Event Highlights Molly Loomis’s Trek Through The Arctic Refuge and Renown Refuge and Conservation Speakers and Artist

Moose, WY -- (SBWire) -- 09/20/2010 -- The Murie Center will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge September 23 and 25, 2010 with a series of special events that honor the life-long commitment of Olaus, Mardy and Adolph Murie to create the Refuge, a cornerstone of the Murie legacy.

Loomis Expedition

The celebration will feature a presentation by Molly Loomis, the Murie Center’s Roving Writer In Residence who recently retraced Mardy Murie’s last trek through the Refuge. The Murie Center sponsored Loomis’s trip to investigate the Murie’s deep connection to the Refuge, their role in its designation and the Refuge’s subsequent history and future in regard to drilling.

"The 50th Anniversary provides a great opportunity for people to become more aware of the range of issues facing both the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the coastal plain as a whole—not only the wildlife, but the native communities, as well," said Loomis. “Investigating the present and future of this important area was a meaningful way to commemorate the Muries’ connection to and influence on the Arctic Refuge.”

Loomis’s trip began on July 28, 2010 at the Murie’s historic campsite at Alaska’s Last Lake. Over the next two and a half weeks, her team traveled up the Sheenjek River and over the Brooks Range, experiencing the beauty and majesty of the Refuge, as well as a number of hair-raising moments. A charging grizzly stopped 15 feet away, reminding her that this was his territory. The Sheenjek River typically would be at its lowest levels, but class four white water lead to more travel by foot than expected and eventful floating with their packrafts. According to Loomis, the mosquitoes that the Muries’ often recounted are alive and well in Alaska.

A key element of Loomis’s trip was to meet and talk with people who knew the Muries and to the native Alaskans whose lives are directly affected by the Refuge’s designation. In the village of Kaktovik, many locals who she spoke with were not even aware of the 50th Anniversary celebration. With mixed reviews, some are still very angry that the Refuge “took their ancestral land away” and Molly estimates that the town is evenly divided about the potential of drilling on the coastal plain. Inhabited by the Kaktovikmiut, this 1.5 million acre area is rich not only in oil, but home to an impressive array of wildlife like polar bear, musk ox and bowhead whale.

"Considering the recent tragic events in the Gulf of Mexico, it is more important than ever for us to understand where our energy comes from and what the implications of energy development may be in different places, especially the Arctic considering its relative lack of development,” said Loomis.

Another concern about drilling in the Refuge is how it will affect the Porcupine Caribou herd calving grounds along the coastal plain, which the Gwich’in tribe rely on for subsistence. Loomis learned that the Gwich’in people are very concerned about global warming affecting the herd. They also stress the importance of this area for a remarkable cast of migratory birds from all over the world that rely on the Refuge for molting, nesting and raising their young.

"Here in the Tetons, we are very lucky to have the Muries as part of our conservation history,” said Loomis. “We can still learn from their legacy and apply their passion to current issues. I regret having never met Mardy Murie, but the stories I've heard and read about her adventurous spirit, dedication and positive nature, provides me with a lot of inspiration."

“The Murie Center is pleased to sponsor Molly’s trip and educational outreach. She carries on the adventurous spirit, as it reveals the legacy of the Muries is vibrant and relevant to present challenges” said Steve Duerr, Executive Director of the Murie Center. “It is extremely important for today’s younger generation to appreciate the lifework of the Muries. Living close to the land, they understood the interconnection of all life and the enduring value of preserving wildlife and wild places.”

Conservation and Refuge Experts

Harvey Locke, founder of the Yellowstone to Yukon Conversation Initiative, Roger Kaye, PhD, wilderness specialist and Arctic Refuge pilot and Bob Krear, PhD, who traveled with the 1956 Murie expedition team will also give presentations during the celebration events. Locke will discuss, Yellowstone to Yukon: The Journey of Wildlife and Art, a project by acclaimed wildlife and landscape artist Dwayne Harty, the Murie Center’s Artist in Residence. Harty has just completed three years of field studies from Wyoming to the Canadian north as part of the major exhibition pursued in collaboration with Jackson’s National Museum of Wildlife Art, the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies and the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative.

Kaye will present on the history and vision of the establishment of the Refuge and the values that it continues to embody. He has been with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska for many years, beginning as a planner for proposed wildlife refuges. He will share his perspective on the Murie Legacy relevant to present challenges to the Arctic Refuge.

Comments by Krear will focus on the 1956 Murie Arctic Expedition and his long-time friendship with the Muries. Krear is the author of Four Seasons North: Exploration and Research in the Arctic and Subarctic.

Established in 1998, The Murie Center, in partnership with Grand Teton National Park, engages people to understand and commit to the enduring value of conserving wildlife and wild places.

Molly Loomis Bio
Molly Loomis is the 2010 Murie Center Roving-Writer-In-Residence. Loomis’s writing focuses on outdoor adventure and conservation. Her work appeared in numerous national publications including Sierra, Outside, Backpacker, Wend and Afar magazines, Wyoming Public Radio and National Native News. She is also a Contributing Editor at Climbing magazine. In 2008-09 Loomis was an Environmental Journalism Fellow at Middlebury College.

Harvey Locke Bio
Harvey grew up in southern Alberta. His family, among the area's earliest European settlers, has been in Bow Valley for seven generations. Locke first visited Yellowstone in 1979 and knew intuitively there was a connection between it and the Canadian Rockies. This interest led him to help create the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, which he now serves as strategic advisor. He also serves as program advisor to Tides Canada Foundation; senior advisor, conservation, to the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society; advisor to the Canadian Boreal Initiative; director emeritus of the Wildlands Project; member of the World Commission on Protected Areas; member of the executive committee of the Eighth World Wilderness Congress; and trustee of the Eleanor Luxton Historical Foundation. In 1999, Time Canada named him one of Canada's leaders for the twenty-first century.

Roger Kaye Bio
Dr. Roger Kaye has been with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska for many years, beginning as a planner for proposed wildlife refuges. For the last 24 years he has been the wilderness specialist and airplane pilot for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He has taught wilderness management and environmental psychology at the University of Alaska where he did his doctoral work focused on the historic, philosophical, and psychological underpinnings of the wilderness concept. A spare-time free-lance writer, he has written numerous journal and popular articles and is the author of Last Great Wilderness: The Campaign to Establish the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He is currently researching a second book, tentatively titled Wilderness and the Human Spirit: A Secular Approach for Natural Resource Agencies.

Bob Krear Bio
Dr. H. Robert Krear, a professor, wildlife biologist and World War II veteran has retired in the high Rockies at Estes Park, Colorado. He has studied Arctic wildlife in depth. He spent years working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, worked in eight national parks and taught biology at four universities, including Michigan State. His Alaska research in 1956 with Olaus and Mardy Murie helped to establish the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.