**REPORT TITLE:** Beaufort Sea Region Natural Physical and Biotic
Baseline. Final Report.

**STUDY TITLE:** Beaufort Sea Region Natural Physical Environment
(TR-10).

CONTRACT NUMBER(S): BLM: CT6-61; MMS: 14-12-0001-29002

SPONSORING OCS REGION: Alaska.

APPLICABLE PLANNING AREA(S): Beaufort Sea.

FISCAL YEAR(S) OF PROJECT FUNDING: 1977.

COMPLETION DATE OF REPORT: May 1978.

COST(S): FY 1977: \$19,101; CUMULATIVE PROJECT COST: \$19,101.

PROJECT MANAGER(S): W. Pyle.

AFFILIATION: Dames & Moore.

ADDRESS: 510 L Street, Suite 310, Anchorage, Alaska 99501.

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR(S)\*: W. Pyle.

KEY WORDS: Beaufort Sea; Alaska; development scenarios; cultural
resources; human population; subsistence; sand; gravel; Colville River;
Sagavanirktok River; development; Point Barrow; Kaktovik; Point Hope;
Barrow; Wainwright; Nuiqsut; Alaska Region.

ACCESS NUMBER: 29002

**BACKGROUND:** This report is part of the Alaska Outer Continental
Shelf (OCS) Socioeconomic Studies Program, a multi-year research effort
which attempts to predict and evaluate effects of Alaska OCS petroleum
development on the unique physical, social, and economic environments in
the State. This report provides critical natural physical information in
mapped and narrative form for the Beaufort Sea Region. The information
will be used to form the basis for projection of natural physical
environmental impacts and resource conflicts.

**OBJECTIVES:** (1) To provide critical natural physical information in
mapped and narrative form for the Beaufort Sea Region.

**DESCRIPTION:** To assess socioeconomic impacts of Beafort Sea OCS
petroleum development, an environmental baseline has to be established.
Included in such a baseline are those aspects of the natural physical
and biotic environment that may be related indirectly or directly to the
economic and cultural infrastructure of the resident population. The
first step is identification of significant interrelated or
interdependent components of the environmental and cultural
infrastructure. This was accomplished at a series of multi-disciplinary
meetings using delphi techniques in which identification, ranking, and
weighing of issues of concern or environmental factors occurs through
aggregation of opinions of a multi-disciplinary group in a series of
discussion sessions. Baseline environmental factors are most
appropriately evaluated and presented on a series of figures; components
need to be locationally compared with existing communities, industrial
infrastructure, Native activities, political jurisdictions and future
offshore petroleum development. A scale of 1:350,000 reflects the study
area requirements including representation of the North Slope and
nearshore waters of the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, and Native villages.

**SIGNIFICANT CONCLUSIONS:** Principal environmental components
identified, such as wildlife and fish distribution, were related to
subsistence activities. Water resources were considered critical due to
resource scarcity and because they could be affected significantly by
petroleum development. Likewise, sand and gravel resources were judged
economically important because they are scarce in some areas of the
North Slope. Sand and gravel extraction, in turn, may have potential for
significant impact on water resources and fish distributions. Terrain
conditions were a necessary consideration in the identification of
surface water potential. Environmental components, such as tundra, which
could be affected by petroleum activities, were not considered when
linkages to the socioeconomic infrastructure were found to be unclear or
unimportant.

**STUDY RESULTS:** Water resources are currently being used in the
villages of Barrow, Kaktovik, Wainwright, and Nuiqsut and at the Prudhoe
Bay complex. Water use problems in the villages are primarily related to
sanitary concerns. Water used for washing, cleaning, and cooking is
dumped on the ground outside housing units. Human wastes are normally
collected in \"honey buckets\" and transported to community dumps, which
may or may not be covered. Barrow and Wainwright have incinerator
facilities for disposing of human wastes. The concern is that surface
waters and snow near villages become contaminated and promotes various
illnesses. Consequently, most residents haul water or ice from nearby
lakes. Because villagers haul their own water, consumption is low.
Estimates of water use vary from 2 to 10 gallons per capita per day in
most of villages and may be as high as 35 gallon per capita per day for
some Barrow residents. Current water use in villages does not
significantly conflict with other water requirements such as fish and
wildlife. Water use at Prudhoe Bay has increased throughout the years as
living facilities improve. Water use was estimated at 35 to 50 gallons
per capita per day in 1972, and in 1977 it had increased to 70 gallons
per capita per day. Additional water use is required for industrial
purposes. Purported winter water use conflicts arose in spring 1974 at
Prudhoe Bay. It was postulated that water withdrawal from the
Sagavanirktok River was dewatering fish overwintering holes and killing
fish. Consequently, State and Federal agencies have increased their
surveillance of the situation and petroleum companies have improved
storage capacity to meet current winter demands. A significant increase
in water requirements, such as building and maintenance of ice roads,
and meeting new drilling demands or flooding for secondary recovery
could easily stress winter water resources.

