National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska 

Integrated Activity Plan 

Record of Decision 

Contents 

Summary................................................................................................... iii

1. Decision.............................................................................................. 1 
 

2. Alternatives .................................................................................... 11 
 

3. Management Considerations ................................................ 15 
 

4. Public Involvement ..................................................................... 37

Appendix A: Lease Stipulations and Best 

Management Practices............................................................ 39

Appendix B: Modifications and Clarifications .................... 95

Appendix C: Potential Mitigation Measures 

Not Adopted................................................................................... 99 
 

Appendix D: Maps ............................................................................ 103 
 

 

SUMMARY
 

This Record of Decision (ROD) documents the Secretary of the Interior’s 

decision regarding the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) future 

management of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A; Reserve; 

Petroleum Reserve). The plan adopted by this decision (see Chapter 1) 

balances the Secretary’s responsibilities to provide for oil and gas leasing 

and to protect and conserve the important surface resources and uses of the 

Reserve. 

This decision is reached after an extensive outreach effort that ensured that 

all voices were heard and that BLM benefited from a wide variety of 

perspectives. Early in the process the BLM invited the North Slope Borough 

(NSB), the State of Alaska, and federal agencies with expertise relevant to 

NPR-A’s management to join as cooperating agencies.1

 The NSB, the State, 

the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy 

became cooperating agencies. These agencies were asked for their 

suggestions for alternatives, reviewed in-house drafts of the Draft and Final 

Integrated Activity Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (IAP/EIS), and, in 

some cases, drafted portions of the impact analysis. The cooperating 

agencies’ contributions to the plan are greatly appreciated. The BLM as the 

lead agency for the plan is responsible for the alternatives and the 

development of the ultimate decision in this ROD. 

In addition to inclusion of cooperating agencies’ input into the plan, the 

BLM initiated tribal consultation early in the planning process with tribes in 

northwest Alaska whose members might be impacted. This included tribes 

some distance from NPR-A that harvest the Western Arctic Herd of caribou 

for subsistence. The BLM also conducted public scoping meetings and 

meetings to take comments on the Draft IAP/EIS in northwestern Alaska, 

Fairbanks, and Anchorage, in addition to taking comments online, by fax, 

and through the mails. More informally, BLM met with representatives of 

interested parties, including local and state governments, tribes, Alaska 

Native corporations, and industry and environmental organizations. Finally, 

following publication of the Final IAP/EIS, Department and BLM leaders 

traveled to North Slope villages to conduct additional meetings with local 

governments, Alaska Native corporations, and tribal entities to receive 

additional input. 

1

 The State of Alaska withdrew as a cooperating agency on September 12, 2012. 

February 2013 Summary 

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This decision makes approximately 11.8 million acres available for oil and 

gas leasing. It also makes lands available for application for pipelines and 

other infrastructure necessary for owners of offshore leases in the Chukchi 

and Beaufort Seas to bring oil and gas across the NPR-A to the Trans-Alaska 

Pipeline System (TAPS) and similar gas related infrastructure that could be 

built in the years ahead. While providing these opportunities for oil and gas 

development, the plan provides important protections for surface resources. 

Approximately 11 million acres, including approximately 3.1 million acres 

within the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area, are not made available for oil and 

gas leasing under the plan, thereby protecting critical areas for sensitive bird 

populations from all seven continents and for the roughly 400,000 caribou 

found in the Teshekpuk Lake and Western Arctic Caribou Herds - herds 

important for subsistence users in over forty villages in northwest Alaska. 

The plan also expands the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area from 1.75 million 

acres to 3.65 million acres and the Utukok River Uplands Special Area from 

3.97 million acres to 7.06 million acres, and creates a new 107,000-acre 

Peard Bay Special Area. Taken together, the provisions of the plan provide 

important protections for areas critical to numerous subsistence species ­

calving and insect relief areas of both caribou herds; riverine, lake, and 

coastal fish habitat; nesting and breeding areas for tens of thousands of 

birds; and bays, inlets, and coastlines important for marine mammals - as 

well as the coastal waters and river routes critical for North Slope residents 

to access hunting, fishing, berry picking, and trapping grounds. 

This decision establishes performance-based stipulations and best 

management practices, which apply to oil and gas and, in some cases, to 

non-oil and gas activities within the NPR-A (see Appendix A), and requires 

studies and monitoring. 

The decision also adopts a formal approach to provide for a continuing 

dialogue with local communities, tribal organizations, and Native 

corporations on the North Slope through the establishment of the NPR-A 

Working Group. The NPR-A Working Group will ensure that BLM’s land 

managers engage in a continuing dialogue with North Slope residents, 

understand their economic, subsistence, and wider social interests in 

activities in NPR-A, and gather scientific and traditional ecological 

knowledge related to key issues that arise during implementation of the plan 

and as the BLM considers proposed activities in the NPR-A. Such matters 

may include leasing activities, exploration programs, proposed oil and gas 

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developments, potential pipelines supporting offshore oil and gas 

development, subsistence and wildlife issues, and related matters. 

The decision reflects the Preferred Alternative in the NPR-A Final IAP/EIS 

issued in December 2012, but includes modifications and clarifications (see 

Appendix B). 

Due to the dynamic nature of public land resources it is necessary that plans 

such as this are maintained, amended, and, when necessary, revised. This 

plan will remain in place until the agency determines that it is appropriate to 

adopt a different approach to management of the Reserve. 

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, and other subsistence users (e.g., 

1. DECISION
 

The plan described in this ROD is hereby adopted for future management of 

the NPR-A. The plan includes decisions regarding: 

x	 Areas designated for oil and gas leasing, for pipelines and other 

infrastructure, and for special protections: These land allocations 

include making areas available or unavailable for oil and gas leasing, 

identifying areas in which nearly all new non-subsistence permanent 

infrastructure2

 would be prohibited or in which applications for pipelines 

and other non-subsistence infrastructure would be consistent with the 

plan, enlarging existing or creating new Special Areas and modifying the 

purposes of existing Special Areas, and committing to manage twelve 

rivers or river segments to protect their free flow, water quality, and 

outstandingly remarkable values, 

x	 Stipulations and best management practices: The stipulations and best 

management practices will regulate permitted activities in NPR-A to 

meet resource and use objectives and thereby mitigate impacts of those 

activities. 

x	 Studies and monitoring: Studies and monitoring will be done to 1) 

ensure lessees and permittees comply with applicable requirements, 2) 

assess the effectiveness of protective measures to meet objectives, and 3) 

provide updated scientific, cultural, and technological data and 

knowledge needed to adapt management decisions to changing 

conditions and circumstances. Such information would be important to 

adapt management if protective measures, including but not limited to 

land allocations, stipulations, and best management practices, are not 

meeting their objectives. 

x	 Establishment of the NPR-A Working Group: The NPR-A Working 

Group is to ensure that land managers have the benefit of local 

knowledge, an understanding of local concerns, and the 

recommendations of local residents and institutions and the input of other 

2

 Non-subsistence permanent infrastructure includes all structures and improvements that are not built for 

use by subsistence hunters, trappers, fishers, berry-pickers cabins, tent 

platforms, drying racks) to facilitate subsistence activities and that are not ephemeral, such as snow or ice 

roads. Within NPR-A anticipated non-subsistence permanent infrastructures include pipelines, gravel 

drilling pads, and other improvements built to support commercial oil and gas activities; for a more 

expansive list of such facilities, see the definition of “permanent oil and gas facilities” in the definition 

section of Appendix A. 

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permitting agencies and agencies with relevant expertise on an ongoing 

basis. 

Areas Designated for Oil and Gas Leasing, for Pipelines and Other 

Infrastructure, and for Special Protections 

This decision makes approximately 11.8 million acres of the approximately 

22.8 million acres of subsurface managed by BLM in the NPR-A available 

for oil and gas leasing. (See Map 1; maps appear at the end of the ROD.) Of 

the 11.8 million acres, 1.57 million acres in the northwestern part of the 

Reserve would not be available for leasing until January 22, 2014 when a 

10-year deferral established in the Northwest NPR-A IAP ROD expires; this 

plan preserves that previous deferral. 

Under this decision approximately 11 million acres, comprising a large 

majority of lands within Special Areas, and some Beaufort Sea waters in and 

near Dease Inlet and Barrow, are not available for oil and gas leasing in 

order to protect and conserve important surface resources and uses in these 

areas. (Map 1) 

Under the plan, oil and gas infrastructure, including pipelines and other 

infrastructure necessary for offshore development, would be allowable in 

over 14 million acres, including in much of the areas designated as Special 

Areas. (See Figure 1.) The plan prohibits most new non-subsistence 

permanent infrastructure in approximately 8.4 million acres of the 11 million 

acres that would not be available for oil and gas leasing. (Map 1) Of these 

8.4 million acres, approximately 1.1 million acres encompasses Teshekpuk 

Lake and lands surrounding the lake, habitat of special importance for 

nesting, breeding, and molting waterfowl and for the Teshekpuk Lake 

Caribou Herd. The remaining approximately 7.3 million acres in which 

most new non-subsistence permanent infrastructure is prohibited lies in the 

southwestern part of the NPR-A. This territory provides critical calving and 

summer movement areas for the Western Arctic Herd. In these areas, the 

only permanent non-subsistence infrastructure that would be allowed is 

infrastructure in support of science and public safety. For example, small 

research facilities and unoccupied navigation aids could be allowed on a 

case-by-case basis following evaluation of project proposals. In addition, 

construction, renovation, or replacement of facilities on the existing gravel 

pads at Camp Lonely and Point Lonely may be permitted if the facilities will 

promote safety or environmental protection. Lands in which new nonFebruary 2013 Chapter 1: Decision 

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2 
subsistence permanent infrastructure is not prohibited are available for 

application for permits for such infrastructure, including infrastructure in 

support of offshore development. A decision on infrastructure that will be 

permitted in support of offshore development will be made following a 

rigorous, multi-agency NEPA review, which will benefit from expertise 

from a wide range of specialists, including but not limited to biologists; 

subsistence, cultural, and paleontological specialists; soils and water 

scientists; geologists; engineering subject matter experts; economists; project 

estimators; and respected traditional knowledge holders to provide sound 

consideration of project routes and requirements. It must be emphasized that 

no provision of this decision, except the prohibition of new non-subsistence 

infrastructure (illustrated in Fig. 1), directly or indirectly prohibits pipelines 

or other infrastructure in NPR-A in support of offshore development in the 

Chukchi or Beaufort seas. Any oil and gas infrastructure built in NPR-A 

would be required to minimize the impacts of the development footprint 

consistent with Stipulation E-5, which requires consideration of sharing and 

collocation of facilities along with other strategies to minimize the footprint 

of development. 

Fig. 1Pipelines and other infrastructure in support of offshore development could be

located in NPRͲA except in crosshatched lands.

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The plan also expands the area and number of Special Areas and broadens 

the purpose of two of the existing Special Areas. (See Map 1.) The plan 

adds approximately 1.9 million acres to the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area to 

protect caribou calving and insect-relief areas and waterbird and shorebird 

breeding, molting, staging, and migration habitats. The purpose of the 

Teshekpuk Lake Special Area is expanded to include the protection of 

important caribou and shorebird habitat while continuing to protect 

waterbird habitat, which was the original purpose for the Special Area3

. 

The plan adds approximately 3.1 million acres to the Utukok River Uplands 

Special Area to more fully encompass prime calving and insect-relief habitat 

within the NPR-A and creates a 107,000-acre Peard Bay Special Area to 

protect haul-out areas and nearshore waters for marine mammals and a high 

use staging and migration area for shorebirds and waterbirds. This decision 

does not change the boundaries of the Colville River and Kasegaluk Lagoon 

Special Areas, but it modifies the purpose of the former to protect all raptors, 

rather than the original intent of protection for arctic peregrine falcons. 

The plan commits the BLM to protect the free flow, water quality, and 

outstandingly remarkable values of the rivers and river segments listed in 

Table 1 and depicted on Map 1 and an area approximately one-half mile 

from the banks of these rivers to protect the associated river values. This 

plan decision does not recommend these rivers for Wild and Scenic River 

designation, but by committing the BLM to protect the rivers, it preserves 

Congress’s option to pursue Wild and Scenic River designation in the future. 

Nothing in this decision’s commitment to protect these rivers, however, 

would block essential pipeline and other essential infrastructure crossings or 

make such crossings impracticable or non-economic4

. 

3

 The notice designating the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area (Federal Register, June 3, 1977) noted “the 

large number of ducks, geese, and swans” and the importance of the area for these and other waterbirds. 

The change in purpose to include shorebirds clarifies that these species are encompassed in the protections 

afforded by the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area. For a description of waterbirds and shorebirds in the NPRA, see the Final IAP/EIS sections 3.3.5.3 through 3.3.5.6.

4

 The commitment to protect the free flow, water quality, and outstandingly remarkable values of these 

twelve rivers constitutes a river protection separate from those identified in the various stipulations and best 

management practices, including Stipulations E-2 and K-1 and Best Management Practices E-6 and E-14. 

These stipulations and best management practices also would not block essential pipelines and other 

infrastructure from crossing rivers. 

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Table 1: Rivers and River Segments and Values to be Protected 

River/Creek Outstandingly Remarkable Values 

Awuna River Wildlife, scenic, cultural, geologic, subsistence, 

recreational 

Carbon Creek Recreational, wildlife, scenic, cultural, subsistence 

Colville (headwaters downstream in which the river and 

both banks are within NPR-A) 

Wildlife, scenic, cultural, geologic, subsistence 

Driftwater Creek Wildlife, scenic, cultural, geologic, subsistence 

Etivluk (downstream from 

confluence with Nigu) 

Recreational, wildlife, scenic, cultural 

Ipnavik Wildlife, scenic 

Kiligwa Wildlife, scenic, cultural, geologic, subsistence 

Kokolik (within NPR-A) Recreational, wildlife, geologic, cultural, subsistence 

Kuna Wildlife, scenic 

Nigu (within NPR-A) Recreational, wildlife, scenic, cultural 

Nuka Wildlife, scenic 

Utukok (within NPR-A) Recreational, wildlife, scenic, cultural, subsistence 

Finally, the plan adopts decisions regarding visual resource management and 

off-highway vehicle use designations. In brief, these measures are: 

x Visual Resource Management: manage areas in which new nonsubsistence infrastructure is prohibited as VRM II, approximately 6 

million acres near certain rivers and waterbodies as VRM III (see Table 

2-2 in the Final IAP/EIS for details), and the remaining approximately 

8.4 million acres as VRM IV (see Map 3) 

x	 Off-highway vehicle use: year-round use of OHVs to support subsistence 

activities is allowed, casual or non-subsistence travel is limited to 

vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of 2,000 pounds or less and to 

times when frost and snow cover is sufficient to protect the tundra, and 

inter-village travel is limited to times when frost and snow cover 

sufficient to protect the tundra (see Table 2-2 in the Final IAP/EIS for 

details). 

Stipulations and Best Management Practices 

This decision adopts the performance-based stipulations and best 

management practices listed in Appendix A. Map 2 illustrates the 

geographic scope of some of these stipulations and best management 

practices. These stipulations and best management practices are derived 

from those listed for the Preferred Alternative in the Final IAP/EIS. This 

decision makes minor modifications and clarifications in the language of 

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stipulations and best management practices listed in the Preferred 

Alternative in the Final IAP/EIS. These modifications and clarifications are 

described in Appendix B. 

Studies and Monitoring 

Three categories of studies and monitoring are required by this ROD: 

1. Baseline studies: Studies prior to activities to better mitigate impacts 

associated with the activities. 

Project proponents shall be responsible for funding baseline studies to 

provide BLM decision-makers with sufficient information to make 

informed decisions on a project or series of projects. The type and 

scale of such studies will be determined by BLM based on the 

characteristics of the proposed project and location. The BLM will 

work with operators to coordinate any necessary surveys to ensure 

that consistent methods are used and that surveys are not 

unnecessarily duplicative. Some such studies are described in Best 

Management Practices A-10, A-11, C-1, E-11, E-12, E-13, E-14, E18, K-4a, K-4b,, K-5, and L-1 and in Stipulation K-11; additional 

baseline information may also be required depending upon the 

proposed project. 

2. Oversight monitoring: Monitoring to ensure compliance with 

applicable requirements. 

The BLM will conduct monitoring to ensure that lessees’/permittees’ 

plans for activities and implementation of those plans conform to the 

relevant requirements. Project proponents may be responsible for 

funding oversight monitoring. Commonly oversight monitoring will 

require: 

x	 review of planning documents, 

x	 field visits prior to oil and gas activities to ensure compliance 

with requirements at the on-the-ground preparation stage for 

activities, construction, operational start-ups, and abandonment 

activities (e.g., check staking of ice roads or developments to 

ensure compliance), 

x presence in the field during activities to ensure compliance, 

x follow-up field visits to ensure that any required clean-up and 

abandonment activities were in compliance with requirements. 

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3. Effectiveness monitoring: Monitoring to evaluate the effectiveness of 

project designs and mitigation measures and thereby guide adaptive 

management. 

Project proponents shall be responsible for funding monitoring, by 

private or government parties, to assess the effectiveness of project 

designs and required mitigations in protecting resources. Project 

proponents may also be required to develop a plan, approved by 

BLM, for adaptive management programs associated with their 

project. As with baseline monitoring, the type and scale of such 

studies will be determined based on the characteristics of the proposed 

project and location, and the BLM will work with project proponents 

to coordinate any necessary surveys to ensure that consistent methods 

are used and that surveys are not unnecessarily duplicative. 

In addition, in cooperation with other federal, State, and North Slope 

Borough resource management agencies, the BLM will conduct, subject to 

available funding, studies, such as the inventory and monitoring of resource 

populations and conditions. These studies may assess the health of biological 

resources, the location and significance of other resources, and the 

effectiveness of management practices in protecting these resources. The 

scope of these studies will reflect the level of impacting actions allowed and 

the protective measures imposed under the plan adopted in this ROD. 

If studies and monitoring reveal that circumstances or conditions have 

changed, the BLM may re-evaluate its management. This re-evaluation will 

consider whether the impacts of a proposed amendment is within the scope 

of the existing NEPA analysis or if it will require further analysis under 

NEPA and ANILCA § 810. 

Studies and monitoring undertaken to provide baseline data or to monitor 

effectiveness of mitigation measures must meet the approval of the 

authorized officer. As the authorized officer determines to be appropriate, 

the data collection process and product shall be consistent with standards 

established by BLM’s Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring program. 

The plan also adopts decisions regarding the inventory of gravel resources 

and public health consultation described for Alternative B-2 in the Final 

IAP/EIS in Table 2-2. In brief, these measures are (see Table 2-2 in the 

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Final IAP/EIS for details): 

x Gravel inventory: as funds are available, the BLM will develop a 

plan of exploration and evaluation of gravel resources. 

x	 Public health consultation: the BLM will consult with the North 

Slope Borough Health Department, the Alaska Department of 

Health and Social Services, the Alaska Native Tribal Health 

Consortiums and other agencies with recognized expertise in 

Alaska Native public health and health impact assessments on 

major development proposals. 

Establishment of the NPR-A Working Group 

In comments on the Draft IAP/EIS and in consultations the Department and 

BLM conducted following publication of the Final IAP/EIS, local 

governments, Native corporations, and tribal entities expressed concerns on 

how local residents and entities would be involved in on-going management 

decisions and proposed activities (e.g. oil and gas leasing) and developments 

(e.g. pipelines) in the Reserve. To provide for meaningful, regular input by 

local communities to the on-going implementation of the NPR-A Integrated 

Activity Plan, the BLM will establish the National Petroleum ReserveAlaska (NPR-A) Working Group consisting of representatives of North 

Slope local governments, Native corporations, and tribal entities. The NPRA Working Group will meet on a regular basis and provide BLM 

information and recommendations on a range of issues associated with 

future implementation of the plan, including oil and gas leasing, land use 

conflicts, exploration, and infrastructure projects supporting onshore and 

offshore oil and gas development, such as production facilities and pipelines. 

The Working Group also will be a forum to collect additional scientific 

information and traditional knowledge about wildlife populations and needs, 

and it can inform potential adjustments to the boundaries of special areas 

including, for example, potential future adjustments to the southernmost 

boundary of the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area. Similarly, if wildlife 

migration patterns are altered by future development in the NPR-A, the 

Working Group could provide important feedback on areas where additional 

protection of surface values should be considered. 

It is recognized that both natural and man-made changes will occur over the 

life of this plan, and that changes to the management prescriptions and 

designations for the NPR-A may be warranted in the future. The Working 

Group can be a forum for discussion of, and recommendations for, possible 

February 2013 Chapter 1: Decision 

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plan amendments as well as more immediate actions that the BLM and other 

parties can take. 

It is also recognized that there are other agencies and entities that have 

responsibilities for land and resource uses and management affecting the 

NPR-A. The BLM and this Working Group should work closely with, and 

may integrate with, the NPR-A Subsistence Advisory Panel, which was 

established in the Northeast NPR-A Integrated Activity Plan. It also should 

work closely with the North Slope Science Initiative. Other Department of 

the Interior agencies, including the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, 

the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, and the Fish and 

Wildlife Service are directed to participate in NPR-A Working Group 

meetings when appropriate, particularly when actions outside of NPR-A 

affect or are otherwise related to the management of the Reserve (either as 

actions related to BLM decision-making or having direct, indirect, or 

cumulative effects on NPR-A resources). Similarly, the BLM should invite 

other federal and state agencies, such as the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration and the Alaska Department of Natural 

Resources, to participate on issues with which they have responsibilities. 

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2. ALTERNATIVES
 

The NPR-A Final IAP/EIS presented five alternatives that were analyzed in 

detail. The major land allocations associated with the five alternatives 

included: 

Alternative A: No Action 

Alternative A is the no-action alternative and comprises decisions 

established in the records of decision for the Northwest NPR-A IAP 

(January 22, 2004) and the Northeast NPR-A Supplemental IAP (July 16, 

2008) as well as decisions reached as part of the Colville River Special Area 

Management Plan (July 18, 2008). The decisions described in this 

alternative constituted a continuation of the BLM’s existing management 

practices in the NPR-A. Except for certain provisions of the Colville River 

Special Area Management Plan, no current BLM planning decisions are 

effective for the portions of the NPR-A outside of the Northeast and 

Northwest NPR-A planning areas. 

Under this alternative, approximately 57 percent (13 million acres) of the 

NPR-A’s approximately 22.8 million subsurface acres could be offered in 

future oil and gas lease sales, though approximately 1.57 million acres of the 

available lands in the northwestern part of the Reserve would remain 

deferred from leasing until 2014 and approximately 425,000 acres north and 

east of Teshekpuk Lake would remain deferred from leasing until 2018. 

Teshekpuk Lake and its islands and more than 9 million acres in the 

southwestern part of the NPR-A would not be available for leasing. 

Alternative B-1 

Alternative B-1 would make approximately 48 percent (11 million acres) of 

NPR-A’s subsurface available for oil and gas leasing, though the deferral 

until 2014 for lands in the northwestern part of the Reserve would be 

honored. (The deferred lands near Teshekpuk Lake would be classified as 

unavailable under this alternative.) Lands that would not be available for oil 

and gas leasing would also not be available for new non-subsistence 

permanent infrastructure. Alternative B-1 would create a 1.6 million acre 

Peard Bay Special Area and enlarge the Teshekpuk Lake, Kasegaluk Lagoon 

and Utukok River Uplands Special Areas; total lands within Special Areas 

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would increase from 8.3 million acres to 15.5 million acres. The alternative 

would recommend the addition of twelve rivers to the National Wild and 

Scenic Rivers System. 

Alternative B-2: The Preferred Alternative 

Alternative B-2 was the Preferred Alternative and the basis for this ROD. 

The Preferred Alternative would make approximately 52 percent (11.8 

million acres) of NPR-A’s subsurface available for oil and gas leasing, 

including some lands closest to existing leases centered on the Greater 

Mooses Tooth and Bear Tooth units and Umiat. Like Alternative B-1, it 

would preserve the deferral in northwestern NPR-A established in the 

January 2004 Northwest NPR-A IAP ROD and make the lands previously 

deferred near Teshekpuk Lake unavailable for oil and gas leasing. It would 

make lands available for application for pipelines and other infrastructure 

necessary for owners of offshore leases in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas to 

bring oil and gas across NPR-A to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System 

(TAPS) and similar gas related infrastructure that could be built in the years 

ahead. 

While providing these opportunities for oil and gas development, the 

alternative provides important protections for surface resources. 

