| Popis: |
When Alaska achieved statehood in January 1959, it was recognized that not only did the state contain valuable resources such as gold, oil and an abundance of fish and wildlife, but it also was a unique and pristine frontier unlike that found anywhere else in the United States. In 1968, the Atlantic Richfield Oil Company announced that one of the largest oil deposits ever found in North America was located at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. This discovery became the basis for myriad questions which fueled a controversy that continues today: should there be development in other portions of the Arctic Coastal Plain? In 1980, passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act expanded the Arctic Wildlife Range (established in 1960) to 19 million acres and was renamed the Arctic Wildlife National Refuge (ANWR) (arcticcircle.uconn.edu/anwr, 2002). Although the Act effectively excluded the Coastal Plain from oil and mineral exploitation by introducing the concept of reserving “national-interest lands” for Americans as a whole, ANWR and development therein became a subject of intense controversy. More than a quarter of a century later, the struggle between those who want to drill and those who do not continues to be hotly debated. However, another form of development within ANWR, tourism, is seldom considered.An exploratory on-line survey was used to determine the attitudes and opinions of the general public as they relate to tourism and oil development. Two key assumptions were that people would not consider tourism to be a form of development and that few people would be familiar with Section 1002 which is the area available for oil drilling, another form of development. Results showed that, in general, survey participants agreed tourism is a form of development but drew no relationship between tourism and potential negative environmental impacts. The survey also pointed to the need for data acquisition, monitoring on a broader scale, assessment of socio-culture impacts, and greater educational outreach to disseminate the facts and inform the public responsibly. |
