Advocacy · Washington, DC
Alaska Wilderness League
Built around defending the Arctic Refuge from oil and gas drilling
21 staff + 850 volunteers70¢ to the workFounded 1993
Stand · Find your defenders
Who’s defending the Arctic?
5 groups have it in their care
Wildlife refuge in Alaska, 19.64M acres, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, designated in 1960.
The defenders
The groups doing the most work here
5 groups are on the record for Arctic, each tied to it by a source our editors read, in the order they carry the weight. The other 2 are likely to care: a guess from mission and footprint, with no source tying them to this fight. Give directly; nothing routes through us.
Leading the fight
On the ground
Advocacy · Washington, DC
The Wilderness Society
Decades of Arctic Refuge defense, in court and in Congress
178 staff + 32 volunteers75¢ to the workFounded 1935
Also in the fight
Advocacy · New York, NY
National Audubon Society
Co-plaintiff against the coastal plain oil leasing program
1,185 staff + 7,500 volunteers80¢ to the workFounded 1905
Advocacy · Washington, DC
Defenders of Wildlife
Co-plaintiff defending the refuge’s coastal plain
165 staff + 80 volunteers71¢ to the workFounded 1947
Advocacy · Oakland, CA
Sierra Club
Co-plaintiff in the coastal plain leasing litigation
10,895 volunteers81¢ to the workFounded 1892
Likely to care: a guess from mission and footprint, no source ties them to this fight
Tribal · Fairbanks, AK
Gwich'in Steering Committee
Arctic is written into their mission
4 staff$359K revenue in 2025Founded 1988
Advocacy · Fairbanks, AK
Northern Alaska Environmental Center
Arctic is written into their mission
Founded 1971
14 more work nearby but are not tied to Arctic on the record
On the ground in Alaska
Alaska GeographicThey work only in AlaskaFriends GroupKachemak Heritage Land TrustThey work only in AlaskaLand TrustKenai Watershed ForumThey work only in AlaskaFriends GroupDenali Education CenterThey work only in AlaskaFriends GroupSoutheast Alaska Conservation CouncilThey work only in AlaskaCoalitionAlaska Community Action on ToxicsThey work only in AlaskaAdvocacy
The national muscle
More ways in
Brooks Range CouncilThey work only in AlaskaGrassrootsNative MovementThey work only in AlaskaGrassrootsTanana Chiefs ConferenceThey work only in AlaskaTribalTrustees for AlaskaThey work only in AlaskaLegalFriends of Alaska National Wildlife RefugesThey work only in AlaskaFriends GroupAlaska Wildlife AllianceThey work only in AlaskaWildlifeNOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School)Working this regionStewardship
The situation
What’s happening to Arctic
America’s last true wilderness. The Coastal Plain is the calving ground for 200,000 Porcupine caribou and sacred to the Gwich’in, who call it “the sacred place where life begins.” The government keeps trying to auction it off for oil drilling that even the industry doesn’t want. A sacrifice zone in search of a buyer.
- 1960Established as Arctic National Wildlife Range
- 1980Expanded and renamed under ANILCA
- 2017Tax bill mandates lease sales in Coastal Plain
- 2021Lease sales suspended for environmental review
- 2026BLM publishes notice for June 2026 Coastal Plain sale (688,829 acres)Federal Register / Alaska Beacon · June 5, 2026
- 2026Lease sale held, 5 tracts leased to 2 biddersBureau of Land Management · February 4, 2026
No public comment window is open on Arctic right now. A call script is ready on the Public Lands Action Network, and the groups above are how the fight gets funded and argued in the meantime.
In the courts
The cases over this place
The dockets we track that name Arctic directly. Active first.
ClosedSovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic v. United States Bureau of Land ManagementNinth Circuit · filed 2023 · Docket ↗
ClosedSovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic v. Bureau of Land ManagementU.S. District Court, Alaska · filed 2023 · Docket ↗
ClosedLeague of Conservation Voters v. TrumpU.S. District Court, Alaska · filed 2017 · Docket ↗
Our reporting
What we’ve published on Arctic
Your move
How to stand for the Arctic
GiveGive to Alaska Wilderness League
Straight to their own donation page. Your dollar never passes through us.
Their donation page ↗SpeakCall your representativesA ready call script on Arctic, plus any comment window as it opens.
Public Lands Action NetworkFollowWatch the mapEvery threatened place in the country, tracked, with who stands for each.
Threatened Lands MapBuild my lineup around Arctic: the leading group here opens it, and the other seats fill from this record.
Arctic has defenders. It needs more.
5 groups on the record, 2 more likely to care, Alaska Wilderness League with 21 staff + 850 volunteers. That is who is holding it. Find your way in.