Approximately 11 million acres would not be offered for oil and gas leasing 

under Alternative B-2, comprising a large majority of lands within Special 

Areas, and some Beaufort Sea waters in and near Dease Inlet and Barrow, 

thereby protecting critical areas for sensitive bird populations from all seven 

continents and for the roughly 400,000 caribou found in the Teshekpuk Lake 

and Western Arctic Caribou Herds. Of these lands, new non-subsistence 

infrastructure would not be allowed on 1.1 million acres near Teshekpuk 

Lake or in 7.3 million acres in southwestern NPR-A. In addition, the 

Teshekpuk Lake Special Area would be expanded from 1.75 million acres to 

3.65 million acres, the Utukok River Uplands Special Area would be 

enlarged from 3.97 million acres to 7.06 million acres, and the alternative 

would create a new 107,000-acre Peard Bay Special Area. 

Alternative B-2 would not recommend any rivers for addition to the National 

Wild and Scenic Rivers System, but under the alternative, the BLM would 

manage the twelve rivers identified in Alternative B-1 for such a 

recommendation to protect their free flow, water quality, and outstandingly 

remarkable values. In areas where pipelines and other essential 

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infrastructure may be authorized, crossings could be allowed consistent with 

Stipulations E-2 and K-1 and Best Management Practices E-6 and E-14. 

Alternative C 

Alternative C would make approximately 76 percent (17.9 million acres) of 

NPR-A’s subsurface available for oil and gas leasing, though it would honor 

the deferrals described in Alternative A. It would increase the total acres in 

Special Areas from the current 8.3 million acres to 9 million acres, creating a 

107,000-acre Peard Bay Special Area and adding approximately 120,000 

acres to the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area and 470,000 acres to the Utukok 

River Uplands Special Area. Alternative C would recommend the addition 

of three rivers to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. 

Alternative D 

Alternative D would make 100 percent (22.8 million acres) of NPR-A’s 

subsurface available for oil and gas leasing, though it would honor the 

deferrals described in Alternative A. It would retain Special Areas at their 

current size and make no recommendations for addition to the National Wild 

and Scenic Rivers System. 

Environmentally Preferred Alternative 

Alternative B-1 is the environmentally preferred alternative. This is 

primarily because Alternative B-1 would make the least amount of lands 

available for oil and gas leasing and because new non-subsistence 

infrastructure would be prohibited on all unavailable lands. The restricted 

areas available for leasing and infrastructure would reduce the alternative’s 

potential for impacts from oil and gas exploration and development in 

NPR-A. The prohibition on new non-subsistence infrastructure would not 

block a pipeline or other infrastructure associated with possible future 

development of offshore leases in the Chukchi Sea, though it would prevent 

that infrastructure within BLM-managed Kasegaluk Lagoon or Peard Bay or 

on lands within one mile of these two waterbodies within NPR-A. In 

addition, it would prevent infrastructure within the Reserve in support of 

offshore oil and gas development along the Beaufort Sea coast, thus further 

reducing the potential impacts to NPR-A’s environment. In addition, 

Alternative B-1 recommends Congressional designation of twelve rivers or 

river segments for addition to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. 

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Many of the rivers or segments are wholly within areas in which no leasing 

or new non-subsistence infrastructure would be permitted under both 

Alternatives B-1 and B-2. However, three of the rivers are outside of the 

area in which no leasing or new non-subsistence infrastructure would be 

permitted. Consequently, Wild and Scenic designation under Alternative B1 would provide additional protection to them and part of their riparian 

areas. Finally, though many stipulations and best management practices are 

common among the alternatives, where there are differences (e.g., wider 

river setbacks), Alternative B-1 normally has the most protective measures. 

February 2013 Chapter 2: Alternatives 

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14 
3. MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS
 

The plan adopted in this ROD balances BLM’s legislatively mandated goals 

of developing oil and gas and protecting surface values and takes cognizance 

of public and agency comments and consultation. It makes 52 percent of the 

lands within NPR-A available for oil and gas leasing and ensures that 

infrastructure applications, including those for potential pipelines, in support 

of offshore leases in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, are allowed within the 

Reserve. At the same time, it offers protections for surface resources and 

uses, particularly subsistence use. The ROD adopts this balanced decision 

after BLM gave careful consideration to the oil and gas potential of the 

Reserve and neighboring offshore areas and to the environmental values of 

NPR-A. The impact analysis undertaken for the NPR-A plan and presented 

in the Final NPR-A IAP/EIS (with a February 5, 2013 errata) is suitably 

specific for broad-scale management decisions made in this ROD. Greater 

site-specific analysis will occur when BLM receives an application to 

approve an action on the ground. This will be done through subsequent 

NEPA reviews and analysis, which will be conducted before BLM issues 

permits or approvals for any on-the-ground activity. 

BLM’s Legal Authorities and Responsibilities 

Under the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act (NPRPA), the 

Secretary of the Interior is required to conduct oil and gas leasing and 

development in the NPR-A (42 USC § 6506a). The Department of the 

Interior and Related Agencies’ Fiscal Year (FY) 1981 Appropriations Act 

specifically directs the Secretary to undertake “an expeditious program of 

competitive leasing of oil and gas” in the Petroleum Reserve. The decision 

in the ROD makes more than half of the Reserve available for oil and gas 

leasing, including lands near existing lease tracts and discoveries in the 

eastern part of the Reserve. The BLM estimates that the lands made 

available for leasing contain nearly three-fourths of estimated economically 

recoverable oil and about half of estimated economically recoverable gas. 

By making these lands and their projected oil and gas available for leasing, 

the decision adopted in this ROD fulfills BLM’s responsibility under the 

NPRPA to manage NPR-A to conduct oil and gas leasing and development. 

Furthermore, the decision makes all lands along the Chukchi Sea coast, most 

of the lands along the Beaufort Sea coast, and other lands available for 

application for a wide range of route options for pipelines and other 

February 2013 Chapter 3: Management Considerations 

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15 
infrastructure that would support offshore development. If such 

infrastructure is built, it could make marginal oil and gas resources in 

NPR-A economically viable, thus further enhancing oil and gas potential in 

the Reserve. 

Two federal laws mandate protection for surface values in the NPR-A. 

Under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), the 

Secretary has broad authority to regulate the use, occupancy, and 

development of public lands and to take whatever action is required to 

prevent unnecessary or undue degradation of the public lands (43 USC § 

1732). The NPRPA provides that the Secretary “shall assume all 

responsibilities” for “any activities related to the protection of 

environmental, fish and wildlife, and historical or scenic values” (42 USC § 

6503(b)) and authorizes the Secretary to “promulgate such rules and 

regulations as he deems necessary and appropriate for the protection of such 

values within the reserve.” (The NPRPA’s implementing regulations are 

found at 43 CFR Part 2360.) In addition, the NPRPA, as amended, 

authorizes the Secretary to designate lands “containing any significant 

subsistence, recreational, fish and wildlife, or historical or scenic value” and 

requires that in these lands activities “shall be conducted in a manner which 

will assure the maximum protection of such surface values to the extent 

consistent with the requirements of this Act” for exploration and production 

activities (P.L. 96-514, 42 USC § 6504(a)). The decision adopted in this 

ROD achieves these goals in a number of ways. The decision adds large 

areas to two existing Special Areas and creates the new Peard Bay Special 

Area. While allowing for a robust oil and gas program in NPR-A, the 

decision makes nearly half of the Reserve unavailable for oil and gas 

leasing. Areas made unavailable for leasing encompass critical wildlife 

habitat and other important surface values in the Special Areas and adjacent 

coastal water, thus maintaining these lands largely undisturbed. In some of 

the lands in which leasing would not be allowed, the plan prohibits nearly all 

new non-subsistence permanent infrastructure. For those lands on which 

leasing and development can occur, the plan provides many stipulations and 

best management practices to minimize impacts (see Appendix A). 

The NPRPA, as amended, guided the process and constrains the decision 

scope of this plan. The Department of the Interior and Related Agencies’ 

Fiscal Year (FY) 1981 Appropriations Act exempted the Petroleum Reserve 

from section 202 of FLPMA (43 USC § 1712), which requires the 

preparation of land use plans (called resource management plans, in 

February 2013 Chapter 3 Management Considerations 

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16 
regulations—43 CFR Part 1600—adopted by the BLM). Because of the 

exemption from FLPMA section 202, the plan was not developed as a 

resource management plan. While the IAP analyzed a range of possible 

future BLM management practices for the NPR-A in a manner similar to 

that done in a resource management plan, it was developed consistent with 

NEPA regulations—40 CFR Parts 1500-1508—rather than FLPMA 

regulations. 

Consistent with the NPRPA, the NPR-A IAP addresses a narrower range of 

multiple use management than a resource management plan. The NPRPA, 

as amended, and its implementing regulations, require oil and gas leasing in 

the NPR-A and the protection of surface values to the extent consistent with 

exploration and development of oil and gas. Consistent with this purpose, 

the NPRPA also withdraws the NPR-A from all other forms of entry and 

disposition under the public land laws, including the mining laws. Therefore, 

this ROD makes no decision on opening lands to hard rock or coal mining. 

The 1981 Appropriations Act also exempted the NPR-A from FLPMA 

section 603 (43 USC § 1782), which requires the completion of wilderness 

reviews and describes the procedures for managing any lands recommended 

to Congress for wilderness designation, pending Congressional action. 

Section 1320 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act 

(ANILCA; 43 USC § 1784), however, grants the Secretary discretionary 

authority to “identify areas in Alaska which he determines are suitable as 

wilderness” and states that the Secretary “may, from time to time, make 

recommendations to the Congress for inclusion of any such areas in the 

National Wilderness Preservation System.” While section 603 of FLPMA 

requires that, pending congressional action, the BLM shall manage lands 

recommended for designation “so as not to impair the suitability of such 

areas for preservation as wilderness,” section 1320 of ANILCA states that 

“in the absence of congressional action,” the BLM shall manage the lands 

recommended for wilderness designation “in accordance with the applicable 

land use plans and applicable provisions of law.” Consistent with Secretary 

Ken Salazar’s June 1, 2011, memorandum to the BLM Director, in 

accordance with FLPMA section 201, the NPR-A IAP/EIS described lands 

in the Reserve possessing wilderness characteristics and the potential 

impacts to those characteristics, and BLM considered potential impacts to, 

and protection of, wilderness characteristics in this ROD. 

February 2013 Chapter 3 Management Considerations 

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Balancing of NPR-A’s Resource Values 

The plan adopted in this ROD is the result of careful consideration of the 

resource values of the NPR-A and the current state of oil and gas 

development in the Reserve and neighboring offshore and onshore areas. In 

fulfilling its responsibilities in the NPR-A, the BLM was influenced by 

several overarching factors. 

1.	 Understanding of the importance of aspects of the NPR-A’s environment: 

This includes, but is not limited to, the importance of: 

x	 lands near Teshekpuk Lake and more generally in much of the 

Arctic Coastal Plain east of Barrow, particularly for birds and 

caribou, 

x	 the Western Arctic Herd of caribou which calves and spends much 

of the summer in southwestern NPR-A, particularly its importance 

for the subsistence use of residents of over forty villages in 

northern and northwestern Alaska, 

x	 coastal habitats for the polar bear, for walrus (particularly along 

the Chukchi Sea coast), for seals and other marine and coastal 

inhabitants, and for birds (particularly as staging areas) in an 

environment affected by climate change, 

x	 coastlines, particularly bays and lagoons, and rivers for subsistence 

hunting and fishing and access to subsistence use areas. 

2.	 Decreased potential for oil and gas development in NPR-A: The U.S. 

Geological Survey in its 2010 updated assessment of undiscovered oil 

and gas in NPR-A reduced its estimate of technically recoverable oil in 

the Reserve by approximately 90 percent, from approximately 10 billion 

barrels to less than 1 billion barrels. Its estimate of technically 

recoverable gas in the Reserve remained relatively unchanged, but there 

is no means at this time to market North Slope gas. If at some future 

time North Slope gas could be made marketable or if new exploration in 

the NPR-A or new technologies suggest that more oil could be recovered 

from the Reserve, it could be appropriate to reconsider the balance 

between oil and gas leasing and surface resource protection in this ROD. 

3.	 Potential offshore oil and gas development, particularly in the Chukchi 

Sea: The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that federal offshore 

waters in the Chukchi Sea contain more than 15 billion barrels of 

technically recoverable oil in conventional accumulations and that more 

February 2013 Chapter 3 Management Considerations 

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18 
than 8 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil lie in federal waters in 

the Beaufort Sea. In 2008 the Minerals Management Service sold $2.7 

billion in leases in the Chukchi Sea, and since then industry has spent 

many hundreds of millions of dollars preparing for exploratory drilling 

and potential development of those leases. In addition, the State of 

Alaska recently sold leases in Harrison and Smith Bays off the north 

coast of NPR-A in the Beaufort Sea. This plan recognizes the 

importance of not blocking the construction of onshore infrastructure that 

may be necessary to develop potential offshore resources. 

The decisions made in three geographic areas are worthy of additional 

discussion. 

Teshekpuk Lake and the coastal plain east of Barrow: Oil and gas and 

surface values converge on the lands around Teshekpuk Lake and the coastal 

plain in general east of Barrow. The Barrow Arch, a geologic structure 

along which all producing oil on the North Slope has been found, runs north 

of the lake from the southeast to the northwest. Lands along the crest and 

flank of the arch have generally been considered the most promising for oil 

discoveries. State oil and gas leases recently acquired in Smith and Harrison 

Bays are near the Barrow Arch. Surface lands, however, in a band of the 

Arctic coastal plain along northern NPR-A east of Barrow extending roughly 

30 to 50 miles inland are important for many species of birds and for the 

Teshekpuk Caribou Herd, the most important herd for the subsistence use of 

villages in the Reserve. 

The decision in this plan expands the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area (TLSA) 

to encompass all the roughly 30-to-50-mile band of land valuable for bird 

and caribou habitat between Native-owned lands near Barrow and Nativeowned lands near Nuiqsut. The decision also broadens the purpose of the 

Special Area to encompass protection of caribou and shorebird habitats, as 

well as the original intent of protecting habitat for waterbirds. Designation 

of lands as a Special Area carries with it no specific restrictions on activities. 

It does require, however, that activities “be conducted in a manner which 

will assure the maximum protection of . . . surface values [identified by the 

Secretary for the Special Area] to the extent consistent with the 

requirements” of the NPRPA for exploration and production activities. 

The TLSA as enlarged in this decision will provide such protection to the 

Teshekpuk Caribou Herd in important portions of its calving and insect 

February 2013 Chapter 3 Management Considerations 

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19 
relief habitat. The enlarged TLSA includes all of the 75 percent kernel 

calving area and much of the 95 percent area for the caribou herd and the 

herd’s most heavily used insect relief habitat (see Final IAP/EIS maps 3.3.6­

5 through 3.3.6-7). 

The enlarged TLSA also is important habitat for many waterbirds and 

shorebirds. It contains particularly important habitat for tundra swans, black 

brant, greater white-fronted geese, lesser snow geese, northern pintails, king 

eider, spectacled eiders, Steller’s eiders, and yellow-billed loons (see Final 

IAP/EIS maps 3.3.5-7, 3.3.5-8, 3.3.5-13, 3.3.5-15, 3.3.5-17, and 3.3.8-1 

through 3.3.8-4). 

Of particular sensitivity in the TLSA are lands nearest Teshekpuk Lake that 

are the most heavily used by calving caribou and molting geese (see Final 

IAP/EIS maps 3.3.6-5 and 3.3.5-9 through 3.3.5-12). At least some of these 

lands have been made unavailable or deferred from leasing in every planning 

decision made by BLM for this part of NPR-A since 1983. To protect these 

particularly high values, the plan decision makes these lands nearest 

Teshekpuk Lake unavailable for leasing and prohibits new non-subsistence 

infrastructure, except for infrastructure in support of science and public 

safety. 

The plan decision makes much of the remainder of the TLSA unavailable for 

oil and gas leasing, though it would not prohibit new non-subsistence 

permanent infrastructure, such as pipelines and other infrastructure to 

support oil and gas development onshore or offshore. Prohibiting leasing 

protects lands of importance for caribou calving and insect relief (see Final 

IAP/EIS maps 3.3.6-5 through 3.3.6-7) and a variety of waterbirds and 

shorebirds, many of which are listed above in the discussion of birds within 

the TLSA. Of particular note, however, are Steller’s and spectacled eiders 

(listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA); see Final 

IAP/EIS maps 3.3.8-1 through 3.3.8-3) and yellow-billed loons (ESA listing 

determined to be “warranted but precluded” by higher priority listing 

actions; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is to make a final decision on 

listing in 2013; see Final IAP/EIS map 3.3.8-4). 

The plan adopted by this ROD, however, makes lands in the eastern-most 

part of the TLSA available for oil and gas leasing. These lands, which have 

valuable waterfowl and caribou habitat, also include or are close to existing 

leases, including those with oil discoveries in the Greater Mooses Tooth 

February 2013 Chapter 3 Management Considerations 

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Unit. Consequently, these lands, at least through the remainder of this 

decade, offer the greatest promise for oil and gas development and making 

them available for leasing constitutes a proper balancing of BLM’s 

management responsibilities for NPR-A. 

In creating the balanced decision made in this ROD, the BLM also 

considered the potential role that infrastructure in NPR-A could play to 

support offshore oil and gas development in the Beaufort Sea. Of particular 

interest are the recently acquired State leases in Harrison and Smith Bays. 

Consequently, the decision makes lands south of both bays available for 

application for new non-subsistence permanent infrastructure, including 

pipelines and other infrastructure that could support offshore development. 

As noted above, the decisions in this plan may be reconsidered to meet 

changing circumstances. The BLM may revisit these decisions through 

supplemental NEPA analysis. 

Southwestern NPR-A: In contrast to the confluence of subsurface and 

surface values in the 30-to-50-mile band of the Arctic coastal plain east of 

Barrow, lands in southwestern NPR-A have considerable importance for 

caribou and associated subsistence users, but very little oil potential. The 

USGS projects that even at a price of $180 per barrel, almost no oil could be 

economically produced from the area. This ROD makes almost all of these 

lands (described in more detail below) unavailable for leasing. While some 

of these lands (those north of 69° north latitude) have some potential for gas 

discoveries, as noted earlier, there currently is no means to transport gas to 

market from this location or from large already-discovered gas reserves on 

the North Slope. 

These lands, however, have considerable importance for calving and 

summer movement for the Western Arctic Herd of caribou (see Final 

IAP/EIS maps 3.3.6-8 and 3.3.6-9). The plan adopted in this ROD enlarges 

the Utukok River Uplands Special Area (URUSA) to encompass all of the 

75 percent kernel area and much of the 95 percent kernel area for the herd’s 

calving and almost all of the most intensely used summer movement area 

within NPR-A. 

The decision makes nearly all of URUSA unavailable for leasing and 

prohibits new non-subsistence infrastructure, except for infrastructure in 

support of science and public safety, in those unavailable lands. This 

February 2013 Chapter 3 Management Considerations 

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21 
decision provides strong protection for this herd, which is important for 

subsistence in northwestern Alaska. This large herd disperses widely in the 

winter, wandering within reach of subsistence hunters from over forty 

villages in northwest Alaska. In addition, while protection for important 

wilderness characteristics was not a controlling factor in developing this 

decision, the decision provides protection for important wilderness 

characteristics, most notably through its prohibition of leasing and 

infrastructure in southwestern NPR-A. 

The decision, however, makes the northern-most 18 miles of the URUSA 

available for leasing and for application for permits for infrastructure. The 

ROD makes this exception for this northern area because these lands have 

marginal importance for caribou, but could have importance for 

infrastructure to transport Chukchi Sea oil and gas across NPR-A. These 

lands include some calving habitat in the 95 percent kernel, but none in the 

75 percent kernel. The USGS projects that these lands hold little or no 

potential for oil. They could, however, provide a route for pipeline and 

other necessary infrastructure associated with potential offshore 

development in the Chukchi Sea. 

Coastal and riverine area: The NPR-A’s coastline—both its waters and 

shores—and rivers are important environments. Protection of the waters are 

of obvious importance for fish (see Final IAP/EIS map 3.3.4-2). The 

coastline is important for caribou, which seek the NPR-A’s shoreline to find 

breezes to ameliorate harassment by insects (see Final IAP/EIS section 

3.3.6.1). Many species of waterbirds and shorebirds use the bays and 

lagoons; Kasegaluk Lagoon and Peard Bay are important as birds stage prior 

to fall migration southward (see Final IAP/EIS section 3.3.5). 

Marine mammals, including polar bear, Pacific walrus, and several species 

of seal, use the coastal water and shore. The polar bear is listed as 

threatened under the ESA, and the USFWS in November 2010 issued a final 

rule designating critical habitat for the bear in NPR-A’s coastal water, 

barrier islands, and for a ribbon of land five miles inland east of Barrow (see 

Final IAP/EIS map 3.3.8-6). On January 10, 2013 the U.S. District Court 

for the District of Alaska vacated the final rule that designated these lands as 

critical habitat, so these lands remain proposed. Walrus are increasingly 

hauling out on shore, including in Kasegaluk Lagoon (see Final IAP/EIS 

map 3.3.8-7). The USFWS has concluded listing the Pacific walrus as an 

endangered or threatened species is warranted, but is currently precluded by 

February 2013 Chapter 3 Management Considerations 

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22 
the need to address higher priority species. The USFWS is scheduled to 

consider the walrus for listing in 2017. Ringed, bearded, spotted, and ribbon 

seals also use coastal waters in NPR-A; the first two species are listed as 

threatened under the ESA. 

Coastal and riverine areas are also important for subsistence. North Slope 

residents take fish and marine mammals from these waters (see Final 

IAP/EIS maps 3.4.3-2, and 3.4.3-5 through 3.4.3-7). In addition, in this 

roadless area, boat travel along the coast and rivers is critical for summer 

access to subsistence resources. The great majority of Native allotments and 

subsistence cabins and fixed campsites lie along the coast or, even more 

commonly, along rivers (see Final IAP/EIS maps 1-1 and 3.4.3-4). 

The decision adopted in this ROD protects the coast and rivers in several 

ways. Kasegaluk Lagoon (within NPR-A) and Peard Bay and lands within 

one mile of those waterbodies are designated as Special Areas. Those two 

waterbodies, as well as Elson Lagoon, Dease Inlet, Admiralty Bay and many 

smaller inlets along the coast north and east of Teshekpuk Lake would not 

be available for oil and gas leasing nor would their shores. Lands within one 

mile of Kasegaluk Lagoon and Peard Bay would not be available for leasing 

nor would larger areas near the lagoons, bays, and inlets farther east. In 

addition, stipulation K-6 prohibits the location of exploratory or production 

drilling pads or central processing facilities in coastal waters or on islands 

between the northern boundary of the NPR-A and the mainland or in inland 

areas within one mile of the coast. The plan also takes cognizance of the 

changing coastline and river courses in NPR-A. All setback distances 

provided for in the stipulations and best management practices are to be 

measured as of the time of the application for a permit for a development. 

These coastal and riverine provisions are designed to minimize the chance of 

an oil spill into these important waters or other disturbances to these habitats 

and access routes. The larger river setbacks under Stipulation K-1 are 

provided to rivers with substantial subsistence importance and, in the case of 

the Colville, Kikiakrorak, and Kogosukruk rivers, to protect raptor habitats. 

It is important to note, however, that the plan’s protections, with the 

exception of the lands in which new non-subsistence permanent 

infrastructure would not be allowed near Teshekpuk Lake and in 

southwestern NPR-A, will not block pipelines and other infrastructure. (See 

Chapter 1.) 

February 2013 Chapter 3 Management Considerations 

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23 
Mitigation Measures 

The decision adopted by this ROD includes restrictions on leasing and new 

non-subsistence permanent infrastructure, stipulations and best management 

practices, designation of Special Areas, and other measures to minimize 

impacts. Additional measures to protect the environment may be required 

during the permitting process for specific projects. Those measures may 

respond to specific potential impacts of the proposal and may include 

mitigations consistent with 40 CFR 1508.20, including on-site or off-site 

compensation for impacts. The decision in this ROD includes all practicable 

means to avoid or minimize environmental harm consistent with the purpose 

and need of the action, including potential impacts associated with 

cumulative impacts, except six potential mitigation measures discussed in 

Appendix C. 

ANILCA § 810 

The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) §810(a) 

requires that a subsistence evaluation be completed on the final plan for 

the NPR-A. ANILCA also requires that this evaluation include findings on 

three specific issues: 

1. The effect of such use, occupancy, or disposition on subsistence uses 

and needs; 

2. The availability of other lands for the purpose sought to be achieved; 

and 

3. Other alternatives that reduce or eliminate the use, occupancy, or 

disposition of public lands needed for subsistence purposes (16 

U.S.C. §3120). 

