"Today, on behalf of our 500,000 plus members, Audubon joined hundreds of thousands of Americans to call on the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to recommend the Coastal Plain Wilderness Study Area be included in the National Wilderness Preservation System.

Audubon strongly supports this recommendation and believes that the Refuge’s Coastal Plain – which serves as the “biological heart” of the Arctic Refuge – should be managed in a manner that protects its unparalleled biological values and maintains its special Wilderness character.

“With the release of a draft revised Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the FWS made an important decision to formally consider Wilderness for the crucial Coastal Plain.