Availability of gravel on the North Slope shows a regional pattern of
scarcity west of the Colville River and increasing supplies east of the
Colville River to the Canadian border. This pattern may be repeated
offshore. River gravel resources in the Arctic are further limited by
problems associated with extraction. The Alaska Departments of Fish and
Game and Environmental Conservation prohibit gravel removal from the
Colville River delta and from other rivers without prior approval of a
plan showing pit location and specific quantities of gravel required.
Data on total amounts of gravel which have been extracted to date from
the Sagavanirktok River for construction of the Prudhoe Bay facilities
and Alyeska pipeline are not available, but estimates for Prudhoe Bay
indicate more than 76 million m^3^ (100 million yd^3^) had been used.
Offshore development, unlike onshore development, will require borrow
materials from both onshore and offshore sources, thus impacting both
the marine and terrestrial environment. Principal concerns relating to
offshore and onshore borrow extraction are acceleration of coastal
erosion; disturbance of marine sediment transport system affecting
stability of barrier islands; increase in marine turbidity levels
affecting plankton, benthic organisms, and fish; disturbance to whales
by marine traffic and dredging activities; and floodplain excavation
with impacts on hydrologic regime, water quality, and aquatic biota,
especially disturbance to fish spawning, fish overwintering, and
entrapment of fish.

Residents of the Arctic coast harvest caribou, small game (e.g.,
ptarmigan and owls), bird eggs, whales, seal, and fish as part of their
food resource. Spawning areas, overwintering fish sites, calving
grounds, and nesting sites require special protection to assure
long-term viability for food production. Fish and wildlife resources
within a day\'s access of communities are used intensively. In nearshore
areas, spotted and ringed seals and bowhead and belukha whales are
taken. Traditionally seals were used by coastal residents for food, oil,
dog food, boat coverings, clothing and other practical items. Natives
still depend on seals for some products, but a continuing shift to cash
economy has reduced this dependence. In the 1960s, harvests of the four
species of hair seals in all Alaskan waters averaged about 18,000 per
year. Declines in utilization from cultural changes and control imposed
by the Marine Mammal Protection Act have resulted in harvests of 7,000
to 9,000 per year since 1972. Restrictions of the Marine Mammal
Protection Act have totally eliminated sport hunting for marine mammals.
Harrison Bay is an important belukha whale hunting area. Although whales
provide large amounts of meat and fat, seals are staple of the Eskimo
diet. A small commercial fishery has operated in the Colville River
delta since 1950, harvesting cisco and whitefish. The largest
subsistence fisheries in the Arctic are conducted at Point Barrow,
Kaktovik, and Point Hope, mainly taking whitefish, cisco, and Arctic
cod. In addition, residents at Point Hope and Kaktovik harvest char for
personal use. Caribou have always been an important food source in the
Arctic. Today, caribou are still taken in large numbers, but the Alaska
Department of Fish and Game have instituted a permit system which
establishes seasonal limits. Most caribou hunting is done when the
ground is frozen and snow machines can be used for transportation. Most
of migrating caribou herds leave the coastal plain by early fall, but
some remain longer and can be hunted in the winter. Constantly
increasing demand for sport hunting throughout Alaska has resulted in
increased use of the Arctic slope by guides and sportsmen. Because of
limited supply points, coastal villages are important staging areas for
hunting and fishing operations. Moose, caribou, Dall sheep, grizzly
bear, Arctic char, grayling, and lake trout are the most important
recreational species. Other animals are sought primarily for their pelts
to make clothing for residents and to sell on the open fur market.
Wolves, polar bears, Arctic foxes, and other fur-bearing animals are
sought for their commercially-marketable fur.

**STUDY PRODUCT(S):** Dames & Moore. 1978. Beaufort Sea Region Natural
Physical and Biotic Baseline. Final Report. A final report for the U.S.
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management Alaska OCS Office,
Anchorage, AK. NTIS No. PB‑284567/AS. Social and Economic Studies
Program Technical Report No. 10. Contract No. 14-12-0001-29002. x + 40
pp.

\*P.I.\'s affiliation may be different than that listed for Project
Manager(s).