The following discussion summarizes the ANILCA §810 evaluation for the 

decision in this ROD. The summary is based on the detailed ANILCA §810 

analysis in Appendix A of the Final IAP/EIS for the Preferred Alternative. 

The analysis and conclusions presented in the detailed ANILCA §810 

evaluation in the Final IAP/EIS also apply to the decision in this ROD, 

because the decision is substantially the same as the Preferred Alternative in 

the Final IAP/EIS and the overall effect of the changes has been to reduce 

the potential impacts on subsistence resources. As a result, the impacts of 

the decision in this ROD on subsistence resources will be no more than, and 

February 2013 Chapter 3 Management Considerations 

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24 
likely even less than, those analyzed for the Preferred Alternative in the 

Final IAP/EIS. 

a.	 Without the Cumulative Case: The effects of the plan adopted in this 

ROD fall below the “may significantly restrict” threshold, which is 

the test for a positive finding under ANILCA §810. Adequate 

stipulations and best management practices have been incorporated 

into the plan, including specific procedures for subsistence 

consultation with directly affected subsistence communities, 

requirements for extensive studies of caribou movement, and 

increased setbacks or other protective measures specific to birds, to 

ensure that significant restrictions to subsistence uses and needs 

would not occur. The impacts to subsistence resources and uses for 

this alternative are minimal. This finding applies to villages in and 

near the planning area (Anaktuvuk Pass, Atqasuk, Barrow, Nuiqsut, 

Point Lay, and Wainwright). 

b.	 With the Cumulative Case: The cumulative case is presented in 

Appendix A of the Final IAP/EIS and includes, but is not limited to, 

offshore oil and gas development, a road and pipeline between the 

Umiat and Dalton Highway areas, additional oil and gas 

development east of NPR-A, a commercial gas pipeline south from 

the North Slope, and oil spills and gas releases. The effects of the 

cumulative case exceed the “may significantly restrict” threshold, 

and thus a positive ANILCA §810 determination was made. 

Although the effects of the activities proposed under the plan 

adopted in this ROD fall below the threshold, adding them to those 

of the cumulative case results in a level of effects that “may 

significantly restrict” subsistence uses, with the potential to affect 

Anaktuvuk Pass, Atqasuk, Barrow, Nuiqsut, Point Lay, and 

Wainwright. 

ANILCA §810(a) provides that no “withdrawal, reservation, lease, permit, 

or other use, occupancy or disposition of the public lands which would 

significantly restrict subsistence uses shall be effected” until the federal 

agency gives the required notice and holds a hearing in accordance with 

§810(a)(1) and (2), and makes the three determinations required by 

§810(a)(3)(A), (B), and (C). The BLM has found in this subsistence 

evaluation that all the alternatives considered in the IAP/EIS (including the 

No Action Alternative), when considered together with all the past, present, 

February 2013 Chapter 3 Management Considerations 

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25 
and reasonably foreseeable future cumulative effects discussed in the 

IAP/EIS, may significantly restrict subsistence uses. Therefore, the BLM 

undertook the notice and hearing procedures required by ANILCA 

§810(a)(1) and (2), as described above, and now must make the three 

determinations required by §810(a)(3)(A), (B), and (C). 16 U.S.C. 

§3120(a)(3)(A), (B), and (C). 

The BLM has determined that the plan adopted in this ROD meets the 

following requirements (16 U.S.C. §3120(a)(3)(A), (B), and (C)) for federal 

actions that may result in a significant restriction on subsistence uses: 

1. The significant restriction of subsistence uses is necessary, consistent 

with sound management principles for the utilization of the public 

lands. 

The BLM prepared the Final IAP/EIS in accordance with its responsibility to 

manage the NPR-A under the authority of two laws passed in 1976, the 

NPRPA and the FLPMA. The NPRPA authorizes and directs the Secretary 

of the Interior to undertake an “expeditious program of competitive leasing 

of oil and gas in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska” (42 U.S.C. § 

6508(a)). At the same time, the statute also requires that all oil and gas 

activities “undertaken pursuant to this section shall include or provide for 

such conditions, restrictions, and prohibitions as the Secretary deems 

necessary or appropriate to mitigate reasonably foreseeable and significantly 

adverse effects on the surface resources” of the NPR-A and that maximum 

protection be provided for significant surface values, including 

environmental, fish and wildlife, historical, scenic, and subsistence values 

consistent with the purposes of the act (42 U.S.C. § 6504 and 6508). 

It was in furtherance of these objectives, together with other management 

guidance found in the NPRPA, FLPMA, NEPA, and ANILCA, that the 

IAP/EIS was undertaken. After considering a broad range of alternatives, 

the decision described in this ROD was developed to make available lands 

for environmentally responsible oil and gas exploration and development, 

through further lease sales in the NPR-A, while minimizing impacts to 

important subsistence resources and subsistence-use areas. The resulting 

decision considers the necessity for economically feasible development 

while providing effective protections to minimize any impacts on 

subsistence resources and uses. Under this decision, making some lands 

unavailable for oil and gas leasing, prohibiting new non-subsistence 

February 2013 Chapter 3 Management Considerations 

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26 
infrastructure in most of the lands made unavailable for leasing, and utilizing 

performance-based lease stipulations and best management practices serve 

as the primary mitigations to be used to reduce the impact of the proposed 

activity on subsistence resources. 

The BLM has considered and balanced a variety of factors with regard to the 

proposed activity on public lands, including, most prominently, the 

comments received during public meetings and hearings which stressed the 

importance of protecting important caribou habitats for both the Teshekpuk 

Caribou Herd and the Western Arctic Herd. The plan adopted in this ROD 

does not significantly restrict subsistence and it reduces the potential for 

such restrictions compared to current management. The potentially 

significant restriction on subsistence uses associated with the cumulative 

case could be lessened somewhat if Alternative B-1 was adopted, but even if 

the agency were to adopt Alternative B-1, the cumulative impacts would still 

reach the may-significantly-restrict threshold under ANILCA Section 810. 

The BLM has determined that the significant restriction that may occur 

under Alternative B-2, when considered together with all the possible 

impacts of the cumulative case, is necessary, consistent with sound 

management principles for the use of these public lands, and for BLM to 

fulfill the management goals for the Planning Area as guided by the 

statutory directives in the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act, Federal 

Land Policy and Management Act, and other applicable laws. 

2. The proposed activity will involve the minimal amount of public lands 

necessary to accomplish the purposes of such use, occupancy, or 

other disposition. 

The BLM has determined that the decision described in this ROD involves 

the minimal amount of public lands necessary to accomplish the purposes 

for which the IAP/EIS was undertaken. 

Given the management and policy objectives previously described and the 

statutory directives of the NPRPA and FLPMA, the agency considered a 

number of factors in identifying whether to make additional lands 

unavailable for leasing, and if so, which lands. In particular, the agency 

considered the location of areas with high potential for oil and gas resources, 

the location and amount of land necessary for an economically feasible 

leasing program, the importance of surface resources and uses, and measures 

February 2013 Chapter 3 Management Considerations 

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to reduce the possibility of a significant restriction on subsistence uses. The 

alternative selected strikes a balance between these varied considerations by 

balancing the interest in making sufficient lands available to achieve an 

economically feasible leasing program with mitigation and restricting 

development activities on lands that are most important for subsistence 

resources. 

Specifically, the decision makes unavailable for leasing large tracts of land 

important for the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd and the Western Arctic Herd, 

both of which have great importance for subsistence use. The decision in 

this ROD also makes unavailable for leasing coastal lands and waters that 

contain important subsistence resources and wildlife habitat, provides 

enlarged infrastructure setbacks from rivers important for subsistence use, 

and provides other protections for subsistence users and subsistence 

resources and their habitats. 

The BLM has determined that the decision makes available for leasing the 

minimum amount of public lands necessary to achieve a successful leasing 

program while precluding or restricting oil and gas activities in the areas 

most important for subsistence resources and uses. 

3. Reasonable steps will be taken to minimize adverse impacts upon 

subsistence uses and resources resulting from such actions. 

During scoping for the IAP/EIS, BLM identified subsistence use as one of 

the major issues to be addressed. Information on access, harvests, and 

traditional use patterns was gathered during the IAP/EIS process through 

meetings in villages on the North Slope, meetings with the NPR-A 

Subsistence Advisory Panel, and consultation with tribal and local 

governments. The plan presented in the ROD, including detailed lease 

stipulations and best management practices, contains significant restrictions 

and requirements for lessees/permittees, including setbacks and prohibitions 

to minimize impacts to important subsistence users and resources. 

Consultation and coordination with North Slope communities and Native 

village representatives will continue to provide a valuable avenue for the 

exchange of information and oversight. The key components of mitigation 

in the plan are making lands important for the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd and 

the Western Arctic Herd unavailable for oil and gas leasing, prohibiting new 

non-subsistence infrastructure in most of these unavailable lands, and 

February 2013 Chapter 3 Management Considerations 

NPR-A IAP Record of Decision 

28 
making important coastal lands and waters unavailable for leasing. 

Additional protections include, but are not limited to: 

x Best Management Practices H-1 and H-2 will require additional 

consultation/notification efforts by lessees/land-users to potentially 

affected communities. 

x Stipulation K-1 includes setbacks from rivers, including setbacks of at 

least a mile along rivers identified as important for subsistence use. 

Based on these mitigations and the other prohibitions, restrictions, 

requirements and limitations to surface resources in the performance-based 

lease stipulations and best management practices, the BLM has determined 

that the decision presented in this ROD includes reasonable steps to 

minimize adverse impacts on subsistence uses and resources. 

Wild and Scenic Rivers Designations 

The Final IAP/EIS in section 3.4.7 describes the process by which BLM 

considered Wild and Scenic River eligibility and suitability. The plan 

considered twelve rivers or river segments to be eligible for designation, but 

this ROD does not determine them to be suitable for designation, instead 

protecting them through other means. 

The eligible rivers and river segments are entirely within BLM’s 

management. The plan adopted in this ROD provides protection to these 

rivers and river segments and their wild and scenic river values. Under the 

plan, the BLM will manage all twelve rivers or river segments to protect 

their free flow, water quality, and outstandingly remarkable values. In 

addition to this commitment, the plan includes decisions that protect the 

rivers and river segments and lands surrounding them. All but three of the 

twelve rivers or river segments in NPR-A are within the area in the 

southwestern part of the Reserve in which no leasing will be allowed and in 

which nearly all new non-subsistence infrastructure will be prohibited. The 

portions of three rivers that are in lands that would be available for lease and 

in which new non-subsistence infrastructure could be permitted have 

setbacks (one mile for the Utukok and Kokolik rivers and a half mile for the 

Awuna River) under stipulation K-1 that would limit the infrastructure that 

could be in these setbacks. 

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29 
Endangered Species Act Consultation 

Section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires federal 

agencies to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Fisheries (NOAAFisheries), as appropriate, to ensure that their actions do not jeopardize the 

continued existence of species listed as threatened or endangered under 

ESA, or destroy or adversely modify their critical habitat. 

Within the planning area, eight species are protected under the provisions set 

forth in the ESA. Three species are listed as Endangered species: bowhead 

whale (Balaena mysticetus), humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), 

and fin whale (Balaneoptera physalus). Five species are listed as 

Threatened: spectacled eiders (Somateria fisheri), Steller’s eider (Polysticta 

stelleri), polar bear (Ursus maritimus), the Beringia distinct population 

segment of bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus nauticus), and the Arctic 

subspecies of ringed seal (Phoca hispida hispida). The USFWS designated 

Critical Habitat for the polar bear within the NPR-A in November 2010. In 

January 2013, the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska issued a 

decision vacating the final rule that designated the polar bear critical habitat, 

in response to which the Department recently filed a motion for 

reconsideration with the court. 

To meet requirements outlined in Section 7(a)(2), the BLM consulted with 

NOAA-Fisheries on the whale and seal species and with the USFWS on the 

eiders and polar bear. NOAA-Fisheries concurred with the BLM’s 

determination that the Preferred Alternative may affect but is not likely to 

adversely affect the whale and seal species. The USFWS determined 

through a Biological Opinion (BO) that the Preferred Alternative may 

adversely affect the eiders and the polar bear, but would not jeopardize the 

continued existence of these species. Further, the analysis concluded that 

the Preferred Alternative is not likely to destroy or adversely modify the 

polar bear critical habitat as defined in both the final and proposed critical 

habitat designation rules. The BO did not identify any non-discretionary 

Reasonable and Prudent Measures and Terms and Conditions because the 

land allocations, lease stipulations, and BMPs are expected to adequately 

protect listed species and minimize take. The BLM will ensure their lessees, 

permittees, and agents of their lessees and permittees adhere to all lease 

stipulations and BMPs. 

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In addition the BO included three Conservation Recommendations. The 

decision adopts and expands upon the substance of the Conservation 

Recommendations by requiring the studies identified in Chapter 1 under the 

heading “Studies and Monitoring.” 

It should be noted that following leasing, any proposed exploration or 

development projects will be subjected to further site-specific ESA review 

before permits or approvals for those projects will be granted to ensure that 

BLM’s decisions continue to be well informed as activities proceed. These 

subsequent ESA reviews will assess potential impacts from the specific 

projects on listed species in the project area, based on any new information 

about the resources and known information about the location and 

technology of the proposed projects. These subsequent ESA reviews will 

occur for each stage of oil and gas exploration and development activities 

proposed to be authorized by BLM. 

Executive Orders 11988 and 11990 

The following findings are based on a comprehensive impact analysis done 

in compliance with Executive Orders 11988 and 11990 in the Final IAP/EIS 

(see sections 4.3.6, 4.4.6, 4.5.6, 4.6.6, 4.7.6, 4.8.7.6, 4.9.6, 4.10.6, 4.11.6, 

and 4.12.4.6 and related subsections). 

Executive Order 11988—Floodplain Management 

Executive Order 11988 concerning the protection of floodplains requires an 

agency to provide leadership and to take action to minimize the impact of 

floods on human safety, health, and welfare, and to restore and preserve the 

natural and beneficial values served by floodplains in carrying out its 

responsibilities. Pursuant to the order, the agency has a responsibility to: 

1. Evaluate the potential effects of any actions that may take place in a 

floodplain; 

2. Ensure that its planning programs and budget requests reflect 

consideration of flood hazards and floodplain management; and 

3. Prescribe procedures to implement the policies and requirements of 

Executive Order 11988. 

February 2013 Chapter 3 Management Considerations 

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Additional requirements are as follows: 

1. Before taking an action, each agency shall determine whether the 

proposed action will occur in a floodplain and the evaluation required will 

be included in any statement prepared under Section 102(2)(C) of the 

NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C). 

2. If an agency has determined to, or proposes to, conduct, support, or allow 

an action to be located in a floodplain, the agency shall consider 

alternatives to avoid adverse effects and incompatible development in the 

floodplains. If the head of the agency finds that the only practicable 

alternative consistent with the law and with the policy presented in this 

Order requires siting in a floodplain, the agency shall, prior to taking 

action, 

a.	 design or modify its action in order to minimize potential harm to or 

within the floodplain, consistent with regulations, and 

b. prepare documentation explaining why the action is proposed to be 

located in the floodplain. 

The following discussion summarizes the evaluation and findings of impacts 

to floodplains as presented in the Final IAP/EIS for the Preferred Alternative 

and applicable to the decision presented in this ROD. It also identifies 

protective mitigations developed to avoid or lessen impacts to floodplains. 

More than 95 percent of the NPR-A may be classified as wetlands, which 

includes associated floodplains. Total avoidance of floodplains is impossible 

because of the extremely large proportion of the area that can be classified as 

wetlands and because floodplains are a large part of the flat, low-lying 

wetlands in the Arctic Coastal Plain, which dominates much of the planning 

area that contains any potential, according to the USGS, for oil or gas 

development. Consequently, it is likely that oil and gas infrastructure will 

need to be located within floodplains. 

The long-term effects of oil and gas exploration and development activities, 

both direct and cumulative in nature, on these floodplains are expected to be 

insignificant (negligible to minimal) in the context of the large floodplain 

area in the NPR-A. The combined effect of exploration and development 

will be unlikely to significantly impact any plant species or community, 

cause significant soil loss, or result in other than short-term and localized 

February 2013 Chapter 3 Management Considerations 

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32 
loss of water resources or water quality (See e.g. NPR-A Final IAP/EIS 

Section 4.5.6, Wetlands and Floodplains). Therefore, no significant impacts 

are expected that will affect public health, safety, and welfare through 

changes in the supply, quality, recharge or discharge and pollution of water, 

or, flood and storm hazards or sedimentation and erosion. No impacts will 

occur that will result in long-term changes in the natural ecosystem. 

The impacts that could occur to floodplains will be mitigated to the greatest 

extent practicable primarily through: 

x making a large portion of the coastal plain east of Barrow unavailable 

for oil and gas leasing, 

x prohibiting nearly all new non-subsistence permanent infrastructure in 

approximately 1.1 million acres of that unavailable area, and 

x the stipulations and best management practices incorporated into this 

ROD. The stipulations and best management practices offer a variety 

of protections that protect floodplains (see Appendix A), including 

setbacks from streams for short-term activities as well as permanent 

facilities. 

In addition to the practicable mitigation included in the plan, the BLM (and, 

in some cases, other federal agencies) will consider alternatives to avoid 

adverse effects and incompatible development in the floodplains before any 

ground activities are approved. This will be done through subsequent NEPA 

reviews and analysis, which will be conducted before any construction or 

operation permits or approvals are issued. Compliance with the Executive 

Order 11988 will be undertaken at these subsequent stages through 

consideration of all practicable alternatives and additional mitigation in 

order to ensure that all possible protection is provided for the floodplains’ 

functions and values. 

Executive Order 11990—Protection of Wetlands 

Executive Order 11990 concerning the protection of wetlands requires that 

the BLM consider factors relevant to the proposal’s effect on the survival 

and quality of the wetlands. Factors to be considered include the following: 

1. Public health, safety, and welfare; including water supply, quality, 

recharge and discharge, pollution; flood and storm hazards; and sediment 

and erosion; 

February 2013 Chapter 3 Management Considerations 

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33 
2. Maintenance of natural systems; including conservation and long-term 

productivity of existing flora and fauna, species and habitat diversity and 

stability, hydrologic utility, fish, wildlife, timber, and food and fiber 

resources; and, 

3. Other uses of wetlands in the public interest, including recreation, 

scientific, and cultural uses. 

In furtherance of the NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4331(b)(3)) to improve and 

coordinate federal plans, functions, programs, and resources so that the 

nation may attain the widest range of beneficial uses of the environment 

without degradation and risk to health or safety, the agency, to the extent 

permitted by law, shall avoid undertaking or providing assistance for new 

construction located in wetland unless the head of the agency finds: 

1. There is no practicable alternative to such construction, and 

2.	 The proposed action includes all practicable measures to minimize harm 

to wetlands which may result from such use. In making this finding the 

head of the agency may take into account economic, environmental and 

other pertinent factors. 

The following discussion summarizes the evaluation of impacts and findings 

to wetlands as presented in the Final IAP/EIS in the Preferred Alternative 

and applicable to the decision presented in this ROD. It also identifies 

protective mitigations developed to avoid or lessen impacts to wetlands. 

More than 95 percent of the NPR-A may be classified as wetlands. Total 

avoidance of wetlands is impossible because of the extremely large 

proportion of the area that can be classified as wetlands. Consequently, it is 

likely that oil and gas infrastructure will need to be located within wetlands. 

The long-term effects of oil and gas exploration and development activities, 

including direct, indirect, and cumulative effects, on the wetlands of the 

planning area are expected to be insignificant (negligible to minimal) in the 

context of the wetlands of the NPR-A. The combined effect of exploration 

and development will be unlikely to significantly impact any plant species or 

community, cause significant soil loss, or result in other than short-term and 

localized loss of water resources or water quality (See e.g. NPR-A Final 

IAP/EIS Section 4.5.6, Wetlands and Floodplains). Therefore, no significant 

impacts are expected that will affect public health, safety, and welfare 

through changes in the supply, quality, recharge or discharge and pollution 

February 2013 Chapter 3 Management Considerations 

NPR-A IAP Record of Decision 

34 
of water, or, flood and storm hazards or sedimentation and erosion. No 

impacts will occur that will result in long-term changes in the natural 

ecosystem. 

The impacts that could occur to wetlands will be mitigated to the greatest 

extent practicable primarily through: 

x	 making lands near Kasegaluk Lagoon and Peard Bay, a large portion 

of the coastal plain east of Barrow, and most of the Utukok River 

Uplands Special Area unavailable for oil and gas leasing, 

x	 prohibiting nearly all new non-subsistence permanent infrastructure in 

approximately 1.1 million acres of the unavailable area east of Barrow 

and in most of the Utukok River Uplands Special Area, and 

x	 the stipulations and best management practices incorporated into this 

ROD. The stipulations and best management practices offer a variety 

of protections that protect floodplains (see Appendix A). Given that 

nearly all of the NPR-A is in wetlands, nearly all of the stipulations 

and best management practices provide some protection for wetland 

resources. 

In addition to the practicable mitigation included in the plan, the BLM (and, 

in some cases, other federal agencies) will consider alternatives to avoid 

adverse effects and incompatible development in the wetlands before any 

ground activities are approved. This will be done through subsequent NEPA 

reviews and analysis, which will be conducted before any construction or 

operation permits or approvals are issued. Compliance with the Executive 

Order 11990 will be undertaken at these subsequent stages through 

consideration of all practicable alternatives and additional mitigation in 

order to ensure that all possible protection is provided for the wetlands 

functions and values. 

Environmental Justice 

Executive Order 12898 requires that an agency identify and address “as 

appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human health or 

environmental effects of its programs, policies, and activities on minority 

populations and low-income populations.” The IAP/EIS identified direct 

and indirect impacts that may affect the Iñupiat residents of the North Slope 

Borough. These residents of the borough qualify as a minority population 

and could potentially be disproportionately impacted by the decision adopted 

in this ROD. 

February 2013 Chapter 3 Management Considerations 

NPR-A IAP Record of Decision 

35 
The decision mitigates impacts to this population. It accomplishes this 

primarily through making some lands unavailable for oil and gas leasing, 

including a large portion of the eastern coastal plain utilized by subsistence 

users of Atqasuk, Barrow, and Nuiqsut; by adopting measures that protect 

subsistence resources, access to those resources, and public health; and by 

monitoring lessees’/permittees’ activities to ensure compliance with 

requirements and other monitoring to assess the effectiveness of mitigation 

and help adapt management to better meet resource and use objectives. To 

provide for meaningful, regular input by local communities to the effects of 

on-going implementation of the NPR-A Integrated Activity Plan, this ROD 

requires the BLM to establish the NPR-A Working Group consisting of 

representatives of North Slope local governments, Native corporations, and 

tribal entities. 

February 2013 Chapter 3 Management Considerations 

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36 
4. PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT
 

The BLM considered public comments throughout the NPR-A IAP/EIS 

planning process. The following list highlights major steps in the public 

involvement process. For more information on public involvement, see 

Chapter 5 of the Final IAP/EIS. 

Scoping: Scoping occurred from July 28 to October 1, 2010. The BLM 

held eight public meetings in Alaska and received approximately 

147,000 comments. 

Public Review of the Draft IAP/EIS: The comment period for the Draft 

IAP/EIS occurred from March 30 through June 15, 2012. The BLM 

held nine public meetings in Alaska and received more than 401,000 

comments. 

Comments received after the Final IAP/EIS was released and prior to the 

ROD: In reaching the decisions in this ROD, the BLM reviewed and 

fully considered comments received after distribution of the Final 

IAP/EIS on December 19, 2012. The comments did not identify any 

significant new circumstances or information related to environmental 

concerns bearing upon the proposed action or its impacts. Instead, 

they generally reflect concerns already raised by comments submitted 

during scoping and the public’s review of the Draft IAP/EIS. 

In addition to the above, the plan benefited from suggestions and careful 

review of the analysis in the IAP/EIS by four cooperating agencies - the 

North Slope Borough, the State of Alaska, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, and the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. (The State of 

Alaska withdrew as a cooperating agency on September 12, 2012.) 

Consultation occurred during the IAP/EIS process with: 

x Tribes as required by a Presidential Executive Memorandum dated 

April 29, 1994, 

x	 Communities, tribal organizations, and Native corporations on the 

North Slope by high-ranking Alaskan Department of Interior and 

BLM officials January 30 to February 4, 2013, 

x	 Multiple agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. 

