing oil ﬁelds and migration routes.
 The August 2001 issue of National Geographic has an article entitled “Oil Field or
Sanctuary.” The map in this article, along with images and additional web resources, is
available on the National Geographic web site at
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0108.
 On your map, mark the following:
















caribou spring migration route
concentrated calving area
winter grounds of the caribou herds
Brooks Range
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Ivvavik National Park
Vuntut National Park
Bowhead Whale fall migration route
10-0-2 area
oil and gas lease areas
oil and gas wells
Trans-Alaska pipeline
Yukon River
Prudhoe Bay
Yukon
Alaska
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WS 7-2
Student’s Copy
MAP OF A TUNDRA REGION
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WS 7-2
Teacher’s Copy
MAP OF A TUNDRA REGION
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