**REPORT TITLE:** Beaufort Sea Region Man-Made Environment.

**STUDY TITLE:** Beaufort Sea Region - Man Made Environment (TR-08).

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: April 1978.

COST(S): FY 1977: \$70,047; CUMULATIVE PROJECT COST: \$70,047.

PROJECT MANAGER(S): T. Smythe.

AFFILIATION: Alaska Consultants, Inc.

ADDRESS: 704 West 2nd Avenue, Suite A, Anchorage, Alaska 99501.

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR(S)\*: M. Schultheis, G. Smythe.

KEY WORDS: Beaufort Sea; Alaska; socioeconomics; human population;
economics and demographics; interviews; employment; transportation;
North Slope Borough; Barrow; Kaktovik; Nuiqsut; Wainwright; Alaska
Region.

ACCESS NUMBER: 29002

**BACKGROUND:** The potential for increased oil exploration and
production activities in the Beaufort Sea Region emphasized the need for
baseline socioeconomic information. Such data were deemed necessary to
optimize the ability of decisionmakers to predict future oil and gas
activity-related impacts on the human populations within Beaufort Sea
communities. A considerable amount of fundamental socioeconomic
information had been lacking due to a variety of factors. This report
was prepared under the auspices of the Alaska Outer Continental Shelf
(OCS) Socioeconomic Studies Program, a multi-year research effort
designed to predict and evaluate effects of Alaska OCS petroleum
development on the unique physical, social, and economic environments in
the State. This study effort was implemented to address a broad range of
socioeconomic information needs pertinent to various Beaufort Sea
communities and the North Slope Borough (NSB).

**OBJECTIVES:** (1) To describe basic population and economic trends and
community services and facilities of the Beaufort Sea manmade
environment; and (2) To outline this information in further detail for
the communities of Barrow, Kaktovik, Nuiqsut, and Wainwright.

**DESCRIPTION:** Field trips were made to Juneau, Barrow, Kaktovik,
Nuiqsut, and Wainwright. Once on site, researchers queried a wide
variety of personnel. Almost all employers in these Beaufort Sea
communities were contacted for average full‑time employment counts. City
and school board personnel provided information on public safety, local
governmental operations, health, education, and recreation. Appropriate
personnel were also contacted regarding utility services and
transportation. Public and private organizations outside of the Beaufort
Sea Region were also contacted. This included various State and Federal
agencies, as well as members of the oil and gas industry.

**SIGNIFICANT CONCLUSIONS:** The Beaufort Sea Region encompasses an area
of 141,250 km^2^ (88,281 mi^2^) extending across the extreme north of
Alaska between the Chukchi Sea and the U.S.-Canada border and as far
south as the Brooks Range. The Region is sparsely settled, with an
estimated total population of 9,163 people in July 1977. Over half of
these people lived in oil and gas industry-related camps, with most of
the remainder living in one of the eight traditional Eskimo communities
of the Region. Almost all local government services and facilities in
the Region were provided by a single unit of local government, the NSB.
Between 1939 and 1970, the population of the Region\'s communities rose
144% from 1,258 in 1939 to 3,075 in 1970. Two main factors were involved
in this substantial growth rate which occurred despite some
outmigration, primarily for education purposes. The first factor was a
very high birth rate within the Eskimo population accompanied by an
increasing life expectancy. The second factor affecting the increase in
population was an influx of government personnel to provide services
such as health and education to the Eskimo people of the Region or to
undertake scientific research. The city of Barrow was the local
governmental and economic center of the Region. Several communities had
decreased in population or disappeared concomitant with the growth of
Barrow. Future growth prospects will fluctuate primarily according to
future scales and activity types of oil and gas development.

**STUDY RESULTS:** While the overall population of the North Slope\'s
traditional settlements rose 144% between 1939 and 1970 (i.e., from
1,258 to 3,075), not all communities in the Region shared in this
growth. During this period, Atkasook, Nuiqsut, and Point Lay were
abandoned as permanent towns. By contrast, Barrow\'s population
increased almost 500%, mainly because Barrow had become a regional
center for government services and a center for Arctic scientific
research. An influx of government personnel took place and the community
also attracted Eskimo residents from smaller villages on the North
Slope. Barrow was the dominant permanent community in the Region.