National Park Service, U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy, Environmental 

February 2013 Chapter 4: Public Involvement 

NPR-A IAP Record of Decision 

37 
Protection Agency, and the State of Alaska Department of 

Environmental Conservation in accordance with the June 2011 

“Memorandum of Understanding among the U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, U.S. Department of the Interior, and U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency, Regarding Air Quality Analyses and Mitigation 

for Federal Oil and Gas Decisions through the National 

Environmental Policy Act Process” to model potential air quality 

impacts of oil and gas activities in the NPR-A and to develop 

appropriate air quality protection measures, 

x	 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration—Fisheries pursuant to the Endangered 

Species Act, and 

x	 Alaska’s State Historic Preservation Office pursuant to the National 

Historic Preservation Act. 

Pursuant to ANILCA 810(a)(1) and (2), the BLM also conducted hearings in 

North Slope communities to gather comments regarding potential impacts to 

subsistence use resulting from the alternatives considered in the IAP/EIS. 

February 2013 Chapter 3 Management Considerations 

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38 
APPENDIX A: LEASE STIPULATIONS 

AND BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES 

Definitions 

The following definitions apply to the stipulations and best management 

practices listed in this appendix. The Glossary of the Final IAP/EIS has 

additional definitions. 

Active Floodplain: The lowland and relatively flat areas adjoining inland 

and coastal waters, including the flood-prone areas of offshore islands, 

composing, at a minimum, that area subject to a 1 percent or greater chance 

of flooding in any given year (also referred to as the 100-year or base 

floodplain). 

Authorized Officer: A position of authority for approval of various 

activities through delegation from the Secretary of the Interior. Currently, 

the designated authorized officers in Alaska for leasing, surface use, and 

permitting are 1) State Director, 2) Manager of the Arctic Field Office in 

Fairbanks, and 3) Deputy State Director, Division of Resources. 

Best Management Practice: Mitigation developed through the BLM 

planning process/NEPA process that is not attached to the oil and gas lease 

but is required, implemented, and enforced at the operational level for all 

authorized (not just oil and gas) activities in the planning area. 

Best management practices were developed with various mechanisms in 

place to ensure compliance. These mechanisms include the following: 

1. Some best management practices are pre-application requirements; 

therefore compliance will precede approval of the proposed activity. 

For example, Best Management Practice H-1(a) requires consultation 

with affected communities prior to submission of an application for 

relevant activities within the NPR-A. If consultation has not taken 

place, the application will be rejected or will be considered 

incomplete until such time that the consultation has occurred. 

2. Other best management practices are required design features, and 

will have to be incorporated into the applicant’s proposal. As an 

integral part of the proposal and the authorization, the requirement 

February 2013 Appendix A: Lease Stipulations and Best Management Practices 

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does not need to be stipulated to be enforceable. For example, a 

minimum pipeline height of 7 feet for above ground pipelines is a 

required design of any approved above ground pipeline (Best 

Management Practice E-7). Since the authorization (a ROW in this 

case) authorizes a pipeline with a minimum height of 7 feet, anything 

less (unless specifically approved through additional NEPA analysis 

and the permit) is not in compliance and enforcement actions may be 

taken even if the permit does not specify a minimum of 7 feet. 

3. Other best management practices will become conditions of approval 

on post lease land use authorizations. For example, Best Management 

Practice C-1 prohibits heavy equipment used for cross-country moves 

within 1⁄2 mile of occupied grizzly bear dens. 

Body of Water or Water body: A lake, river, stream, creek, or pond that 

holds water throughout the summer and supports a minimum of aquatic life. 

Buffer: A zone extending outward or inward from the periphery of a 

“protected” feature for a specified distance. Activities and development may 

be prohibited or limited by type or time within the buffer dependent on the 

goal associated with applying the buffer. 

Class I air quality area: One of 156 protected areas such as national parks 

(over 6,000 acres), wilderness areas (over 5,000 acres), national memorial 

parks (over 5,000 acres), and international parks that were in existence as of 

August 1977, where air quality should be given special protection. Federal 

Class I areas are subject to maximum limits on air quality degradation called 

air quality increments (often referred to as Prevention of Significant 

Deterioration [PSD] increments). All areas of the United States not 

designated as Class I are Class II areas. The air quality standards in Class I 

areas are more stringent than national ambient air quality standards. 

Consultation: Consultation, as it is referenced in the lease stipulations, does 

not infer formal consultation as required under other legal mandates such as 

“Section 7 Consultation” under the ESA. Rather, consultation implies that 

the BLM or the Lessee/Permittee will contact other agencies or entities to 

inform them of potential actions and to seek input on noted topics. This 

includes informal contacts, and written, electronic, and/or verbal 

communication. 

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Criteria Air Pollutants: Those pollutants subject to the National Air 

Quality Standards (http://www.epa.gov/air/criteria.html). They currently 

include carbon monoxide (CO), lead (Pb), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone 

(O3), particulate matter (both PM10 and PM2.5 – inhalable and respirable 

particulates), and sulfur dioxide (SO2). 

Development Activities: Any activity associated with construction and 

operation of facilities or equipment post exploration. 

Field: The term used to describe the area containing surface infrastructure 

above one or more subsurface reservoirs. In this sense, “field” is analogous 

to “a Unit participating area or collection of participating areas.” The 

infrastructure in the field includes, but is not limited to, drilling and 

production pads, service roads, perhaps an airstrip, and processing and 

support facilities. Field infrastructure may be used in the development and 

production of several oil/gas accumulations in different subsurface 

reservoirs. Fields typically have a primary reservoir that supports initial 

development in addition to satellite reservoirs that are developed later and tie 

into the main facilities. Although oil and gas reservoirs may vary greatly in 

subsurface depth and other geologic characteristics, because they are located 

in the same geographic area it is more efficient to coordinate and share the 

necessary surface infrastructure. Fields may or may not be connected by 

permanent roads to adjacent fields or transportation facilities outside the 

field area. 

Greenhouse gas (GHG): A gas that absorbs and emits thermal radiation 

within the lowest layers of the atmosphere. This process is the fundamental 

cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases that are 

considered air pollutants are carbon dioxide, (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous 

oxide (N2O), and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). 

Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs): (also known as toxic air pollutants) 

Those pollutants that cause or may cause cancer or other serious health 

effects, such as reproductive effects or birth defects, or adverse 

environmental and ecological effects. The Environmental Protection Agency 

(EPA) is required to control 187 hazardous air pollutants. Examples of 

HAPs include benzene (found in gasoline), perchlorethlyene (emitted from 

dry cleaning facilities), and methylene chloride (used as a solvent). 

February 2013 Appendix A: Lease Stipulations and Best Management Practices 

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Lease Stipulation: Mitigation developed through BLM planning 

process/NEPA process that is specifically attached to a lease. 

NOx: Mono-nitrogen oxides, including nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen 

dioxide (NO2). It is formed when naturally occurring atmospheric nitrogen 

and oxygen are combusted with fuels in automobiles, power plants, 

industrial processes, and home and office heating units. 

Permanent Oil and Gas Facilities: Permanent Facilities include production 

facilities, pipelines, roads, airstrips, production pads, docks and other 

bottom-founded structures, seawater-treatment plants, and other structures 

associated with an oil and gas operation that occupy land for more than one 

winter season; also included are material sites such as sand and gravel, and 

“temporary platforms” if those platforms are used for production rather than 

exploration. Exploration wellheads and seasonal facilities such as ice roads 

and ice pads are excluded, even when the pads are designed for use in 

successive winters. This definition does not include over-summering ice 

pads for exploration purposes. 

Setback: A distance measured from a named ground feature, such as a river 

or lake, in which certain activities or structures would not be allowed. All 

setback distances are to be measured as of the time of the application for a 

permit for a development. In addition, facility development along the coast 

would be required to be designed to maintain the prescribed setback distance 

for the anticipated life of the facility. 

SOx: Sulfur oxides, including sulfur dioxide (SO2). A product of vehicle 

tailpipe emissions. 

Stipulation: A requirement or condition placed by the Bureau of Land 

Management on the leaseholder for operations the leaseholder might carry 

out within that lease. The Bureau of Land Management develops stipulations 

that apply to all future leases within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. 

Temporary Platform: A facility that does not require the use of an ice or 

gravel pad to support oil and gas and related exploration activities. An 

example of a temporary platform recently used on the North Slope is 

Anadarko Petroleum's Arctic Drilling Platform used for the company's Hot 

Ice Project during the winters of 2003-2004. The facility consisted of a 

series of platform modules joined together and supported above the tundra 

February 2013 Appendix A: Lease Stipulations and Best Management Practices 

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surface on steel legs. Once the project was completed the platform was 

disassembled and the support legs were removed, leaving the tundra surface 

undisturbed. Note: A temporary platform that is used for production, as 

opposed to exploration, would be considered a permanent oil and gas facility 

and be subject to the restrictions on placement of such structures. 

Valid existing: in the context of exceptions for the development of “valid 

existing NPR-A oil and gas leases,” “valid existing” leases refers to oil and 

gas leases issued by the BLM prior to the signing of this record of decision 

and valid at the time of the application for approval of an action for which 

the “valid existing NPR-A oil and gas lease” exception is requested. 

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs): A group of chemicals that react in 

the atmosphere with nitrogen oxides in the presence of sunlight and heat to 

form ozone. VOCs contribute significantly to photochemical smog 

production and certain health problems. Examples of VOCs are gasoline 

fumes and oil-based paints. 

Applicability of Requirements/Standards 

All surface disturbing activities such as exploratory drilling, road/pipeline 

construction, seismic acquisition, and overland moves require additional 

authorization(s) issued subsequent to leasing. The stipulations and best 

management practices require that certain protections of resources and uses 

be achieved. Requirements and standards listed with the stipulations and 

best management practices represent BLM’s current understanding of how 

lessees/permittees would achieve the objectives of the stipulation or best 

management practice. 

A lessee/permittee may propose a deviation from the requirements/standards 

of stipulations and best management practices as part of an authorization 

application. Prior to approving an alternative procedure as part of the 

authorization, BLM’s staff would analyze the proposal and determine if the 

proposal incorporating the alternative procedure would achieve the 

objectives of the stipulations and best management practices. If the BLM 

determines that the alternative procedure proposed by the applicant would 

meet the stipulation’s or best management practice’s objective, BLM could 

approve the alternative procedure. If BLM determines that the alternative 

procedure proposed by the applicant is unlikely to meet the objectives of a 

February 2013 Appendix A: Lease Stipulations and Best Management Practices 

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stipulation or best management practice, the requirements/standards would 

still be required. However, the authorized officer may allow a deviation 

from the objectives and requirement/standard in a new decision document 

supported by additional NEPA analysis. 

The BLM could independently require different actions than those listed 

under requirements/standards. If, after experience or additional study, BLM 

concludes that a requirement/standard is not achieving or is unlikely to 

achieve the protective objective when applied to a specific future on-theground action or would not do so as well as the use of recently proven 

technology or techniques, BLM could at the permitting stage and under the 

terms of the stipulation or best management practice, impose other 

restrictions to meet the objective. 

Stipulations and Best Management Practices 

Waste Prevention, Handling, Disposal, Spills, Air Quality, and Public 

Health and Safety 

A-1 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Protect the health and safety of oil and gas field workers and the 

general public by disposing of solid waste and garbage in accordance with 

applicable federal, State, and local law and regulations. 

Requirement/Standard: Areas of operation shall be left clean of all debris. 

A-2 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Minimize impacts on the environment from non-hazardous and 

hazardous waste generation. Encourage continuous environmental 

improvement. Protect the health and safety of oil field workers and the 

general public. Avoid human-caused changes in predator populations. 

Requirement/Standard: Lessees/permittees shall prepare and implement a 

comprehensive waste management plan for all phases of exploration and 

development, including seismic activities. The plan shall be submitted to the 

authorized officer for approval, in consultation with federal, State, and North 

Slope Borough regulatory and resource agencies, as appropriate (based on 

agency legal authority and jurisdictional responsibility), as part of a plan of 

operations or other similar permit application. 

Management decisions affecting waste generation shall be addressed in the 

following order of priority: 1) prevention and reduction, 2) recycling, 3) 

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treatment, and 4) disposal. The plan shall consider and take into account the 

following requirements: 

a. Methods to avoid attracting wildlife to food and garbage. The plan 

shall identify precautions that are to be taken to avoid attracting 

wildlife to food and garbage 

b. Disposal of putrescible waste. Requirements prohibit the burial of 

garbage. Lessees and permitted users shall have a written procedure to 

ensure that the handling and disposal of putrescible waste will be 

accomplished in a manner that prevents the attraction of wildlife. All 

putrescible waste shall be incinerated, backhauled, or composted in a 

manner approved by the authorized officer. All solid waste, including 

incinerator ash, shall be disposed of in an approved waste-disposal 

facility in accordance with EPA and Alaska Department of 

Environmental Conservation regulations and procedures. The burial of 

human waste is prohibited except as authorized by the authorized 

officer. 

c. Disposal of pumpable waste products. Except as specifically provided, 

the BLM requires that all pumpable solid, liquid, and sludge waste be 

disposed of by injection in accordance with EPA, Alaska Department 

of Environmental Conservation, and the Alaska Oil and Gas 

Conservation Commission regulations and procedures. On-pad 

temporary muds and cuttings storage, as approved by Alaska 

Department of Environmental Conservation, will be allowed as 

necessary to facilitate annular injection and/or backhaul operations. 

d. Disposal of wastewater and domestic wastewater. The BLM prohibits 

wastewater discharges or disposal of domestic wastewater into bodies 

of fresh, estuarine, and marine water, including wetlands, unless 

authorized by a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System or 

State permit. 

A-3 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Minimize pollution through effective hazardous-materials 

contingency planning. 

Requirement/Standard: For oil- and gas-related activities, a hazardous 

materials emergency contingency plan shall be prepared and implemented 

before transportation, storage, or use of fuel or hazardous substances. The 

plan shall include a set of procedures to ensure prompt response, 

notification, and cleanup in the event of a hazardous substance spill or threat 

of a release. Procedures in the plan applicable to fuel and hazardous 

substances handling (associated with transportation vehicles) shall consist of 

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best management practices if approved by the authorized officer. The plan 

shall include a list of resources available for response (e.g., heavy-equipment 

operators, spill-cleanup materials or companies), and names and phone 

numbers of federal, State, and North Slope Borough contacts. Other federal 

and State regulations may apply and require additional planning 

requirements. All appropriate staff shall be instructed regarding these 

procedures. In addition contingency plans related to facilities developed for 

oil production shall include requirements to: 

a. provide refresher spill-response training to North Slope Borough and 

local community spill-response teams on a yearly basis, 

b. plan and conduct a major spill-response field-deployment drill 

annually, 

c. prior to production and as required by law, develop spill prevention 

and response contingency plans and participate in development and 

maintenance of the North Slope Subarea Contingency Plan for Oil and 

Hazardous Substances Discharges/Releases for the National 

Petroleum Reserve-Alaska operating area. Planning shall include 

development and funding of detailed (e.g., 1:26,000 scale) 

environmental sensitivity index maps for the lessee’s/permittee’s 

operating area and areas outside the lessee’s/permittee’s operating 

area that could be affected by their activities. (The specific area to be 

mapped shall be defined in the lease agreement and approved by the 

authorized officer in consultation with appropriate resource agencies.) 

Maps shall be completed in paper copy and geographic information 

system format in conformance with the latest version of the U.S. 

Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration’s Environmental Sensitivity Index Guidelines. Draft 

and final products shall be peer reviewed and approved by the 

authorized officer in consultation with appropriate federal, State, and 

North Slope Borough resource and regulatory agencies. 

A-4 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Minimize the impact of contaminants on fish, wildlife, and the 

environment, including wetlands, marshes and marine waters, as a result of 

fuel, crude oil, and other liquid chemical spills. Protect subsistence resources 

and subsistence activities. Protect public health and safety. 

Requirement/Standard: Before initiating any oil and gas or related activity or 

operation, including field research/surveys and/or seismic operations, 

lessees/permittees shall develop a comprehensive spill prevention and 

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response contingency plan per 40 CFR § 112 (Oil Pollution Act). The plan 

shall consider and take into account the following requirements: 

a. On-site Clean-up Materials. Sufficient oil-spill-cleanup materials 

(absorbents, containment devices, etc.) shall be stored at all fueling 

points and vehicle-maintenance areas and shall be carried by field 

crews on all overland moves, seismic work trains, and similar 

overland moves by heavy equipment. 

b. Storage Containers. Fuel and other petroleum products and other 

liquid chemicals shall be stored in proper containers at approved 

locations. Except during overland moves and seismic operations, fuel, 

other petroleum products, and other liquid chemicals designated by 

the authorized officer that in total exceed 1,320 gallons shall be stored 

within an impermeable lined and diked area or within approved 

alternate storage containers, such as over packs, capable of containing 

110% of the stored volume. In areas within 500 feet of water bodies, 

fuel containers are to be stored within appropriate containment. 

c. Liner Materials. Liner material shall be compatible with the stored 

product and capable of remaining impermeable during typical weather 

extremes expected throughout the storage period. 

d. Permanent Fueling Stations. Permanent fueling stations shall be lined 

or have impermeable protection to prevent fuel migration to the 

environment from overfills and spills. 

e. Proper Identification of Containers. All fuel containers, including 

barrels and propane tanks, shall be marked with the responsible party's 

name, product type, and year filled or purchased. 

f. Notice of Reportable Spills. Notice of any reportable spill (as required 

by 40 CFR § 300.125 and 18 AAC § 75.300) shall be given to the 

authorized officer as soon as possible, but no later than 24 hours after 

occurrence. 

g. Identification of Oil Pans (“duck ponds”). All oil pans shall be 

marked with the responsible party’s name. 

A-5 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Minimize the impact of contaminants from refueling operations 

on fish, wildlife and the environment. 

Requirement/Standard: Refueling of equipment within 500 feet of the active 

floodplain of any water body is prohibited. Fuel storage stations shall be 

located at least 500 feet from any water body with the exception that small 

caches (up to 210 gallons) for motor boats, float planes, ski planes, and 

small equipment, e.g. portable generators and water pumps, are permitted. 

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The authorized officer may allow storage and operations at areas closer than 

the stated distances if properly designed to account for local hydrologic 

conditions. 

A-6 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Minimize the impact on fish, wildlife, and the environment from 

contaminants associated with the exploratory drilling process. 

Requirement/Standard: Surface discharge of reserve-pit fluids is prohibited. 

A-7 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Minimize the impacts to the environment of disposal of produced 

fluids recovered during the development phase on fish, wildlife, and the 

environment. 

Requirement/Standard: Discharge of produced water in upland areas and 

marine waters is prohibited. 

A-8 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Minimize conflicts resulting from interaction between humans 

and bears during oil and gas activities.
 

Requirement/Standard: Oil and gas lessees and their contractors and 

subcontractors will, as a part of preparation of lease operation planning, 

prepare and implement bear-interaction plans to minimize conflicts between 

bears and humans. These plans shall include measures to: 

a. Minimize attraction of bears to the drill sites. 

b. Organize layout of buildings and work sites to minimize human/bear 

interactions. 

c. Warn personnel of bears near or on work sites and identify proper 

procedures to be followed. 

d. Establish procedures, if authorized, to discourage bears from
 

approaching the work site. 

e. Provide contingencies in the event bears do not leave the site or 

cannot be discouraged by authorized personnel. 

f. Discuss proper storage and disposal of materials that may be toxic to 

bears. 

g. Provide a systematic record of bears on the work site and in the 

immediate area. 

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A-9 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Reduce air quality impacts. 

Requirement/Standard: All oil and gas operations (vehicles and equipment) 

that burn diesel fuels must use “ultra-low sulfur” diesel as defined by the 

Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation-Division of Air Quality.
 

A-10 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Prevent unnecessary or undue degradation of the lands and 

protect health. 

Requirement/Standard: This measure includes the following elements: 

a. Prior to initiation of a NEPA analysis for an application to develop a 

central production facility, production pad/well, airstrip, road, gas 

compressor station, or other potential substantial air pollutant 

emission source (hereafter project), the authorizing officer (BLM) 

may require the project proponent to provide a minimum of one year 

of baseline ambient air monitoring data for any pollutant(s) of concern 

as determined by BLM if no representative air monitoring data are 

available for the project area, or existing representative ambient air 

monitoring data are insufficient, incomplete, or do not meet minimum 

air monitoring standards set by the Alaska DEC or the EPA. If BLM 

determines that baseline monitoring is required, this pre-analysis data 

must meet Alaska DEC and EPA air monitoring standards, and cover 

the year immediately prior to the submittal. Pre-project monitoring 

may not be appropriate where the life of the project is less than one 

year. 

b. The BLM may require monitoring for the life of the project depending 

on the magnitude of potential air emissions from the project, 

proximity to a federally mandated Class I area, sensitive Class II area 

(as identified on a case-by-case basis by Alaska DEC or a federal land 

management agency), or population center, location within or 

proximity to a non-attainment or maintenance area, meteorological or 

geographic conditions, existing air quality conditions, magnitude of 

existing development in the area, or issues identified during NEPA 

undertaken for the project. 

c. For an application to develop a central production facility, production 

pad/well, airstrip, road, gas compressor station, or other potential 

substantial air pollutant emission source, the project proponent shall 

prepare (and submit for BLM approval) an emissions inventory that 

includes quantified emissions of regulated air pollutants from all 

direct and indirect sources related to the proposed project, including 

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reasonably foreseeable air pollutant emissions of criteria air 

pollutants, volatile organic compounds, hazardous air pollutants, and 

greenhouse gases estimated for each year for the life of the project. 

The BLM will use this estimated emissions inventory to identify 

pollutants of concern and to determine the appropriate level of air 

analysis to be conducted for the proposed project. 

d. For an application to develop a central production facility, production 

pad/well, airstrip, road, gas compressor station, or other potential 

substantial air pollutant emission source, the BLM may require the 

proponent to provide an emissions reduction plan that includes a 

detailed description of operator committed measures to reduce project 

related air pollutant emissions including, but not limited to greenhouse 

gases and fugitive dust. 

e. For an application to develop a central production facility, production 

pad/well, airstrip, road, gas compressor station, or other potential 

substantial air pollutant emission source, the authorized officer may 

require air quality modeling for purposes of analyzing project direct, 

indirect or cumulative impacts to air quality. The BLM may require 

air quality modeling depending on the magnitude of potential air 

emissions from the project or activity, duration of the proposed action, 

proximity to a federally mandated Class I area, sensitive Class II area 

(as identified on a case-by-case basis by Alaska DEC or a federal land 

management agency), or population center, location within a nonattainment or maintenance area, meteorological or geographic 

conditions, existing air quality conditions, magnitude of existing 

development in the area, or issues identified during NEPA undertaken 

for the project. The BLM will determine the information required for 

a project specific modeling analysis through the development of a 

modeling protocol for each analysis. The authorized officer will 

consult with appropriate federal, State, and/or local agencies regarding 

modeling to inform his/her modeling decision and avoid duplication 

of effort. The modeling shall compare predicted impacts to all 

applicable local, State, and federal air quality standards and 

increments, as well as other scientifically defensible significance 

thresholds (such as impacts to air quality related values, incremental 

cancer risks, etc.). 

f. The BLM may require air quality mitigation measures and strategies 

within its authority (and in consultation with local, state, federal, and 

tribal agencies with responsibility for managing air resources) in 

addition to regulatory requirements and proponent committed 

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emission reduction measures, and for emission sources not otherwise 

regulated by Alaska DEC or EPA, if the air quality analysis shows 

potential future impacts to NAAQS or AAAQS or impacts above 

specific levels of concern for air quality related values (AQRVs). 

g. If ambient air monitoring indicates that project-related emissions are 

causing or contributing to impacts that would cause unnecessary or 

undue degradation of the lands, cause exceedances of NAAQS, or fail 

to protect health (either directly or through use of subsistence 

resources), the authorized officer may require changes in activities at 

any time to reduce these emissions to comply with the NAAQS and/or 

minimize impacts to AQRVs. Within the scope of BLM’s authority, 

the BLM may require additional emission control strategies to 

minimize or reduce impacts to air quality. 

h. Publicly available reports on air quality baseline monitoring, 

emissions inventory, and modeling results developed in conformance 

with this best management procedure shall be provided by the project 

proponent to the North Slope Borough and to local communities and 

Tribes in a timely manner. 

A-11 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Ensure that permitted activities do not create human health risks 

through contamination of subsistence foods. 

Requirement/Standard: A lessee proposing a permanent oil and gas 

development shall design and implement a monitoring study of contaminants 

in locally-used subsistence foods. The monitoring study shall examine 

subsistence foods for all contaminants that could be associated with the 

proposed development. The study shall identify the level of contaminants in 

subsistence foods prior to the proposed permanent oil and gas development 

and monitor the level of these contaminants throughout the operation and 

abandonment phases of the development. If ongoing monitoring detects a 

measurable and persistent increase in a contaminant in subsistence foods, the 

lessee shall design and implement a study to determine how much, if any, of 

the increase in the contaminant in subsistence foods originates from the 

lessee's activities. If the study determines that a portion of the increase in 

contamination in subsistence foods is caused by the lessee's activities, the 

authorized officer may require changes in the lessee’s processes to reduce or 

eliminate emissions of the contaminant. The design of the study/studies must 

meet the approval of the authorized officer. The authorized officer may 

consult with appropriate federal, State, and North Slope Borough agencies 

prior to approving the study/studies design. The authorized officer may 

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require/authorize changes in the design of the studies throughout the 

operations and abandonment period, or terminate or suspend studies if 

results warrant. 

A-12 Best Management Practice 

Objective: To minimize negative health impacts associated with oil spills. 

Requirement/Standard: If an oil spill with potential impacts to public health 

occurs, the BLM, in undertaking its oil spill responsibilities, will consider: 

a. Immediate health impacts and responses for affected communities and 

individuals. 

b. Long-term monitoring for contamination of subsistence food sources. 

c. Long-term monitoring of potential human health impacts. 

d. Perceptions of contamination and subsequent changes in consumption 

patterns. 

e. Health promotion activities and communication strategies to maintain 

the consumption of traditional food. 

Water Use for Permitted Activities 

B-1 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Maintain populations of, and adequate habitat for, fish and 

invertebrates. 

Requirement/Standard: Withdrawal of unfrozen water from rivers and 

streams during winter is prohibited. The removal of ice aggregate from 

grounded areas 4-feet deep may be authorized from rivers on a site-specific 

basis. 

B-2 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Maintain natural hydrologic regimes in soils surrounding lakes 

and ponds, and maintain populations of, and adequate habitat for, fish, 

invertebrates, and waterfowl. 

Requirement/Standard: Withdrawal of unfrozen water from lakes and the 

removal of ice aggregate from grounded areas 4-feet deep may be 

authorized on a site-specific basis depending on water volume and depth and 

the waterbody’s fish community. Current water use requirements are: 

a. Lakes with sensitive fish (i.e., any fish except ninespine stickleback or 

Alaska blackfish): unfrozen water available for withdrawal is limited 

to 15% of calculated volume deeper than 7 feet; only ice aggregate 

may be removed from lakes that are 7-feet deep. 

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b. Lakes with only non-sensitive fish (i.e., ninespine stickleback or 

Alaska blackfish): unfrozen water available for withdrawal is limited 

to 30% of calculated volume deeper than 5 feet; only ice aggregate 

may be removed from lakes that are 5. 

c. Lakes with no fish present, regardless of depth: water available for use 

is limited to 35% of total lake volume. 

d. In lakes where unfrozen water and ice aggregate are both removed, 

the total use shall not exceed the respective 15%, 30%, or 35% 

volume calculations. 

e. Additional modeling or monitoring may be required to assess water 

level and water quality conditions before, during, and after water use 

from any fish-bearing lake or lake of special concern. 

f. Any water intake structures in fish bearing or non-fish bearing waters 

shall be designed, operated, and maintained to prevent fish 

entrapment, entrainment, or injury. Note: All water withdrawal 

equipment must be equipped and must utilize fish screening devices 

approved by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of 

Habitat. 

g. Compaction of snow cover or snow removal from fish-bearing 

waterbodies shall be prohibited except at approved ice road crossings, 

water pumping stations on lakes, or areas of grounded ice. 

Winter Overland Moves and Seismic Work 

The following best management practices apply to overland moves, seismic 

work, and any similar cross-country vehicle use of heavy equipment on nonroaded surfaces during the winter season. These restrictions do not apply to 

the use of such equipment on ice roads after they are constructed. 

C-1 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Protect grizzly bear, polar bear, and marine mammal denning 

and/or birthing locations.
 

Requirement/Standard: 

a. Cross-country use of heavy equipment and seismic activities is 

prohibited within 1⁄2 mile of occupied grizzly bear dens identified by 

the Alaska Department of Fish and Game unless alternative protective 

measures are approved by the authorized officer in consultation with 

the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. 

b. Cross-country use of heavy equipment and seismic activity is 

prohibited within 1 mile of known or observed polar bear dens or seal 

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birthing lairs. Operators near coastal areas shall conduct a survey for 

potential polar bear dens and seal birthing lairs and consult with the 

USFWS and/or NOAA-Fisheries, as appropriate, before initiating 

activities in coastal habitat between October 30 and April 15. 

C-2 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Protect stream banks, minimize compaction of soils, and 

minimize the breakage, abrasion, compaction, or displacement of vegetation. 

Requirement/Standard: 

a. Ground operations shall be allowed only when frost and snow cover 

are at sufficient depths to protect the tundra. Ground operations shall 

cease when the spring snowmelt begins (approximately May 5 in the 

foothills area where elevations reach or exceed 500 feet and 

approximately May 15 in the northern coastal areas). The exact dates 

will be determined by the authorized officer. 

b. Low-ground-pressure vehicles shall be used for on-the-ground 

activities off ice roads or pads. Low-ground-pressure vehicles shall be 

selected and operated in a manner that eliminates direct impacts to the 

tundra by shearing, scraping, or excessively compacting the tundra 

mat. Note: This provision does not include the use of heavy 

equipment such as front-end loaders and similar equipment required 

during ice road construction. 

c. Bulldozing of tundra mat and vegetation, trails, or seismic lines is 

prohibited; however, on existing trails, seismic lines or camps, 

clearing of drifted snow is allowed to the extent that the tundra mat is 

not disturbed. 

d. To reduce the possibility of ruts, vehicles shall avoid using the same 

trails for multiple trips unless necessitated by serious safety or 

superseding environmental concern. This provision does not apply to 

hardened snow trails for use by low-ground-pressure vehicles such as 

Rolligons. 

e. The location of ice roads shall be designed and located to minimize 

compaction of soils and the breakage, abrasion, compaction, or 

displacement of vegetation. Offsets may be required to avoid using 

the same route or track in the subsequent year. 

f. Motorized ground-vehicle use within the Colville River Special Area 

associated with overland moves, seismic work, and any similar use of 

heavy equipment shall be minimized within an area that extends 1 

mile west or northwest of the bluffs of the Colville River, and 2 miles 

on either side of the Kogosukruk and Kikiakrorak rivers and 

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tributaries of the Kogosukruk River from April 15 through August 5, 

with the exception that use will be minimized in the vicinity of 

gyrfalcon nests beginning March 15. Such use will remain 1/2 mile 

away from known raptor nesting sites, unless authorized by the 

authorized officer. 

C-3 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Maintain natural spring runoff patterns and fish passage, avoid 

flooding, prevent streambed sedimentation and scour, protect water quality, 

and protect stream banks. 

Requirement/Standard: Crossing of waterway courses shall be made using a 

low-angle approach. Crossings that are reinforced with additional snow or 

ice (“bridges”) shall be removed, breached, or slotted before spring breakup. 

Ramps and bridges shall be substantially free of soil and debris. 

C-4 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Avoid additional freeze-down of deep-water pools harboring 

over-wintering fish and invertebrates used by fish. 

Requirement/Standard: Travel up and down streambeds is prohibited unless 

it can be demonstrated that there will be no additional impacts from such 

travel to over-wintering fish or the invertebrates they rely on. Rivers, 

streams, and lakes shall be crossed at areas of grounded ice whenever 

possible. 

C-5 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Minimize the effects of high-intensity acoustic energy from
 

seismic surveys on fish. 

Requirement/Standard: 

a. When conducting vibroseis-based surveys above potential fish 

overwintering areas (water 6 feet deep or greater, ice plus liquid 

depth), operators shall follow recommendations by Morris and Winters 

(2005): only a single set of vibroseis shots should be conducted if 

possible; if multiple shot locations are required, these should be 

conducted with minimal delay; multiple days of vibroseis activity 

above the same overwintering area should be avoided if possible. 

b. When conducting air gun-based surveys in freshwater, operators shall 

follow standard marine mitigation measures that are applicable to fish 

(e.g., Minerals Management Service 2006): operators will use the 

lowest sound levels feasible to accomplish their data-collection needs; 

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ramp-up techniques will be utilized (ramp-up involves the gradual 

increase in emitted sound levels beginning with firing a single air gun 

and gradually adding air guns until the desired operating level of the 

full array is obtained). 

c. When conducting explosive-based surveys, operators shall follow 

setback distances from fish-bearing waterbodies based on 

requirements outlined by Alaska Department of Fish and Game 

(1991). 

Oil and Gas Exploratory Drilling 

D-1 Lease Stipulation 

Objectives: Protect fish-bearing rivers, streams, and lakes from blowouts and 

minimize alteration of riparian habitat. 

Requirement/Standard: Exploratory drilling is prohibited in rivers and 

streams, as determined by the active floodplain, and fish-bearing lakes. 

D-2 Lease Stipulation 

Objective: Minimize surface impacts from exploratory drilling. 

Requirement/Standard: Construction of permanent or gravel oil and gas 

facilities shall be prohibited for exploratory drilling. Use of a previously 

constructed road or pad may be permitted if it is environmentally preferred. 

Facility Design and Construction 

E-1 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Protect subsistence use and access to subsistence hunting and 

fishing areas and minimize the impact of oil and gas activities on air, land, 

water, fish, and wildlife resources. 

Requirement/Standard: All roads must be designed, constructed, maintained, 

and operated to create minimal environmental impacts and to protect 

subsistence use and access to subsistence hunting and fishing areas. The 

authorized officer will consult with appropriate federal, State, and North 

Slope Borough regulatory and resources agencies prior to approving 

construction of roads. Subject to approval by the authorized officer, the 

construction, operation, and maintenance of oil and gas field roads is the 

responsibility of the lessee unless the construction, operation, and 

maintenance of roads are assumed by the appropriate governing entity. 

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E-2 Lease Stipulation 

Objective: Protect fish-bearing water bodies, water quality, and aquatic 

habitats. 

Requirement/Standard: Permanent oil and gas facilities, including roads, 

airstrips, and pipelines, are prohibited upon or within 500 feet as measured 

from the ordinary high water mark of fish-bearing waterbodies. Essential 

pipeline and road crossings will be permitted on a case-by-case basis. Note: 

Also refer to Stipulations/Best Management Practices K-1 and K-2. 

Construction camps are prohibited on frozen lakes and river ice. Siting of 

construction camps on river sand and gravel bars is allowed and encouraged. 

Where leveling of trailers or modules is required and the surface has a 

vegetative mat, leveling shall be accomplished through blocking rather than 

use of a bulldozer. 

E-3 Lease Stipulation 

Objective: Maintain free passage of marine and anadromous fish and protect 

subsistence use and access to subsistence hunting and fishing. 

Requirement/Standard: Causeways and docks are prohibited in river mouths 

or deltas. Artificial gravel islands and bottom-founded structures are 

prohibited in river mouths or active stream channels on river deltas. 

Causeways, docks, artificial islands, and bottom-founded drilling structures 

shall be designed to ensure free passage of marine and anadromous fish and 

to prevent significant changes to nearshore oceanographic circulation 

patterns and water quality characteristics. A monitoring program, developed 

in consultation with appropriate federal, State, and North Slope Borough 

regulatory and resource agencies, shall be required to address the objectives 

of water quality and free passage of fish. 

E-4 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Minimize the potential for pipeline leaks, the resulting 

environmental damage, and industrial accidents. 

Requirement/Standard: All pipelines shall be designed, constructed, and 

operated under an authorized officer-approved Quality Assurance/Quality 

Control plan that is specific to the product transported and shall be 

constructed to accommodate the best available technology for detecting and 

preventing corrosion or mechanical defects during routine structural 

integrity inspections. 

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E-5 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Minimize impacts of the development footprint. 

Requirement/Standard: Facilities shall be designed and located to minimize 

the development footprint. Issues and methods that are to be considered 

include: 

a.	 use of maximum extended-reach drilling for production drilling to 

minimize the number of pads and the network of roads between pads; 

b. sharing facilities with existing development; 

c.	 collocation of all oil and gas facilities, except airstrips, docks, and 

seawater-treatment plants, with drill pads; 

d. integration of airstrips with roads; 

e.	 use of gravel-reduction technologies, e.g., insulated or pile-supported 

pads, 

f.	 coordination of facilities with infrastructure in support of offshore 

development. 

Note: Where aircraft traffic is a concern, consideration shall be given to 

balancing gravel pad size and available supply storage capacity with 

potential reductions in the use of aircraft to support oil and gas operations. 

E-6 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Reduce the potential for ice-jam flooding, impacts to wetlands 

and floodplains, erosion, alteration of natural drainage patterns, and 

restriction of fish passage. 

Requirement/Standard: Stream and marsh crossings shall be designed and 

constructed to ensure free passage of fish, reduce erosion, maintain natural 

drainage, and minimize adverse effects to natural stream flow. Note: 

Bridges, rather than culverts, are the preferred method for crossing rivers. 

When necessary, culverts can be constructed on smaller streams, if they are 

large enough to avoid restricting fish passage or adversely affecting natural 

stream flow. 

E-7 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Minimize disruption of caribou movement and subsistence use. 

Requirement/Standard: Pipelines and roads shall be designed to allow the 

free movement of caribou and the safe, unimpeded passage of the public 

while participating in subsistence activities. Listed below are the accepted 

design practices: 

a. Above ground pipelines shall be elevated a minimum of 7 feet as 

measured from the ground to the bottom of the pipeline at vertical 

support members. 

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b. In areas where facilities or terrain may funnel caribou movement, 

ramps over pipelines, buried pipelines, or pipelines buried under roads 

may be required by the authorized officer after consultation with 

federal, State, and North Slope Borough regulatory and resource 

agencies (as appropriate, based on agency legal authority and 

jurisdictional responsibility). 

c. A minimum distance of 500 feet between pipelines and roads shall be 

maintained. Separating roads from pipelines may not be feasible 

within narrow land corridors between lakes and where pipelines and 

roads converge on a drill pad. Where it is not feasible to separate 

pipelines and roads, alternative pipeline routes, designs and possible 

burial within the road will be considered by the authorized officer. 

E-8 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Minimize the impact of mineral materials mining activities on air, 

land, water, fish, and wildlife resources. 

Requirement/Standard: Gravel mine site design and reclamation will be in 

accordance with a plan approved by the authorized officer. The plan shall be 

developed in consultation with appropriate federal, State, and North Slope 

Borough regulatory and resource agencies and consider: 

a. Locations outside the active flood plain. 

b. Design and construction of gravel mine sites within active flood plains 

to serve as water reservoirs for future use. 

c. Potential use of the site for enhancing fish and wildlife habitat. 

d. Potential storage and reuse of sod/overburden for the mine site or at 

other disturbed sites on the North Slope. 

E-9 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Avoidance of human-caused increases in populations of predators 

of ground nesting birds. 

Requirement/Standard: 

a. Lessee shall utilize best available technology to prevent facilities from 

providing nesting, denning, or shelter sites for ravens, raptors, and 

foxes. The lessee shall provide the authorized officer with an annual 

report on the use of oil and gas facilities by ravens, raptors, and foxes 

as nesting, denning, and shelter sites. 

b. Feeding of wildlife is prohibited and will be subject to noncompliance regulations. 

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E-10 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Prevention of migrating waterfowl, including species listed under 

the Endangered Species Act, from striking oil and gas and related facilities 

during low light conditions. 

Requirement/Standard: Illumination of all structures between August 1 and 

October 31 shall be designed to direct artificial exterior lighting inward and 

downward, rather than upward and outward, unless otherwise required by 

the Federal Aviation Administration. 

E-11 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Minimize the take of species, particularly those listed under the 

Endangered Species Act and BLM Special Status Species, from direct or 

indirect interaction with oil and gas facilities. 

Requirement/Standard: In accordance with the guidance below, before the 

approval of facility construction, aerial surveys of the following species shall 

be conducted within any area proposed for development. 

Special Conditions in Spectacled and/or Steller’s Eiders Habitats: 

a. Surveys shall be conducted by the lessee for at least 3 years before 

authorization of construction, if such construction is within the USFWS 

North Slope eider survey area and at least 1 year outside that area. 

Results of aerial surveys and habitat mapping may require additional 

ground nest surveys. Spectacled and/or Steller’s eider surveys shall be 

conducted following accepted BLM-protocol. Information gained from 

these surveys shall be used to make infrastructure siting decisions as 

discussed in subparagraph b, below. 

b. If spectacled and/or Steller’s eiders are determined to be present 

within the proposed development area, the applicant shall work with 

the USFWS and BLM early in the design process to site roads and 

facilities in order to minimize impacts to nesting and brood-rearing 

eiders and their preferred habitats. Such consultation shall address 

timing restrictions and other temporary mitigating measures, location 

of permanent facilities, placement of fill, alteration of eider habitat, 

aircraft operations, and management of high noise levels. 

c. To reduce the possibility of spectacled and/or Steller’s eiders or other 

birds colliding with above-ground utility lines (power and 

communication), such lines shall either be buried in access roads or 

suspended on vertical support members except in rare cases which are 

to be few in number and limited in extent. Exceptions are limited to 

the following situations, and must be reported to the USFWS when 

exceptions are authorized: 

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1. Overhead power or communication lines may be allowed when 

located entirely within the boundaries of a facility pad; 

2. Overhead power or communication lines may be allowed when 

engineering constraints at the specific and limited location make it 

infeasible to bury or connect the lines to a vertical support 

member; or 

3. Overhead power or communication lines may be allowed in 

situations when human safety would be compromised by other 

methods. 

d. To reduce the likelihood of spectacled and/or Steller’s eiders or other 

birds colliding with communication towers, towers should be located, 

to the extent practicable, on existing pads and as close as possible to 

buildings or other structures, and on the east or west side of buildings 

or other structures if possible. Support wires associated with 

communication towers, radio antennas, and other similar facilities, 

should be avoided to the extent practicable. If support wires are 

necessary, they should be clearly marked along their entire length to 

improve visibility to low flying birds. Such markings shall be 

developed through consultation with the USFWS. 

Special Conditions in Yellow-billed Loon Habitats: 

e. Aerial surveys shall be conducted by the lessee for at least 3 years 

before authorization of construction of facilities proposed for 

development which are within 1 mile of a lake 25 acres or larger in 

size. These surveys along shorelines of large lakes shall be conducted 

following accepted BLM protocol during nesting in late June and 

during brood rearing in late August. 

f. Should yellow-billed loons be present, the design and location of 

facilities must be such that disturbance is minimized. The default 

standard mitigation is a 1-mile buffer around all recorded nest sites 

and a minimum 1,625-foot (500-meter) buffer around the remainder 

of the shoreline. Development will generally be prohibited within 

buffers unless no other option exists. 

Protections for Birds 

g. To reduce the possibility of birds colliding with above-ground utility 

lines (power and communication), such lines shall either be buried in 

access roads or suspended on vertical support members except in rare 

cases, which are to be few in number and limited in extent. Exceptions 

are limited to the following situations: 

1. Overhead power or communication lines may be allowed when 

located entirely within the boundaries of a facility pad; 

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2. Overhead power or communication lines may be allowed when 

engineering constraints at the specific and limited location make it 

infeasible to bury or connect the lines to a vertical support 

member; or 

3. Overhead power or communication lines may be allowed in 

situations when human safety would be compromised by other 

methods. 

h. To reduce the likelihood of birds colliding with communication towers, 

towers should be located, to the extent practicable, on existing pads and 

as close as possible to buildings or other structures, and on the east or 

west side of buildings or other structures if possible. Support wires 

associated with communication towers, radio antennas, and other 

similar facilities, should be avoided to the extent practicable. If support 

wires are necessary, they should be clearly marked along their entire 

length to improve visibility to low-flying birds. Such markings shall be 

developed through consultation with the USFWS. 

E-12 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Use ecological mapping as a tool to assess wildlife habitat before 

development of permanent facilities to conserve important habitat types 

during development. 

Requirement/Standard: An ecological land classification map of the 

development area shall be developed before approval of facility 

construction. The map will integrate geomorphology, surface form, and 

vegetation at a scale, level of resolution, and level of positional accuracy 

adequate for detailed analysis of development alternatives. The map shall be 

prepared in time to plan one season of ground-based wildlife surveys, if 

deemed necessary by the authorized officer, before approval of the exact 

facility location and facility construction. 

E-13 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Protect cultural and paleontological resources. 

Requirement/Standard: Lessees shall conduct a cultural and paleontological 

resources survey prior to any ground-disturbing activity. Upon finding any 

potential cultural or paleontological resource, the lessee or their designated 

representative shall notify the authorized officer and suspend all operations 

in the immediate area of such discovery until written authorization to 

proceed is issued by the authorized officer. 

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E-14 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Ensure the passage of fish at stream crossings. 

Requirement/Standard: To ensure that crossings provide for fish passage, all 

proposed crossing designs shall adhere to the best management practices 

outlined in “Stream Crossing Design Procedure for Fish Streams on the 

North Slope Coastal Plain” by McDonald et al. (1994), “Fundamentals of 

Culvert Design for Passage of Weak-Swimming Fish” by Behlke et al. 

(1991), and other generally accepted best management procedures 

prescribed by the authorized officer. To adhere to these best management 

practices, at least 3 years of hydrologic and fish data shall be collected by 

the lessee for any proposed crossing of a stream whose structure is designed 

to occur, wholly or partially, below the stream’s ordinary high watermark. 

These data shall include, but are not limited to, the range of water levels 

(highest and lowest) at the location of the planned crossing, and the seasonal 

distribution and composition of fish populations using the stream. 

E-15 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Prevent or minimize the loss of nesting habitat for cliff nesting 

raptors.
 

Requirement/Standard: 

a. Removal of greater than 100 cubic yards of bedrock outcrops, sand, 

and/or gravel from cliffs shall be prohibited. 

b. Any extraction of sand and/or gravel from an active river or stream 

channel shall be prohibited unless preceded by a hydrological study 

that indicates no potential impact by the action to the integrity of the 

river bluffs. 

E-16 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Prevent or minimize the loss of raptors due to electrocution by 

power lines. 

Requirement/Standard: Comply with the most up-to-date industry-accepted 

suggested practices for raptor protection on power lines. Current accepted 

standards were published in Reducing Avian Collisions with Power Lines: 

The State of the Art in 2012 by the Avian Power Line Interaction Committee 

and are updated as needed. 

E-17 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Manage permitted activities to meet Visual Resource 

Management class objectives described below. 

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Class I: Natural ecological changes and very limited management activity 

are allowed. The level of change to the characteristic landscape should 

be very low and must not attract attention. 

Class II: The level of change to the characteristic landscape should be 

low. Management activities may be seen, but should not dominate the 

view of the casual observer. Any changes should repeat the basic 

elements of form, line, color, and texture found in the predominant 

natural features of the characteristic landscape. 

Class III: The level of change to the characteristic landscape should be 

moderate. Management activities may attract attention, but should not 

dominate the view of the casual observer. Changes should repeat the 

basic elements found in the predominant natural features of the 

characteristic landscape. 

Class IV: The level of change to the characteristic landscape can be high. 

These management activities may dominate the view and be the major 

focus of viewer attention. However, every attempt should be made to 

minimize impacts through location and design by repeating form, line, 

color, and texture. 

Requirement/Standard: At the time of application for construction of 

permanent facilities, the lessee/permittee shall, after consultation with the 

authorized officer, submit a plan to best minimize visual impacts, consistent 

with the Visual Resource Management class for the lands on which facilities 

would be located. A photo simulation of the proposed facilities may be a 

necessary element of the plan. 

E-18 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Avoid and reduce temporary impacts to productivity from 

disturbance near Steller’s and/or spectacled eider nests. 

Requirement/Standard: Ground-level activity (by vehicle or on foot) within 

200 meters of occupied Steller’s and/or spectacled eider nests, from June 1 

through August 15, will be restricted to existing thoroughfares, such as pads 

and roads. Construction of permanent facilities, placement of fill, alteration 

of habitat, and introduction of high noise levels within 200 meters of 

occupied Steller’s and/or spectacled eider nests will be prohibited. In 

instances where summer (June 1 through August 15) support/construction 

activity must occur off existing thoroughfares, USFWS-approved nest 

surveys must be conducted during mid-June prior to the approval of the 

activity. Collected data will be used to evaluate whether the action could 

occur based on employment of a 200-meter buffer around nests or if the 

activity would be delayed until after mid-August once ducklings are mobile 

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and have left the nest site. Also, in cases in which oil spill response training 

is proposed to be conducted within 200 meters of shore in riverine, marine, 

or inter-tidal areas, the BLM will work with the USFWS to schedule the 

training at a time that is not a sensitive nesting/brood-rearing period or 

require that nest surveys be conducted in the training area prior to the 

rendering a decision on approving the training. The protocol and timing of 

nest surveys for Steller’s and/or spectacled eiders will be determined in 

cooperation with the USFWS, and must be approved by the USFWS. 