Since 1970, population trends in all areas of the NSB have been fairly
well documented. According to Borough estimates, 9,163 people lived in
the Region in July 1977, an increase of 158% since the 1970 census.
However, researchers conducting the current study effort believed that
the Borough\'s population estimates for Barrow since 1970 have
consistently been too conservative. Using a common Alaska ratio of three
persons for every job, an estimate of 2,700 people living in this
community in 1977 was derived during this analysis. If this estimate is
utilized instead of that of the Borough, the Region had a total
population of approximately 9,643 in July 1977, an increase of almost
172% since 1970.

The population of the Region\'s traditional communities rose 33% between
1970 and 1977. The largest numerical increase occurred in Barrow where
the population grew an estimated 25.5% to 2,700 people. Significant
rates of growth were also recorded in Anaktuvuk Pass (52.5%) and
Wainwright (26.3%), while Kaktovik and Point Hope realized only limited
growth. Another important development was noted during the 1970-1977
period with the re-establishment of three of the Region\'s traditional
communities (i.e., Atkasook, Nuiqsut, and Point Lay). These communities
had a combined population of 297 in 1977, most of whom represented
outmigrants from Barrow who claimed some cultural affinity with the
settlements although they had not necessarily been born there.

An important feature of the population composition of the NSB in 1970
was that most people living in the Region were Inupiat Eskimos. Males
outnumbered females (57.2% versus 42.8%) in the NSB in 1970. This
disparity was more extreme than the male to female ratio for the State
(54.3% males versus 45.6% females) and completely unlike the 1970
national norm (49% males versus 51% females). Although the presence of
an all male population in the Prudhoe Bay/Deadhorse area contributed to
the extreme differences between the number of males and females in the
Region, males also outnumbered females in all of the Borough\'s
traditional communities. The imbalance between male and female Native
populations in the North Slope occurred in post-high school age ranges,
indicating that more outmigration by females than males from the Region
had taken place.

The composition of the NSB\'s population in 1977 was fundamentally
different from that in 1970. In 1977, the Prudhoe Bay/Deadhorse area
accounted for over half of the Borough\'s total population whereas it
was a relatively minor element in 1970. While no current age or sex
statistics were available, the population of the Region as a whole was
undoubtedly much older and had an even higher proportion of males than
was the case in 1970. It should be noted that in 1970 no one counted by
the census at Prudhoe Bay or Deadhorse was younger than 18 or older than
66 years of age.

Nonagricultural wage and salary employment in the NSB averaged 6,932
jobs in 1976. The three largest employment sectors were contract
construction, mining, and government. Contract construction alone
accounted for over half of the Borough\'s nonagricultural wage and
salary employment, however a large share of jobs in this sector
associated with the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System had ended as of 1977
with completion of pipeline construction. Mining jobs comprised nearly
20% of the Borough\'s nonagricultural wage and salary employment and
were located primarily in the Prudhoe Bay area, although some were
associated with exploration activities in National Petroleum
Reserve-Alaska. It is significant that these two sectors, which
accounted for 72.2% of the jobs in the Borough in 1976, employed people
in areas remote from the Region\'s traditional communities. Furthermore,
most employees in these sectors were Caucasians who were only temporary
Borough residents.

In concert with their small populations, the Beaufort Sea communities
under study had small economies which exhibited very low diversity.
Community facilities and public services, including health care,
education and transportation, were also very limited.

**STUDY PRODUCT(S):** Alaska Consultants, Inc. 1978. Beaufort Sea Region
Man-Made Environment. A final report for the U.S. Department of the
Interior, Bureau of Land Management Alaska OCS Office, Anchorage, AK.
NTIS No. PB‑281634/AS. Social and Economic Studies Program Technical
Report No. 8. Contract No. 14-12-0001-29002. xiii + 282 pp.

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