Surveys should be supervised by biologists who have previous experience 

with Steller’s and/or spectacled eider nest surveys. 

E-19 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Provide information to be used in monitoring and assessing 

wildlife movements during and after construction. 

Requirement/Standard: A representation, in the form of ArcGIS-compatible 

shape-files, of all new infrastructure construction shall be provided to the 

authorized officer. During the planning and permitting phase, shape-files 

representing proposed locations shall be provided. Within 6 months of 

construction completion, shape-files (within GPS accuracy) of all new 

infrastructure shall be provided. Infrastructure includes all gravel roads and 

pads, facilities built on pads, pipelines and independently constructed 

powerlines (as opposed to those incorporated in pipeline design). Gravel 

pads shall be included as polygon feature. Roads, pipelines, and powerlines 

may be represented as line features but must include ancillary data to denote 

width, number pipes, etc. Poles for power lines may be represented as point 

features. Ancillary data shall include construction beginning and ending 

dates. 

Use of Aircraft for Permitted Activities 

F-1 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Minimize the effects of low-flying aircraft on wildlife, 

subsistence activities, and local communities. 

Requirement/Standard: The lessee shall ensure that aircraft used for 

permitted activities maintain altitudes according to the following guidelines 

(Note: This best management practice is not intended to restrict flights 

necessary to survey wildlife to gain information necessary to meet the stated 

objectives of the stipulations and best management practices. However, 

flights necessary to gain this information will be restricted to the minimum 

necessary to collect such data.): 

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a. Aircraft shall maintain an altitude of at least 1,500 feet above ground 

level when within 1⁄2 mile of cliffs identified as raptor nesting sites 

from April 15 through August 15 and an altitude of at least 1,500 feet 

above ground level when within 1⁄2 mile of known gyrfalcon nest sites 

from March 15 to August 15, unless doing so would endanger human 

life or violate safe flying practices. Permittees shall obtain information 

from the BLM necessary to plan flight routes when routes may go 

near falcon nests. 

b. Aircraft shall maintain an altitude of at least 1,000 feet above ground 

level (except for takeoffs and landings) over caribou winter ranges 

from December 1 through May 1, unless doing so would endanger 

human life or violate safe flying practices. Caribou wintering areas 

will be defined annually by the authorized officer. The BLM will 

consult directly with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in 

annually defining caribou winter ranges. 

c. Land user shall submit an aircraft use plan as part of an oil and gas 

exploration or development proposal. The plan shall address strategies 

to minimize impacts to subsistence hunting and associated activities, 

including but not limited to the number of flights, type of aircraft, and 

flight altitudes and routes, and shall also include a plan to monitor 

flights. Proposed aircraft use plans should be reviewed by appropriate 

federal, State, and borough agencies. Consultations with these same 

agencies will be required if unacceptable disturbance is identified by 

subsistence users. Adjustments, including possible suspension of all 

flights, may be required by the authorized officer if resulting 

disturbance is determined to be unacceptable. The number of takeoffs 

and landings to support oil and gas operations with necessary 

materials and supplies should be limited to the maximum extent 

possible. During the design of proposed oil and gas facilities, larger 

landing strips and storage areas should be considered to allow larger 

aircraft to be employed, resulting in fewer flights to the facility. 

d. Use of aircraft, especially rotary wing aircraft, near known 

subsistence camps and cabins or during sensitive subsistence hunting 

periods (spring goose hunting and fall caribou and moose hunting) 

should be kept to a minimum. 

e. Aircraft used for permitted activities shall maintain an altitude of at 

least 2,000 feet above ground level (except for takeoffs and landings) 

over the Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Habitat Area (Map 2) from May 20 

through August 20, unless doing so would endanger human life or 

violate safe flying practices. Aircraft use (including fixed wing and 

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helicopter) by oil and gas lessees in the Goose Molting Area (Map 2) 

should be minimized from May 20 through August 20, unless doing 

so would endanger human life or violate safe flying practices. 

f. Aircraft used for permitted activities shall maintain an altitude of at 

least 2,000 feet above ground level (except for takeoffs and landings) 

over the Utukok River Uplands Special Area (Map 2) from May 20 

through August 20, unless doing so would endanger human life or 

violate safe flying practices. 

g. Hazing of wildlife by aircraft is prohibited. Pursuit of running wildlife 

is hazing. If wildlife begins to run as an aircraft approaches, the 

aircraft is too close and must break away. 

h. Fixed wing aircraft used as part of a BLM-authorized activity along 

the coast shall maintain minimum altitude of 2,000 feet when within a 

1⁄2-mile of walrus haulouts, unless doing so would endanger human 

life or violate safe flying practices. Helicopters used as part of a 

BLM-authorized activity along the coast shall maintain minimum 

altitude of 3,000 feet and a 1-mile buffer from walrus haulouts, unless 

doing so would endanger human life or violate safe flying practices. 

i. Aircraft used as part of a BLM-authorized activity along the coast and 

shore fast ice zone shall maintain minimum altitude of 3,000 feet 

when within 1 mile from aggregations of seals, unless doing so would 

endanger human life or violate safe flying practices. 

Oil Field Abandonment 

G-1 Lease Stipulation 

Objective: Ensure long-term reclamation of land to its previous condition 

and use. 

Requirement/Standard: Prior to final abandonment, land used for oil and gas 

infrastructure—including but not limited to well pads, production facilities, 

access roads, and airstrips—shall be reclaimed to ensure eventual restoration 

of ecosystem function. The leaseholder shall develop and implement an 

abandonment and reclamation plan approved by the BLM. The plan shall 

describe short-term stability, visual, hydrological, and productivity 

objectives and steps to be taken to ensure eventual ecosystem restoration to 

the land’s previous hydrological, vegetative, and habitat condition. The 

BLM may grant exceptions to satisfy stated environmental or public 

purposes. 

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Subsistence Consultation for Permitted Activities 

H-1 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Provide opportunities for participation in planning and decision 

making to prevent unreasonable conflicts between subsistence uses and other 

activities. 

Requirement/Standard: Lessee/permittee shall consult directly with affected 

communities using the following guidelines: 

a. Before submitting an application to the BLM, the applicant shall 

consult with directly affected subsistence communities, the North Slope 

Borough, and the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska Subsistence 

Advisory Panel to discuss the siting, timing, and methods of their 

proposed operations to help discover local traditional and scientific 

knowledge, resulting in measures that minimize impacts to subsistence 

uses. Through this consultation, the applicant shall make every 

reasonable effort, including such mechanisms as conflict avoidance 

agreements and mitigating measures, to ensure that proposed activities 

will not result in unreasonable interference with subsistence activities. 

In the event that no agreement is reached between the parties, the 

authorized officer shall consult with the directly involved parties and 

determine which activities will occur, including the timeframes. 

b. The applicant shall submit documentation of consultation efforts as 

part of its operations plan. Applicants should submit the proposed 

plan of operations to the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska 

Subsistence Advisory Panel for review and comment. The applicant 

must allow time for the BLM to conduct formal government-togovernment consultation with Native Tribal governments if the 

proposed action requires it. 

c. A plan shall be developed that shows how the activity, in combination 

with other activities in the area, will be scheduled and located to 

prevent unreasonable conflicts with subsistence activities. The plan 

will also describe the methods used to monitor the effects of the 

activity on subsistence use. The plan shall be submitted to the BLM as 

part of the plan of operations. The plan should address the following 

items: 

1. A detailed description of the activity(ies) to take place (including 

the use of aircraft). 

2. A description of how the lessee/permittee will minimize and/or 

deal with any potential impacts identified by the authorized officer 

during the consultation process. 

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3. A detailed description of the monitoring effort to take place, 

including process, procedures, personnel involved and points of 

contact both at the work site and in the local community. 

4. Communication elements to provide information on how the 

applicant will keep potentially affected individuals and 

communities up-to-date on the progress of the activities and 

locations of possible, short-term conflicts (if any) with subsistence 

activities. Communication methods could include holding 

community meetings, open house meetings, workshops, 

newsletters, radio and television announcements, etc. 

5. Procedures necessary to facilitate access by subsistence users to 

the permitees’ area of activity or facilities during the course of 

conducting subsistence activities. 

d. During development, monitoring plans must be established for new 

permanent facilities, including pipelines, to assess an appropriate 

range of potential effects on resources and subsistence as determined 

on a case-by-case basis given the nature and location of the facilities. 

The scope, intensity, and duration of such plans will be established in 

consultation with the authorized officer and NPR-A Subsistence 

Advisory Panel. 

e. Permittees that propose barging facilities, equipment, supplies, or other 

materials to NPR-A in support of oil and gas activities in the NPR-A 

shall notify, confer, and coordinate with the Alaska Eskimo Whaling 

Commission, the appropriate local community whaling captains’ 

associations, and the North Slope Borough to minimize impacts from 

the proposed barging on subsistence whaling activities. 

f. Barge operators requiring a BLM permit are required to demonstrate 

that barging activities will not have unmitigable adverse impacts on 

the availability of marine mammals to subsistence hunters. 

g. All vessels over 50 ft. in length engaged in operations requiring a BLM 

permit must have an Automatic Identification System (AIS) 

transponder system on the vessel. 

H-2 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Prevent unreasonable conflicts between subsistence activities and 

geophysical (seismic) exploration. 

Requirement/Standard: In addition to the consultation process described in 

Best Management Practice H-1 for permitted activities, before activity to 

conduct geophysical (seismic) exploration commences, applicants shall 

notify the local search and rescue organizations of proposed seismic survey 

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locations for that operational season. For the purpose of this standard, a 

potentially affected cabin/campsite is defined as any camp or campsite used 

for subsistence purposes and located within the boundary of the area subject 

to proposed geophysical exploration and/or within 1 mile of actual or 

planned travel routes used to supply the seismic operations while it is in 

operation. 

a. Because of the large land area covered by typical geophysical 

operations and the potential to impact a large number of subsistence 

users during the exploration season, the permittee/operator will notify 

all potentially affected subsistence-use cabin and campsite users. 

b. The official recognized list of subsistence-use cabin and campsite 

users is the North Slope Borough’s most current inventory of cabins 

and campsites, which have been identified by the subsistence users’ 

names. 

c. A copy of the notification, a map of the proposed exploration area, 

and the list of potentially affected users shall also be provided to the 

office of the appropriate Native Tribal government. 

d. The authorized officer will prohibit seismic work within 1 mile of any 

known subsistence-use cabin or campsite unless an alternate 

agreement between the cabin/campsite owner/user is reached through 

the consultation process and presented to the authorized officer. 

(Regardless of the consultation outcome, the authorized officer will 

prohibit seismic work within 300 feet of a known subsistence-use 

cabin or campsite.) 

e. The permittee shall notify the appropriate local search and rescue 

(e.g., Nuiqsut Search and Rescue, Atqasuk Search and Rescue) of 

their current operational location within the NPR-A on a weekly basis. 

This notification should include a map indicating the current extent of 

surface use and occupation, as well as areas previously used/occupied 

during the course of the operation in progress. The purpose of this 

notification is to allow hunters up-to-date information regarding 

where seismic exploration is occurring, and has occurred, so that they 

can plan their hunting trips and access routes accordingly. 

Identification of the appropriate search and rescue offices to be 

contacted can be obtained from the coordinator of the NPR-A 

Subsistence Advisory Panel in the BLM’s Arctic Field Office. 

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H-3 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Minimize impacts to sport hunting and trapping species and to 

subsistence harvest of those animals. 

Requirement/Standard: Hunting and trapping by lessee's/permittee’s 

employees, agents, and contractors are prohibited when persons are on 

“work status.” Work status is defined as the period during which an 

individual is under the control and supervision of an employer. Work status 

is terminated when the individual’s shift ends and he/she returns to a public 

airport or community (e.g., Fairbanks, Barrow, Nuiqsut, or Deadhorse). Use 

of lessee/permittee facilities, equipment, or transport for personal access or 

aid in hunting and trapping is prohibited. 

Orientation Programs Associated with Permitted Activities 

I-1 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Minimize cultural and resource conflicts. 

Requirement/Standard: All personnel involved in oil and gas and related 

activities shall be provided information concerning applicable stipulations, 

best management practices, standards, and specific types of environmental, 

social, traditional, and cultural concerns that relate to the region. The 

lessee/permittee shall ensure that all personnel involved in permitted 

activities shall attend an orientation program at least once a year. The 

proposed orientation program shall be submitted to the authorized officer for 

review and approval and should: 

a. provide sufficient detail to notify personnel of applicable stipulations 

and best management practices as well as inform individuals working 

on the project of specific types of environmental, social, traditional 

and cultural concerns that relate to the region. 

b. Address the importance of not disturbing archaeological and 

biological resources and habitats, including endangered species, 

fisheries, bird colonies, and marine mammals, and provide guidance 

on how to avoid disturbance. 

c. Include guidance on the preparation, production, and distribution of 

information cards on endangered and/or threatened species. 

d. Be designed to increase sensitivity and understanding of personnel to 

community values, customs, and lifestyles in areas in which personnel 

will be operating. 

e. Include information concerning avoidance of conflicts with 

subsistence, commercial fishing activities, and pertinent mitigation. 

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f. Include information for aircraft personnel concerning subsistence 

activities and areas/seasons that are particularly sensitive to 

disturbance by low-flying aircraft. Of special concern is aircraft use 

near traditional subsistence cabins and campsites, flights during spring 

goose hunting and fall caribou and moose hunting seasons, and flights 

near North Slope communities. 

g. Provide that individual training is transferable from one facility to 

another except for elements of the training specific to a particular site. 

h. Include on-site records of all personnel who attend the program for so 

long as the site is active, though not to exceed the 5 most recent years 

of operations. This record shall include the name and dates(s) of 

attendance of each attendee. 

i. Include a module discussing bear interaction plans to minimize 

conflicts between bears and humans. 

j. Provide a copy of 43 CFR 3163 regarding Non-Compliance 

Assessment and Penalties to on-site personnel. 

k. Include training designed to ensure strict compliance with local and 

corporate drug and alcohol policies. This training should be offered to 

the North Slope Borough Health Department for review and comment. 

l. Include training developed to train employees on how to prevent 

transmission of communicable diseases, including sexually 

transmitted diseases, to the local communities. This training should 

be offered to the North Slope Borough Health Department for review 

and comment. 

Endangered Species Act—Section 7 Consultation Process 

J. The lease areas may now or hereafter contain plants, animals, or their 

habitats determined to be threatened, endangered, or to have some other 

special status. The BLM may recommend modifications to exploration and 

development proposals to further its conservation and management objective 

to avoid BLM-approved activities that will contribute to the need to list such 

a species or their habitat. The BLM may require modifications to or 

disapprove a proposed activity that is likely to adversely affect a proposed or 

listed endangered species, threatened species, or critical habitat. The BLM 

will not approve any activity that may affect any such species or critical 

habitat until it completes its obligations under applicable requirements of the 

Endangered Species Act as amended, 16 USC § 1531 et seq., including 

completion of any required procedure for conference or consultation. 

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Additional Protections that Apply in Select Biologically Sensitive Areas 

K-1 Lease Stipulation/Best Management Practice – Rivers 

Note: This measure would be applied to relevant new leases. On lands 

unavailable for leasing in the respective alternatives, K-1 would be a best 

management practice. The decision indicated below in subparagraphs (a) 

and (d) modify Protection 1 of the Colville River Special Area Management 

Plan by widening its applicability to 2 miles. 

Objective: Minimize the disruption of natural flow patterns and changes to 

water quality; the disruption of natural functions resulting from the loss or 

change to vegetative and physical characteristics of floodplain and riparian 

areas; the loss of spawning, rearing or over-wintering habitat for fish; the 

loss of cultural and paleontological resources; the loss of raptor habitat; 

impacts to subsistence cabin and campsites; the disruption of subsistence 

activities; and impacts to scenic and other resource values. 

Requirement/Standard: Permanent oil and gas facilities, including gravel 

pads, roads, airstrips, and pipelines, are prohibited in the streambed and 

adjacent to the rivers listed below at the distances identified. (Gravel mines 

may be located within the active floodplain consistent with Best 

Management Practice E-8). On a case-by case basis, and in consultation with 

federal, State, and North Slope Borough regulatory and resource agencies 

(as appropriate, based on agency legal authority and jurisdictional 

responsibility), essential pipeline and road crossings to the main channel will 

be permitted through setback areas. The below setbacks may not be practical 

within river deltas; in such deltas, permanent facilities shall be designed to 

withstand a 200-year flood event. In the below list, if no upper limit for the 

setback is indicated, the setback extends to the head of the stream as 

identified in the National Hydrography Dataset. 

a. Colville River: a 2-mile setback from the boundary of NPR-A where 

the river determines the boundary along the Colville River as 

determined by cadastral survey to be the highest high watermark on 

the left (western or northern) bank and from both banks’ ordinary high 

watermark where BLM-manages both sides of the river up through 

T5S, R30W, U.M. Above that point to its source at the juncture of 

Thunder and Storm creeks the setback will be 1⁄2 mile. Note: The 

planning area excludes conveyed Native lands along the lower reaches 

of the Colville River. Development of road crossings intended to 

support oil and gas activities shall be consolidated with other similar 

projects and uses to the maximum extent possible. Note: This 

provision does not apply to intercommunity or other permanent roads 

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constructed with public funds for general transportation purposes, 

though the BLM would encourage minimal use of the setback area. 

This preserves the opportunity to plan, design, and construct public 

transportation systems to meet the economic, transportation, and 

public health and safety needs of the State of Alaska and/or 

communities within National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. 

b. Ikpikpuk River: a 2-mile setback from of the ordinary high 

watermark of the Ikpikpuk River extending from the mouth upstream 

through T7 N, R11W, U.M.; above that the setback would be for 1 

mile to the confluence of the Kigalik River and Maybe Creek. 

c. Miguakiak River: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high 

watermark. 

d. Kikiakrorak and Kogosukruk Rivers: A 2-mile setback from the top 

of the bluff (or ordinary high watermark if there is no bluff) on the 

Kikiakrorak River downstream from T2N., R4W, U.M. and on the 

Kogosukruk River (including Branch of Kogosukruk River, Henry 

Creek, and two unnamed tributaries off the southern bank) 

downstream from T2N, R3W, U.M. The setback from these streams in 

the named townships and further upstream as applicable will be a 1⁄2-

mile from the top of the bluff or bank if there is no bluff. 

e. Fish Creek: a 3-mile setback from the highest high watermark of the 

creek downstream from the eastern edge of section 31, T11N, R1E., 

U.M. and a 1⁄2-mile setback from the bank’s highest high watermark 

farther upstream. 

f. Judy Creek: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high watermark. 

g. Ublutuoch (Tiƾmiaqsiugvik) River: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the 

ordinary high water mark. 

h. Alaktak River: a 1-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

i. Chipp River: a 1-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

j. Oumalik River: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the Oumalik River ordinary 

high water mark from the mouth upstream to section 5, T8N, R14W, 

U.M., and a 1⁄2 mile setback in and above section 5, T8N, R14W, U.M. 

k. Titaluk River: a 2-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark 

from its confluence with the Ikpikpuk River upstream through T7N, 

R12W, U.M.; above that point the setback would be 1⁄2-mile from the 

ordinary high water mark. 

l. Kigalik River: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

m. Maybe Creek: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

n. Topagoruk River: a 1-mile setback from the ordinary high water 

mark. 

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o. Ishuktak Creek: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

p. Meade River: a 1-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark on 

BLM-managed lands. 

q. Usuktuk River: a 1-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark 

on BLM-managed lands. 

r. Pikroka Creek: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

s. Nigisaktuvik River: a 1-mile setback from the ordinary high water 

mark. 

t. Inaru River: a 1-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

u. Kucheak Creek: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

v. Avalik River: a 1-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

w. Niklavik Creek: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

x. Kugrua River: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

y. Kungok River: a 1-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark on 

BLM-managed lands. 

z. Kolipsun Creek: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark 

upstream through T13N, R28W, U.M. 

aa. Maguriak Creek: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water 

mark upstream through T12N, R29W, U.M. 

ab. Mikigealiak River: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water 

mark upstream through T12N, R30W, U.M. 

ac. Kuk River: a 1-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark on 

BLM-managed lands. 

ad. Ketik River: a 1-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

ae. Kaolak River: a 1-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

af. Ivisaruk River: a 1-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

ag. Nokotlek River: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water 

mark. 

ah. Ongorakvik River: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water 

mark. 

ai. Tunalik River: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

aj. Avak River: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark 

within the NPR-A. 

ak. Nigu River: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark 

from the confluence with the Etivluk River upstream to the boundary 

of NPR-A 

al. Etivluk River: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

am. Ipnavik River: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

an. Kuna River: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

ao. Kiligwa River: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

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ap. Nuka River: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

aq. Driftwood Creek: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water 

mark. 

ar. Utukok River: a 1-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark 

within the NPR-A. 

as. Awuna River: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

at. Carbon Creek: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

au. Kokolik River: a 1-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark 

within the NPR-A. 

av. Keolok Creek: a 1⁄2-mile setback from the ordinary high water mark. 

The decisions in subparagraphs K-1(a) and K-1(d) modify Colville River 

Management Plan Protection 1 by widening the setback in that measure to 2 

miles. Protection 1 thus is modified to the following: 

Colville River Special Area Management Plan-Protection 1 

Objective: Minimize the loss of arctic peregrine falcon nesting habitat in the 

Colville River Special Area. 

Requirement/Standard: To minimize the direct loss of arctic peregrine falcon 

nesting habitat and to protect nest sites in the Colville River Special Area the 

following protective measures apply: Permanent oil and gas facilities, 

including gravel pads, roads, airstrips, and pipelines, are prohibited in the 

stream bed and adjacent to the rivers listed below at the distances identified. 

On a case-by-case basis, and in consultation with federal, State, and North 

Slope Borough regulatory and resource agencies (as appropriate; based on 

agency legal authority and jurisdictional responsibility), essential pipeline 

and road crossings perpendicular to the main channel will be permitted 

through setback areas. 

a. Colville River: downstream of the Etivluk River a continuous 2-mile 

setback measured from the highest high watermark on the left bank 

(facing downstream); upstream of the Etivluk River a 2-mile setback 

measured from the ordinary high watermark of the bank on both sides 

of the river. Development of road crossings intended to support oil 

and gas activities shall be consolidated with other similar projects and 

uses to the maximum extent possible. This provision does not apply to 

intercommunity or other permanent roads constructed with public 

funds for general transportation purposes. 

b. Kikiakrorak River: downstream from T2N, R4W, U.M., a continuous 

2-mile setback as measured from the top of the bluff (or bank if there 

is no bluff) of both sides of the river. 

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c. Kogosukruk River: downstream from T2N, R3W, U.M., a continuous 

2-mile setback as measured from the top of the bluff (or bank if there 

is no bluff) of both sides of the river and several of its tributaries. 

K-2 Lease Stipulation/Best Management Practice – Deep Water Lakes 

Note: This measure would be applied to relevant new leases. On lands 

unavailable for leasing, K-2 would be a best management practice. 

Objective: Minimize the disruption of natural flow patterns and changes to 

water quality; the disruption of natural functions resulting from the loss or 

change to vegetative and physical characteristics of deep water lakes; the 

loss of spawning, rearing or over wintering habitat for fish; the loss of 

cultural and paleontological resources; impacts to subsistence cabin and 

campsites; and the disruption of subsistence activities. 

Requirement/Standard: Generally, permanent oil and gas facilities, including 

gravel pads, roads, airstrips, and pipelines, are prohibited on the lake or 

lakebed and within 1⁄4 mile of the ordinary high water mark of any deep lake 

as determined to be in lake zone III (i.e., depth greater than 13 feet [4 

meters]; Mellor 1985). On a case-by-case basis in consultation with federal, 

State and North Slope Borough regulatory and resource agencies (as 

appropriate based on agency legal authority and jurisdictional 

responsibility), essential pipeline(s), road crossings, and other permanent 

facilities may be considered through the permitting process in these areas 

where the lessee can demonstrate on a site-specific basis that impacts will be 

minimal. 

K-3 Best Management Practice – Kogru River, Dease Inlet, Admiralty 

Bay, Elson Lagoon, Peard Bay, Wainwright Inlet/Kuk River, and 

Kasegaluk Lagoon, and their associated Islands 

Note: None of the area is available for oil and gas leasing or exploratory 

drilling. Therefore, K-3 will apply as a best management practice. 

Objective: Protect fish and wildlife habitat (including, but not limited to, that 

for waterfowl and shorebirds, caribou insect-relief, and marine mammals), 

preserve air and water quality, and minimize impacts to subsistence 

activities and historic travel routes on the major coastal waterbodies. 

Requirement/Standard (Development): With the exception of linear features 

such as pipelines, no permanent oil and gas facilities are permitted on or 

under the water within 3⁄4 mile seaward of the shoreline (as measured from 

mean high tide) of the major coastal waterbodies or the natural coastal 

islands (to the extent that the seaward subsurface is within NPR-A). 

Elsewhere, permanent facilities within the major coastal waterbodies will 

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only be permitted on or under the water if they can meet all the following 

criteria: 

a. Design and construction of facilities shall minimize impacts to 

subsistence uses, travel corridors, seasonally concentrated fish and 

wildlife resources. 

b. Daily operational activities, including use of support vehicles, 

watercraft, and aircraft traffic, alone or in combination with other 

past, present, and reasonably foreseeable activities, shall be conducted 

to minimize impacts to subsistence uses, travel corridors, and 

seasonally concentrated fish and wildlife resources. 

c. The location of oil and gas facilities, including artificial islands, 

platforms, associated pipelines, ice or other roads, bridges or 

causeways, shall be sited and constructed so as to not pose a hazard to 

navigation by the public using traditional high-use subsistence-related 

travel routes into and through the major coastal waterbodies as 

identified by the North Slope Borough. 

d. Demonstrated year-round oil spill response capability, including the 

capability of adequate response during periods of broken ice or open 

water, or the availability of alternative methods to prevent well 

blowouts during periods when adequate response capability cannot be 

demonstrated. Such alternative methods may include seasonal drilling 

restrictions, improvements in blowout prevention technology, 

equipment and/or changes in operational procedures, and “top-setting” 

of hydrocarbon-bearing zones. 

e. Reasonable efforts will be made to avoid or minimize impacts related 

to oil spill response activities, including vessel, aircraft, and 

pedestrian traffic that add to impacts or further compound “direct 

spill” related impacts on area resources and subsistence uses. 

f. Before conducting open water activities, the permittee shall consult 

with the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission and the North Slope 

Borough to minimize impacts to the fall and spring subsistence 

whaling activities of the communities of the North Slope. 

K-4a Best Management Practice – Goose Molting Area 

Note: Except for less than 10,000 acres east of the mouth of the Ikpikpuk 

River, new non-subsistence infrastructure would be prohibited in the goose 

molting area. None of the area is available for oil and gas leasing or 

exploratory drilling. 

Objective: Minimize disturbance to molting geese and loss of goose molting 

habitat in and around lakes in the Goose Molting Area. 

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Requirement/Standard (General): Within the Goose Molting Area no 

permanent oil and gas facilities, except for pipelines, will be allowed within 

1 mile of the shoreline of goose molting lakes. No waiver, exception, or 

modification will be considered. Prior to the permitting of a pipeline in the 

Goose Molting Area, a workshop will be convened to determine the best 

corridor for pipeline construction in efforts to minimize impacts to wildlife 

and subsistence resources. The workshop participants will include but will 

not be limited to federal, state, and North Slope Borough representatives. In 

addition, only “in field” roads will be authorized as part of oil and gas field 

development. 

Requirement/Standard (Development): In the Goose Molting Area, the 

following standards will be followed for permitted activities: 

a. Within the Goose Molting Area from June 15 through August 20, all 

off-pad activities and major construction activities using heavy 

equipment (e.g., sand/gravel extraction and transport, pipeline and pad 

construction, but not drilling from existing production pads) shall be 

suspended (see also Best Management Practice K-5(d)), unless 

approved by the authorized officer in consultation with the 

appropriate federal, State, and North Slope Borough regulatory and 

resource agencies. The intent of this requirement is to restrict 

activities that will disturb molting geese during the period when geese 

are present. 

b. Water extraction from any lakes used by molting geese shall not alter 

hydrological conditions that could adversely affect identified goosefeeding habitat along lakeshore margins. Considerations will be given 

to seasonal use by operators (generally in winter) and geese (generally 

in summer), as well as recharge to lakes from the spring snowmelt. 

c. Oil and gas activities will avoid altering (i.e., damage or disturbance of 

soils, vegetation, or surface hydrology) critical goose-feeding habitat 

types along lakeshore margins (grass/sedge/moss) and salt marsh 

habitats. 

d. Permanent oil and gas facilities (including gravel roads, pads, and 

airstrips, but excluding pipelines) and material sites will be sited 

outside the identified buffers and restricted surface occupancy areas. 

Additional limits on development footprint apply 

e. Between June 15 and August, 20 within the Goose Molting Area, oil 

and gas facilities shall incorporate features (e.g., temporary fences, 

siting/orientation) that screen/shield human activity from view of any 

Goose Molting Area lake, as identified by the authorized officer in 

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consultation with appropriate federal, State, and North Slope Borough 

regulatory and resource agencies. 

f. Strategies to minimize ground traffic shall be implemented from June 

15 through August 20. These strategies may include limiting trips, use 

of convoys, different vehicle types, etc. to the extent practicable. The 

permittee shall submit with the development proposal a vehicle use 

plan that considers these and any other mitigation. The vehicle use 

plan shall also include a vehicle-use monitoring plan. Adjustments 

will be required by the authorized officer if resulting disturbance is 

determined to be unacceptable. 

g. Within the Goose Molting Area aircraft use (including fixed wing and 

helicopter) shall be restricted from June 15 through August 20 unless 

doing so endangers human life or violates safe flying practices. 

Restrictions may include: (1) limiting flights to two round-trips/week, 

and (2) limiting flights to corridors established by the BLM after 

discussions with appropriate federal, State, and North Slope Borough 

regulatory and resource agencies. The permittee shall submit with the 

development proposal an aircraft use plan that considers these and 

other mitigation. The aircraft use plan shall also include an aircraft 

monitoring plan. Adjustments, including perhaps suspension of all 

aircraft use, will be required by the authorized officer if resulting 

disturbance is determined to be unacceptable. Note: This site-specific 

best management practice is not intended to restrict flights necessary 

to survey wildlife to gain information necessary to meet the stated 

objective of the stipulations and best management practices. However, 

flights necessary to gain this information will be restricted to the 

minimum necessary to collect such data. 

h. Any permit for development issued under this IAP/EIS will include a 

requirement for the permittee to conduct monitoring studies necessary 

to adequately determine consequences of development and any need 

for change to mitigations. Monitoring studies will be site- and 

development-specific within a set of over-arching guidelines 

developed by the BLM after conferring with appropriate federal, 

State, North Slope Borough agencies. The study(ies) will include the 

construction period and will continue for a minimum of 3 years after 

construction has been completed and production has begun. The 

monitoring studies will be a continuation of evaluating the 

effectiveness of Best Management Practice K-4a’s requirements in 

meeting the objective of K-4a and determine if any changes to the best 

management practice or any project specific mitigation(s) are 

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necessary. If changes are determined to be necessary, the BLM, with 

the permittee and/or their representative, will conduct an assessment 

of the feasibility of altering development operation (e.g., reduced 

human activity, visibility barriers, noise abatement). Any changes 

determined necessary will be implemented prior to authorization of 

any new construction. 

K-4b Best Management Practice – Brant Survey Area 

Objective: Minimize the loss or alteration of habitat for, or disturbance of, 

nesting and brood rearing brant in the Brant Survey Area. None of the area 

is available for oil and gas leasing or exploratory drilling. 

Requirement/Standard: 

a. Aerial surveys for brant nesting colonies and brood-rearing areas shall 

be conducted for a minimum of 2 years before authorization of 

construction of permanent facilities. At a minimum, the survey area 

shall include the proposed development site(s) (i.e., the footprint) and 

the surrounding 1⁄2-mile area. These surveys shall be conducted 

following accepted BLM protocol. 

b. Development may be prohibited or activities curtailed within 1⁄2-mile 

of all identified brant nesting colonies and brood-rearing areas 

identified during the 2-year survey 

K-5 Best Management Practice –Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Habitat Area 

Note: None of the area is available for oil and gas leasing or exploratory 

drilling. Therefore, K-5 will apply as a best management practice. Portions 

of K-5 that apply to permanent infrastructure are only relevant to the portion 

of the Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Habitat Area available to application for 

such infrastructure, i.e., to those areas outside of the approximately 1.1 

million acres near the lake where no new non-subsistence permanent 

infrastructure will be permitted. 

Objective: Minimize disturbance and hindrance of caribou, or alteration of 

caribou movements through portions the Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Habitat 

Area that are essential for all season use, including calving and rearing, 

insect-relief, and migration. 

Requirement/Standard: In the Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Habitat Area the 

following standards will be applied to permitted activities: 

a. Before authorization of construction of permanent facilities (limited as 

they may be by surface occupancy restrictions established in this 

decision), the permittee shall design and implement and report a study 

of caribou movement unless an acceptable study(s) specific to the 

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Teshekpuk Caribou Herd has been completed within the last 10 years. 

The study shall include a minimum of four years of current data on 

the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd movements and the study design shall be 

approved by the authorized officer in consultation with the 

appropriate federal, State, and North Slope Borough wildlife and 

resource agencies. The study should provide information necessary to 

determine facility (including pipeline) design and location. Permittee 

may submit individual study proposals or they may combine with 

other permittees in the area to do a single, joint study for the entire 

Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Habitat Area. Study data may be gathered 

concurrently with other activities as approved by the authorized 

officer and in consultation with the appropriate federal, State, and 

North Slope Borough wildlife and resource agencies. A final report of 

the study results will be prepared and submitted. Prior to the 

permitting of a pipeline in the Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Habitat Area, 

a workshop will be convened to identify the best corridor for pipeline 

construction in efforts to minimize impacts to wildlife (specifically 

the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd) and subsistence resources. The 

workshop participants will include but will not be limited to federal, 

State, and North Slope Borough representatives. All of these 

modifications will increase protection for caribou and other wildlife 

that utilize the Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Habitat Area during all 

seasons. 

b. Within the Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Habitat Area, permittee shall 

orient linear corridors when laying out oil and gas field developments 

to address migration and corralling effects and to avoid loops of road 

and/or pipeline that connect facilities. 

c. Ramps over pipelines, buried pipelines, or pipelines buried under the 

road may be required by the authorized officer, after consultation with 

appropriate federal, State, and North Slope Borough regulatory and 

resource agencies, in the Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Habitat Area where 

pipelines potentially impede caribou movement. 

d. Major construction activities using heavy equipment (e.g., sand/gravel 

extraction and transport, pipeline and pad construction, but not 

drilling from existing production pads) shall be suspended within 

Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Habitat Area from May 20 through August 

20, unless approved by the authorized officer in consultation with the 

appropriate federal, State, and North Slope Borough regulatory and 

resource agencies. The intent of this requirement is to restrict 

activities that will disturb caribou during calving and insect-relief 

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periods. If caribou arrive on the calving grounds prior to May 20, 

major construction activities will be suspended. The permittee shall 

submit with the development proposal a “stop work” plan that 

considers this and any other mitigation related to caribou early arrival. 

The intent of this latter requirement is to provide flexibility to adapt to 

changing climate conditions that may occur during the life of fields in 

the region. 

e. The following ground and air traffic restrictions shall apply in the 

areas and time periods indicated. Ground traffic restrictions apply to 

permanent oil and gas-related roads: 

1. Within the Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Habitat Area, from May 20 

through August 20, traffic speed shall not exceed 15 miles per hour 

when caribou are within 1⁄2 mile of the road. Additional strategies 

may include limiting trips, using convoys, using different vehicle 

types, etc., to the extent practicable. The permittee shall submit 

with the development proposal a vehicle use plan that considers 

these and any other mitigation. The vehicle use plan shall also 

include a vehicle-use monitoring plan. Adjustments will be 

required by the authorized officer if resulting disturbance is 

determined to be unacceptable. 

2. The permittee or a contractor shall observe caribou movement 

from May 20 through August 20, or earlier if caribou are present 

prior to May 20. Based on these observations, traffic will be 

stopped: 

a. temporarily to allow a crossing by 10 or more caribou. Sections 

of road will be evacuated whenever an attempted crossing by a 

large number of caribou appears to be imminent. The permittee 

shall submit with the development proposal a vehicle use plan 

that considers these and any other mitigation. 

b. by direction of the authorized officer throughout a defined area 

for up to four weeks to prevent displacement of calving caribou. 

The vehicle use plan shall also include a vehicle-use monitoring 

plan. Adjustments will be required by the authorized officer if 

resulting disturbance is determined to be unacceptable. 

3. Major equipment, materials, and supplies to be used at oil and gas 

work sites in the Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Habitat Area shall be 

stockpiled prior to or after the period of May 20 through August 20 

to minimize road traffic during that period. 

4. Within the Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Habitat Area aircraft use 

(including fixed wing and helicopter) shall be restricted from May 

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20 through August 20 unless doing so endangers human life or 

violates safe flying practices. Authorized users of the NPR-A may 

be restricted from using aircraft larger than a Twin Otter, and 

limited to an average of one fixed-wing aircraft takeoff and landing 

per day per airstrip, except for emergency purposes. Restrictions 

may include prohibiting the use of aircraft larger than a Twin Otter 

by authorized users of the NPR-A, including oil and gas permittee, 

from May 20 through August 20 within the Teshekpuk Lake 

Caribou Habitat Area, except for emergency purposes. The 

permittee shall submit with the development proposal an aircraft 

use plan that considers these and other mitigation. The aircraft use 

plan shall also include an aircraft monitoring plan. Adjustments, 

including perhaps suspension of all aircraft use, will be required by 

the authorized officer if resulting disturbance is determined to be 

unacceptable. This best management practice is not intended to 

restrict flights necessary to survey wildlife to gain information 

necessary to meet the stated objective of the stipulations and best 

management practices. However, flights necessary to gain this 

information will be restricted to the minimum necessary to collect 

such data. 

5. Aircraft shall maintain a minimum height of 1,000 feet above 

ground level (except for takeoffs and landings) over caribou winter 

ranges from December 1 through May 1, and 2,000 feet above 

ground level over the Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Habitat Area from 

May 20 through August 20, unless doing so endangers human life 

or violates safe flying practices. Caribou wintering ranges will be 

defined annually by the authorized officer in consultation with the 

Alaska Department of Fish and Game. This best management 

practice is not intended to restrict flights necessary to survey 

wildlife to gain information necessary to meet the stated objective 

of the stipulations and best management practices. However, 

flights necessary to gain this information will be restricted to the 

minimum necessary to collect such data. 

K-6 Lease Stipulation/Best Management Practice – Coastal Area 

Note: This measure would be applied to relevant new leases. On lands 

unavailable for leasing in the respective alternatives, K-6 would be a best 

management practice. 

Objective: Protect coastal waters and their value as fish and wildlife habitat 

(including, but not limited to, that for waterfowl, shorebirds, and marine 

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mammals), minimize hindrance or alteration of caribou movement within 

caribou coastal insect-relief areas; protect the summer and winter shoreline 

habitat for polar bears, and the summer shoreline habitat for walrus and 

seals; prevent loss of important bird habitat and alteration or disturbance of 

shoreline marshes; and prevent impacts to subsistence resources and 

activities. 

Requirement/Standard: 

a. Exploratory well drill pads, production well drill pads, or a central 

processing facility for oil or gas would not be allowed in coastal 

waters or on islands between the northern boundary of the Reserve 

and the mainland, or in inland areas within one mile of the coast. 

(Note: This would include the entirety of the Kasegaluk Lagoon and 

Peard Bay Special Areas.) Other facilities necessary for oil and gas 

production within NPR-A that necessarily must be within this area 

(e.g., barge landing, seawater treatment plant, or spill response staging 

and storage areas) would not be precluded. Nor would this stipulation 

preclude infrastructure associated with offshore oil and gas 

exploration and production or construction, renovation, or 

replacement of facilities on existing gravel sites. Lessees/permittees 

shall consider the practicality of locating facilities that necessarily 

must be within this area at previously occupied sites such as various 

Husky/USGS drill sites and Distant Early Warning-Line sites. All 

lessees/permittees involved in activities in the immediate area must 

coordinate use of these new or existing sites with all other prospective 

users. Before conducting open water activities, the lessee shall consult 

with the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, the North Slope 

Borough, and local whaling captains associations to minimize impacts 

to the fall and spring subsistence whaling activities of the 

communities of the North Slope. In a case in which the BLM 

authorizes a permanent oil and gas facility within the Coastal Area, 

the lessee/permittee shall develop and implement a monitoring plan to 

assess the effects of the facility and its use on coastal habitat and use. 

b. Marine vessels used as part of a BLM-authorized activity shall 

maintain a 1-mile buffer from the shore when transiting past an 

aggregation of seals (primarily spotted seals) using a terrestrial 

haulout unless doing so would endanger human life or violate safe 

boating practices. Marine vessels shall not conduct ballast transfers or 

discharge any matter into the marine environment within 3 miles of 

the coast except when necessary for the safe operation of the vessel. 

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c. Marine vessels used as part of a BLM-authorized activity shall 

maintain a 1⁄2-mile buffer from shore when transiting past an 

aggregation of walrus using a terrestrial haulout. 

K-7 Lease Stipulation/Best Management Practice - Colville River Special 

Area 

Note: This measure would be applied to relevant new leases. On lands 

unavailable for leasing, K-7 would be a best management practice. 

Objective: Prevent or minimize loss of raptor foraging habitat (also see 

Lease Stipulation K-1). 

Requirement/Standard: If necessary to construct permanent facilities within 

the Colville River Special Area, all reasonable and practicable efforts shall 

be made to locate permanent facilities as far from raptor nests as feasible. 

Additionally, within 15 miles of raptor nest sites, significant alteration of 

high quality foraging habitat shall be prohibited unless the lessee can 

demonstrate on a site-specific basis that impacts would be minimal. Of 

particular concern are ponds, lakes, wetlands, and riparian habitats. Note: On 

a case-by-case basis, and in consultation with appropriate federal and State 

regulatory and resource agencies, essential pipeline and road crossings will 

be permitted through the Colville River Special Area where no other feasible 

or prudent options are available. 

K-8 Best Management Practice - Pik Dunes 

Note: None of the area is available for oil and gas leasing or exploratory 

drilling. Therefore, K-8 will apply as a best management practice. 

Objective: Retain unique qualities of the Pik Dunes, including geologic and 

scenic uniqueness, insect-relief habitat for caribou, and habitat for several 

uncommon plant species. 

Requirement/Standard: Surface structures, except approximately 

perpendicular pipeline crossings and ice pads, are prohibited within the Pik 

Dunes. 

K-9 Best Management Practice – Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Movement 

Corridor 

Note: None of the area is available for oil and gas leasing or exploratory 

drilling. Therefore, K-9 will apply as a best management practice. All of the 

former movement corridor northwest of Teshekpuk Lake and all but the 

eastern-most part of the other corridor that lies north of the Kogru River are 

within an area prohibiting new non-subsistence infrastructure. Therefore, 

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this best management practice only applies to the lands in the former 

corridor north of the Kogru River in Ts. 14-15 N., R. 2 W., U.M. 

Objective: Minimize disturbance and hindrance of caribou, or alteration of 

caribou movements (that are essential for all season use, including calving 

and rearing, insect-relief, and migration) in the area extending from the 

eastern shore of Teshekpuk Lake eastward to the Kogru River. 

Requirement/Standard: Within the Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Movement 

Corridor, no permanent oil and gas facilities, except for pipelines or other 

infrastructure associated with offshore oil and gas exploration and 

production, will be allowed. Prior to the permitting of permanent oil and gas 

infrastructure in the Caribou Movement Corridor, a workshop will be 

convened to identify the best corridor for pipeline construction in efforts to 

minimize impacts to wildlife and subsistence resources. The workshop 

participants will include but will not be limited to federal, State, and North 

Slope Borough representatives. 

K-10 Best Management Practice – Southern Caribou Calving Area 

Note: None of the area is available for oil and gas leasing or exploratory 

drilling. Therefore, K-10 will apply as a best management practice. All but 

the eastern-most part of the former Southern Caribou Calving Area lies 

within an area prohibiting new non-subsistence infrastructure. Therefore, 

this best management practice only applies to the lands in the former area 

T. 14 N., Rs. 1-2 W., U.M.; T. 14 N., R. 1 E., U.M; and T. 15 N., R. 2 W., 

U.M. 

Objective: Minimize disturbance and hindrance of caribou, or alteration of 

caribou movements (that are essential for all season use, including calving 

and post calving, and insect-relief) in the area south/southeast of Teshekpuk 

Lake. 

Requirement/Standard: Within the Southern Caribou Calving Area, no 

permanent oil and gas facilities, except pipelines or other infrastructure 

associated with offshore oil and gas exploration and production, will be 

allowed. Prior to the permitting of permanent oil and gas infrastructure in the 

Southern Caribou Calving Area, a workshop will be convened to identify the 

best corridor for pipeline construction in efforts to minimize impacts to 

wildlife and subsistence resources. The workshop participants will include 

but will not be limited to federal, State, and North Slope Borough 

representatives. 

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K-11 Lease Stipulation/Best Management Practice – Western Arctic Herd 

Habitat Area 

Note: This measure would be applied to relevant new leases. On lands 

unavailable for leasing, K-11 would be a best management practice. Portions 

of K-11 that apply to permanent infrastructure are only relevant to the 

northern portion of the Utukok River Uplands Special Area available to 

application for such infrastructure. 

Objective: Minimize disturbance and hindrance of caribou, or alteration of 

caribou movements through the Utukok River Uplands Special Area that are 

essential for all season use, including calving and rearing, insect-relief, and 

migration. 

Requirement/Standard: In the Utukok River Uplands Special Area the 

following standards will be applied to permitted activities: 

a. Before authorization of construction of permanent facilities, the lessee 

shall design and implement and report a study of caribou movement 

unless an acceptable study(s) specific to the Western Arctic Herd has 

been completed within the last 10 years. The study shall include a 

minimum of four years of current data on the Western Arctic Herd’s 

movements and the study design shall be approved by the authorized 

officer in consultation with the appropriate federal, State, and North 

Slope Borough wildlife and resource agencies and the Western Arctic 

Caribou Herd Working Group. The study should provide information 

necessary to determine facility (including pipeline) design and 

location. Lessees may submit individual study proposals or they may 

combine with other lessees in the area to do a single, joint study for 

the entire Utukok River Uplands Special Area. Study data may be 

gathered concurrently with other activities as approved by the 

authorized officer and in consultation with the appropriate federal, 

State, and North Slope Borough wildlife and resource agencies. A 

final report of the study results will be prepared and submitted. Prior 

to the permitting of a pipeline in the Utukok River Uplands Special 

Area, a workshop will be convened to identify the best corridor for 

pipeline construction in efforts to minimize impacts to wildlife 

(specifically the Western Arctic Herd) and subsistence resources. The 

workshop participants will include but will not be limited to federal, 

State, and North Slope Borough representatives. All of these 

modifications will increase protection for caribou and other wildlife 

that utilize the Utukok River Uplands Special Area during all seasons. 

b. Within the Utukok River Uplands Special Area, lessees shall orient 

linear corridors when laying out oil and gas field developments to 

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address migration and corralling effects and to avoid loops of road 

and/or pipeline that connect facilities. 

c. Ramps over pipelines, buried pipelines, or pipelines buried under the 

road may be required by the authorized officer, after consultation with 

appropriate federal, State, and North Slope Borough regulatory and 

resource agencies, in the Utukok River Uplands Special Area where 

pipelines potentially impede caribou movement. 

d. Major construction activities using heavy equipment (e.g., sand/gravel 

extraction and transport, pipeline and pad construction, but not 

drilling from existing production pads) shall be suspended within 

Utukok River Uplands Special Area from May 20 through August 20, 

unless approved by the authorized officer in consultation with the 

appropriate federal, State, and North Slope Borough regulatory and 

resource agencies. The intent of this requirement is to restrict 

activities that will disturb caribou during calving and insect-relief 

periods. If caribou arrive on the calving grounds prior to May 20, 

major construction activities will be suspended. The lessee shall 

submit with the development proposal a “stop work” plan that 

considers this and any other mitigation related to caribou early arrival. 

The intent of this latter requirement is to provide flexibility to adapt to 

changing climate conditions that may occur during the life of fields in 

the region. 

e. The following ground and air traffic restrictions shall apply to 

permanent oil and gas-related roads in the areas and time periods 

indicated: 

1. Within the Utukok River Uplands Special Area, from May 20 

through August 20, traffic speed shall not exceed 15 miles per hour 

when caribou are within 1⁄2 mile of the road. Additional strategies 

may include limiting trips, using convoys, using different vehicle 

types, etc., to the extent practicable. The lessee shall submit with 

the development proposal a vehicle use plan that considers these 

and any other mitigation. The vehicle use plan shall also include a 

vehicle-use monitoring plan. Adjustments will be required by the 

authorized officer if resulting disturbance is determined to be 

unacceptable. 

2. The lessee or a contractor shall observe caribou movement from 

May 20 through August 20, or earlier if caribou are present prior to 

May 20. Based on these observations, traffic will be stopped: 

a. Temporarily to allow a crossing by 10 or more caribou. 

Sections of road will be evacuated whenever an attempted 

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crossing by a large number of caribou appears to be imminent. 

The lessee shall submit with the development proposal a 

vehicle use plan that considers these and any other mitigation. 

b. By direction of the authorized officer throughout a defined area 

for up to four weeks to prevent displacement of calving caribou. 

The vehicle use plan shall also include a vehicle-use monitoring 

plan. Adjustments will be required by the authorized officer if 

resulting disturbance is determined to be unacceptable. 

3. Major equipment, materials, and supplies to be used at oil and gas 

work sites in the Utukok River Uplands Special Area shall be 

stockpiled prior to or after the period of May 20 through August 20 

to minimize road traffic during that period. 

4. Within the Utukok River Uplands Special Area aircraft use 

(including fixed wing and helicopter) shall be restricted from May 

20 through August 20 unless doing so endangers human life or 

violates safe flying practices. Authorized users of the NPR-A may 

be restricted from using aircraft larger than a Twin Otter, and 

limited to an average of one fixed-wing aircraft takeoff and landing 

per day per airstrip, except for emergency purposes. Restrictions 

may include prohibiting the use of aircraft larger than a Twin Otter 

by authorized users of the NPR-A, including oil and gas lessees, 

from May 20 through August 20 within the Utukok River Uplands 

Special Area, except for emergency purposes. The lessee shall 

submit with the development proposal an aircraft use plan that 

considers these and other mitigation. The aircraft use plan shall 

also include an aircraft monitoring plan. Adjustments, including 

perhaps suspension of all aircraft use, will be required by the 

authorized officer if resulting disturbance is determined to be 

unacceptable. This lease stipulation is not intended to restrict 

flights necessary to survey wildlife to gain information necessary 

to meet the stated objective of the stipulations and best 

management practices. However, flights necessary to gain this 

information will be restricted to the minimum necessary to collect 

such data. 

5. Aircraft shall maintain a minimum height of 1,000 feet above 

ground level (except for takeoffs and landings) over caribou winter 

ranges from December 1 through May 1, and 2,000 feet above 

ground level over the Utukok River Uplands Special Area from 

May 20 through August 20, unless doing so endangers human life 

or violates safe flying practices. Caribou wintering ranges will be 

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defined annually by the authorized officer in consultation with the 

Alaska Department of Fish and Game. This lease stipulation is not 

intended to restrict flights necessary to survey wildlife to gain 

information necessary to meet the stated objective of the 

stipulations and best management practices. However, flights 

necessary to gain this information will be restricted to the 

minimum necessary to collect such data. 

Summer Vehicle Tundra Access 

L-1 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Protect stream banks and water quality; minimize compaction and 

displacement of soils; minimize the breakage, abrasion, compaction, or 

displacement of vegetation; protect cultural and paleontological resources; 

maintain populations of, and adequate habitat for birds, fish, and caribou and 

other terrestrial mammals; and minimize impacts to subsistence activities. 

Requirement/Standard: On a case-by-case basis, BLM may permit lowground-pressure vehicles to travel off of gravel pads and roads during times 

other than those identified in Best Management Practice C-2a. Permission 

for such use would only be granted after an applicant has: 

a. Submitted studies satisfactory to the authorized officer of the impacts 

on soils and vegetation of the specific low-ground-pressure vehicles to 

be used. These studies should reflect use of such vehicles under 

conditions similar to those of the route proposed for use and should 

demonstrate that the proposed use would have no more than minimal 

impacts to soils and vegetation. 

b. Submitted surveys satisfactory to the authorized officer of subsistence 

uses of the area as well as of the soils, vegetation, hydrology, wildlife 

and fish (and their habitats), paleontological and archaeological 

resources, and other resources as required by the authorized officer. 

c. Designed and/or modified the use proposal to minimize impacts to the 

authorized officer’s satisfaction. Design steps to achieve the 

objectives and based upon the studies and surveys may include, but 

not be limited to, timing restrictions (generally it is considered 

inadvisable to conduct tundra travel prior to August 1 to protect 

ground-nesting birds), shifting of work to winter, rerouting, and not 

proceeding when certain wildlife are present or subsistence activities 

are occurring. At the discretion of the authorized officer, the plan for 

summer tundra vehicle access may be included as part of the spill 

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prevention and response contingency plan required by 40 CFR 112 

(Oil Pollution Act) and Best Management Practice A-4. 

General Wildlife and Habitat Protection 

M-1 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Minimize disturbance and hindrance of wildlife, or alteration of 

wildlife movements through the NPR-A. 

Requirement/Standard: Chasing wildlife with ground vehicles is prohibited. 

Particular attention will be given to avoid disturbing caribou. 

M-2 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Prevent the introduction, or spread, of non-native, invasive plant 

species in the NPR-A. 

Requirement/Standard: Certify that all equipment and vehicles (intended for 

use either off or on roads) are weed-free prior to transporting them into the 

NPR-A. Monitor annually along roads for non-native invasive species, and 

initiate effective weed control measures upon evidence of their introduction. 

Prior to operations in the NPR-A, submit a plan for the BLM’s approval, 

detailing the methods for cleaning equipment and vehicles, monitoring for 

weeds and weed control. 

M-3 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Minimize loss of populations of, and habitat for, plant species 

designated as Sensitive by the BLM in Alaska. 

Requirement/Standard: If a development is proposed in an area that provides 

potential habitat for a BLM Sensitive Plant Species, the development 

proponent would conduct surveys at appropriate times of the summer season 

and in appropriate habitats for the Sensitive Plant Species that might occur 

there. The results of these surveys will be submitted to the BLM with the 

application for development. 

M-4 Best Management Practice 

Objective: Minimize loss of individuals of, and habitat for, mammalian 

species designated as Sensitive by the BLM in Alaska. 

Requirement/Standard: If a development is proposed in an area that provides 

potential habitat for the Alaska tiny shrew, the development proponent 

would conduct surveys at appropriate times of the year and in appropriate 

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habitats in an effort to detect the presence of the shrew. The results of these 

surveys will be submitted to BLM with the application for development. 

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APPENDIX B: MODIFICATIONS AND 

CLARIFICATIONS 

The following describes clarifications and minor modifications that BLM 

has made in this decision to the Preferred Alternative presented in the Final 

IAP/EIS. (Modifications that have been made to correct sentence structure, 

grammatical errors, sub-paragraph letters, and other non-substantive errors 

are not discussed below.) 

General 

Some language has been added clarifying the applicability of K-stipulations 

and best management practices in areas unavailable for leasing or in which 

no new non-subsistence permanent infrastructure would be permitted. 

Some protective measures in Table 2-3 in the Final IAP/EIS were listed as 

Stipulation/Best Management Practice and reference was made in the 

measure to lessee(s), the correct term to be applied when incorporated into a 

lease. If this ROD would not make any of the applicable lands available for 

leasing, lessee(s) has been changed to permittee(s). 

Some stipulation and best management practice numbers have been altered. 

x	 The Final IAP/EIS’s Best Management Practice E-20 has been redesignated as Best Management Practice E-17. There had been a Best 

Management Practice E-17 only in Alternative A in the Final 

IAP/EIS; re-designating the Final IAP/EIS’s Best Management 

Practice E-20 as E-17 avoids a gap in the series of stipulations and 

best management practices. 

x	 The Final IAP/EIS’s Stipulation K-3a did not apply to the Preferred 

Alternative, though Stipulation K-3b did. Stipulation K-3b has been 

re-designated K-3 in the ROD. 

x	 The Final IAP/EIS’s Stipulation K-5b did not apply to the Preferred 

Alternative, though Stipulation K-5a did. Stipulation K-5a has been 

re-designated K-5 in the ROD. 

x	 The Final IAP/EIS’s Stipulation K-8b did not apply to the Preferred 

Alternative, though Stipulation K-8a did. Stipulation K-8a has been 

re-designated K-8 in the ROD. 

x	 The Final IAP/EIS’s Stipulation K-11 did not apply to the Preferred 

Alternative. The Final IAP/EIS’s Stipulation K-12 has been reFebruary 2013 Appendix B: Modifications and Clarifications 

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former Wainwright Di

 

designated K-11 to avoid a gap in the series of stipulations and best 

management practices. 

Visual Resource Management Classifications 

The VRM classifications in the ROD are the same as those described for the 

Preferred Alternative in the Final IAP/EIS (see Table 2-2 in the Final 

IAP/EIS), with one exception. The Preferred Alternative in the Final 

IAP/EIS would have designated Wainwright Inlet as VRM II. However, 

BLM-managed lands in this area are surrounded by private lands and the 

stant Early Warning (DEW)-Line Station. 

Management as VRM II could add an unnecessary layer of complexity to 

use authorizations in support of private land owners’ use of their land and to 

the former DEW-Line Station’s clean-up. Moreover, a principle purpose of 

this plan has been to facilitate permitting of onshore infrastructure in support 

of offshore oil and gas development. A classification of VRM III is more 

consistent with allowing pipeline and other infrastructure in this area and 

with permitting of former DEW-Line Station clean-up activities and 

activities supportive of actions desired by adjacent private land owners. A 

VRM III classification for the Wainwright Inlet is within the scope of the 

alternatives analyzed in the IAP/EIS; the inlet was analyzed under a VRM 

III classification in Alternative C. 

Best Management Practice E-16 

Reference to the publication containing current accepted standards for 

protecting raptors from powerlines has been changed to Reducing Avian 

Collisions with Power Lines: The State of the Art in 2012, which was issued 

in December 2012. The Final IAP/EIS had referred to its 2006 predecessor 

guidance document. 

Best Management Practice E-18 

Text has been modified to clarify the intent of the measure regarding oil spill 

response training requirements. 

Best Management Practice F-1 

Text has been added to subparagraph (a) to clarify the minimum flight 

altitude near gyrfalcon nests. Text has been added to subparagraphs (h) and 

(i) to clarify that minimum altitude is to be maintained “when within” 

certain distances of walrus haulouts and seal aggregations. 

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Best Management Practice H-1 

Subparagraphs (c)(6) and (c)(7) have been redesignated as subparagraphs (f) 

and (g), thus making them stand-alone requirements, rather than 

requirements of a plan. 

Stipulation K-1 

Subparagraph (k) in the Final IAP/EIS erroneously listed the Titaluk River 

setback from the centerline rather than from the ordinary high water mark. 

Subparagraph (s) in the Final IAP/EIS failed to make clear that under the 

Preferred Alternative the setback would be 1 mile for the entire length of the 

Nigisaktuvik River. The ROD’s language corrects both these errors. 

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February 2013 Appendix B: Modifications and Clarifications 

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APPENDIX C: POTENTIAL MITIGATION 

MEASURES NOT ADOPTED 

The decision in this ROD includes all practicable means to avoid or 

minimize environmental harm consistent with the purpose and need of the 

action, including potential impacts associated with cumulative impacts, 

except for the Potential Mitigation Measures5

 listed below. These measures 

were analyzed in the IAP/EIS. Pursuant to 40 CFR 1505.2(c), the BLM 

provides the following explanations for not adopting six Potential Mitigation 

Measures. 

x	 Potential Mitigation Measure 1 for Public Health (see Sec. 4.3.21.5 of 

the Final IAP/EIS): This ROD will not require developers and 

operators of permanent infrastructure to develop a comprehensive 

plan to prevent outbreaks of infectious disease and the spread of 

sexually transmitted infections. Oil and gas exploration and 

development activity is one of multiple potential causes of infectious 

disease and sexually transmitted infections. The potential impacts of 

oil and gas development would be muted if the development is located 

at a distance from villages and is not connected to a village by a road. 

Because of multiple causation and the likelihood that oil and gas 

activities’ contribution to these public health problems could vary 

among different proposals, it is inappropriate to adopt this mitigation 

measure absent a specific proposal. If the BLM receives an 

application for a major proposal near or connected by road to a village 

that could potentially have a significant impact on public health of the 

community, the BLM could at that time consider public health 

monitoring and mitigation similar to that proposed in this measure. 

x	 Potential Mitigation Measure 2 for Public Health (see Sec. 4.3.21.5 of 

the Final IAP/EIS): This ROD will not require developers and 

operators of permanent infrastructure to develop a comprehensive 

plan to prevent the abuse or trafficking of alcohol or drugs for reasons 

analogous to those described above for Potential Mitigation Measure 

1 for Public Health—multiple potential causation for the abuse or 

trafficking of alcohol or drugs, different potential for oil and gas 

5

 Potential mitigation measures discussed in this Appendix refer to measures discussed in Chapter 4 of the 

Final IAP/EIS that could potentially reduce impacts below those discussed for the relevant alternative. 

“Mitigation measure” is used in this context as described on page 61 of the BLM’s NEPA Handbook. 

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facilities to have an impact depending on their distance from and 

connection to villages, and because site-specific measures can be 

considered for proposed developments that could have a significant 

impact on public health of a community. 

x	 Potential Mitigation Measure 3 for Public Health (see Sec. 4.3.21.5 of 

the Final IAP/EIS): This ROD will not require developers and 

operators of permanent infrastructure to develop a comprehensive 

plan to increase the recruitment and retention of North Slope resident 

workers. The BLM does not have authority or responsibility for the 

hiring practices of leaseholders or permittees. 

x	 Potential Mitigation Measure 4 for Public Health (see Sec. 4.3.21.5 of 

the Final IAP/EIS): This ROD will not require developers and 

operators of permanent infrastructure to develop a site-management 

plan for facilities near villages. In part, the ROD makes this decision 

because the potential public health impacts this measure was designed 

to ameliorate have complex multiple causations. Moreover, if a 

specific proposal could have significant impacts on a community’s 

public health, the BLM could consider such a requirement at that time 

in coordination with the involved community. Many aspects of a sitemanagement plan would likely address any connections with a nearby 

village. All villages are surrounded by lands owned by the villages’ 

Native corporations, and village corporations would likely be 

involved in negotiating agreements with developers that propose roads 

or other infrastructure on their lands. 

x	 Potential Mitigation Measure 5 for Public Health (see Sec. 4.3.21.5 of 

the Final IAP/EIS): This potential mitigation measure would have the 

State of Alaska establish a public health monitoring program at a 

regional level to track health indicators that are vulnerable to impacts 

from oil and gas activities. The North Slope Borough and the Alaska 

Native Tribal Health Consortium would have roles in the 

identification of appropriate indicators, thresholds, and responsive 

actions. The measure does not require a role for BLM. The ROD, 

therefore, does not adopt this mitigation measure. 

x	 Potential Mitigation Measure 6 for Public Health (see Sec. 4.3.21.5 of 

the Final IAP/EIS): This potential mitigation measure would address 

concerns regarding exposure to contaminants and the stress and 

dietary changes associated with the perception of contamination. It 

advises that lessees and permittees “should work in collaboration with 

the North Slope Borough and village subsistence oversight panels” to 

this end. The Department of the Interior and BLM support 

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communication between lessees and permittees on the one hand and 

the Borough and other local governments and organizations on the 

other to ensure environmental media are safe and that the local 

populations can continue to trust in their safety. These 

communications with regulatory agencies may be facilitated by the 

NPR-A Working Group established in Chapter 1 of this ROD. The 

measure, however, does not propose a role for BLM in this 

collaboration, so this ROD does not adopt this mitigation measure. 

Note, best management practice A-10 in subparagraph (h) adopts a 

suggestion of the potential mitigation measure to have reports on air 

quality baseline monitoring, emissions inventory, and modeling 

results developed in conformance with best management practice A10 provided by the project proponent to the North Slope Borough and 

to local communities and Tribes in a timely manner. 

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APPENDIX D: MAPS 

February 2013 Appendix D: Maps 

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160°W 155°W 

Kasegaluk 

Lagoon 

Icy Cape 

Point Belcher 

Point Franklin 

Peard Bay 

Point Barrow 

Tangent Point

Cape Simpson 

Pitt Point 

Cape Halkett

Atigaru Point 

Harrison Bay 

Smith Bay A d m i ra lty Ba y

Dease Inlet 

A R C T I C O C E A N 

Chukchi Sea 

Beaufort Sea 

T e shek puk La ke 

River 

Utukok River 

Iv isar uk 

Kuk 

River 

Colville River

River 

Cre e k

East Fork 

E tiv luk R i v e r 

Colville River 

River 

River 

Creek 

Riv e r 

River 

River 

River 

River 

TESHEKPUK LAKESPECIAL AREA 

UTUKOK RIVER UPLANDS SPECIAL AREA 

COLVILLE RIVER SPECIAL AREA 

Wainwright 

PEARD BAY

SPECIAL AREA 

KASEGALUK LAGOON

SPECIAL AREA 

K iligw a R i v e r 

2014

Meade River 

Ikpikpuk 

Awuna

 River 

Judy 

Ina r u 

Topagoruk River 

Fish

 Creek 

Avalik

 River 

Etivluk 

Utukok 

River 

R i ver 

Kaolak

 River 

I n i g o k

 C 

r e e k 

Kogosukruk 

Kugrua 

Kealok

 Creek 

Kikiakrorak 

Ot u k 

Ublutuoch (Tingmiaqsiugvik) 

Al a k ta k

Tunalik 

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32 

13 

12 12 

12 

16 

16 

20 

29 

2 

12 

12 

31 

34 

34 

34 

12 

16 

4 

2 

17 

17 

10 

5 

1N

1E 

1S1E

1N

1W

1S

1W

15S

1W 

15S

1E 

1N

15W 

1N

30W 

30N

15W 

15N

15W 

15N

30W 

1S

15W 

1S

30W 

1S

45W 

30N

1W 

30N

1E 

1N

45W 

Barrow 

Nuiqsut 

Atqasuk 

Alpine 

Umiat 

70°N 

70°N 

68°N 

No warranty is made by the Bureau of Land Managementas to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of these data for individual use or aggregate use with other data, or for purposes not intended by BLM. Spatial information may not meet National Map Accuracy Standards. Thisinformation may be updated without notification. For official land status information refer to Cadastral Survey plats, Master Title Plats and land status case-files. 

0 12 24 36 48 6 

Miles 

Projection: Albers Conic Equal Area 

referencing NAD83

MAP 1

Oil & Gas Leasing and Infrastructure

Special Areas

Unavailable for leasing 

Colville RiverTeshekpuk LakeUtukok River Uplands Peard BayKasegaluk Lagoon 

Land

Allocations

or exploratory drilling

Unavailable for leasing and no new non-subsistenceinfrastructure or exploratorydrilling; all other BLM-managedlands would be available forapplications for permanentinfrastructure in support ofoffshore oil and gas development.

Leasing deferred to 2014

Land Status

Free flow, water quality, andoutstandingly remarkable river values maintained 

Native Patent or IC Native SelectedNPR-A Boundary 

National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska

Record of Decision 

Bureau of Land Management - Alaska 

160°W 155°W 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 2 6 2 5 3 4 7 8

8

9

11

12

14

10

13

16

15S

1W

15S

1E

70°N 68°N 

Kasegaluk 

Lagoon 

Icy Cape 

Point Belcher 

Point Franklin 

Peard Bay 

Point Barrow 

Tangent Point

Cape Simpson 

Pitt Point 

Cape Halkett

Atigaru Point 

Harrison Bay 

Smith Bay A d m i ra lty Ba y

Dease Inlet 

Olikto 

A R C T I C O C E A N 

Chukchi Sea 

Beaufort Sea 

T e shek puk Lak e 

River 

Utukok River 

Iv isar uk 

Kuk 

River 

Colville River

River 

Cre e k

East Fork E tiv luk R i v e r 

Colville River 

River 

River 

Creek 

Riv e r 

River 

River 

River 

River 

Umiat 

K iligw a R i v e r 

Meade

 River 

Ikpikpuk 

Awuna

 River 

Judy 

Ina r u 

Topagoruk River 

Fish

 Creek 

Avalik

 River 

Etivluk 

Utukok 

River 

Ri v e r 

Kaolak

 River 

I n i g o k

 C 

r e e k 

Kogosukruk 

Kugrua 

Kealok

 Creek 

Kikiakrorak 

Ot u k 

Ublutuoch (Tingmiaqsiugvik) 

Al a k ta k

Tunalik 

4 3 2 5 2 7 3 89 4 6 5 6 7 8 

5 

4 

8 9 6 7 

4 9 8 2 3 5 7 6 

4 3 2 2 3 

11 

11 

11 

16 17 14 

27 

10 

26 

13 18 19 21 12 20 

28 

41 40 42 38 

29 

22 

39 37 

34 

23 

36 

31 

35 

24 

33 32 

25 

10 

13 14 12 

32 

24 23 13 27 26 22 14 25 12 10 21 28 19 20 18 

4 

29 

17 

31 

16 

5 

43 

5 

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 

9 

8 

8 

4 4 

4 

5 

5 

9 

5 

9 

9 

7 7 

7 

3 3 

3 

2 2 

2 

6 6 

6 

6 6 

6 

2 2 

2 

3 3 

3 

7 7 

7 

9 

9 

5 5 

5 

4 4 

4 

8 8 

8 

11 

11 

11 11 

11 

33 

33 

13 13

17 

13 

21 

10 10 

10 

14 14 

14 

22 

31 

31 

10 

19

23 

32 

32

12 12 

12 

16 

16 

20 

12 

12

34 

34 

34

33

32

31 

17 

17 

10 

2928 

1N

1E 

1N

1W

1S

1W 

1N

15W 

1N

30W 

15N

15W 

15N

30W 

1S

15W 

1S

30W

30N

1W 

30N

1E 

1S1E 

Barrow 

Nuiqsut 

Atqasuk 

Wainwright 

150°W 

155°W

155°W 

160°W 

160°W 

Land Status 

Oil & Gas Leasing and Infrastructure

Unavailable for leasing andno new non-subsistenceinfrastructure

Unavailable for leasing

Native Patent or IC Native Selected NPR-A Boundary 

70°N 68°N No warranty is made by the Bureau of Land Management as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of these data for individual use or aggregate use with other data, or for purposes not intended by BLM. Spatial information may not meet National Map Accuracy Standards. This information may be updated without notification. For official land status information refer to Cadastral Survey plats, Master Title Plats and land status case-files. 0 12 24 36 48 6 Miles Projection: Albers Conic Equal Area referencing NAD83

MAP 2

K-4b Brant Survey Area 

Stipulations

K-1 River: No permanent or temporary facilitiesin stream bedNo permanent facilities within listed distancefrom river except essential pipelines and roadcrossingsK-2 Deep Water Lakes:No permanent or temporary facilities on lakesOnly essential permanent facilities within 1/4 mileof lakes 

K-4a Goose Molting AreaK-5 Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Habitat Area 

K-6 Coastal Area: Special restrictions on facilitydevelopment in coastal waters and within 1mile of coast

K-7 Colville River Special Area raptor protectionand CRSAMP Protection 2

K-8 Pik Dunes: Surface structures, exceptapproximately perpendicular pipeline crossings and ice pads, are prohibited 

K-3 Kogru River, Dease Inlet, Admiralty Bay,Elson Lagoon, Peard Bay, Wainwright Inlet/Kuk River, Kasegaluk Lagoon, and theirassociated Islands: Special stipulations forexploration and development 

for Select

Biologically

Sensitive Areas

K-9 Caribou Movement Corridor: No permanent oiland gas facilities, except for pipelines or otherinfrastructure associated with offshore oil and gasexploration and production

K-10 Southern Caribou Calving Area: Nopermanent oil and gas facilities, except forpipelines or other infrastructure associatedwith offshore oil and gas exploration andproduction 

K-12 Western Arctic Herd Habitat Area 

National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska

Record of Decision 

Bureau of Land Management - Alaska 
Umiat 

Barrow 

Nuiqsut 

Atqasuk 

Wainwright 

Anaktuvuk Pass 

Visual Resource 

Management (VRM) - 

Management Classes 

No warranty is made by the Bureau of Land Management as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of these data for individual use or aggregate use with other data, or for purposes not intended by BLM. Spatial information may not meet National Map Accuracy Standards. This information may be updated without notification. For official land status information refer to Cadastral Survey plats, Master Title Plats and land status case-files. 

Projection: Albers Conic Equal Area 

referencing NAD83 

Source: BLM, 2011 

NPR-A Boundary 

VRM Management Class 

Class II Class III Class IV 

MAP 3 

0 12 24 36 48 6 

Miles 

Land Status 

Native Patent or IC 

National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska 

Record of Decision 

Bureau of Land Management - Alaska