Grandmothers Growing Goodness

Mumingnanium manniauģnilum suli suanatiqaqtuk.

Grandmothers Growing Goodness is an Inupiat group dedicated to elevating the understanding and protection of Inupiat culture and people in the face of rampant oil and gas development and climate change. Its core purpose is to help support equity for communities facing significant environmental justice threats and to strengthen equity for the Inupiat.

Grandmothers Growing Goodness is committed to intergenerational equity and is focused on empowering youth to become the next generation of leaders on Alaska’s North Slope. If you’d like to reach out, get involved, or learn more, please email us here.

To see what we’ve been up to, look at our spring ‘24 update. And explore our new, official website at grandmothersgrowinggoodness.org for more current information.

Current Decision-Making Processes

Photo by Keri Oberly

1. SEISMIC EXPLORATION THIS WINTER AT WILLOW

ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc., has received authorization from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to conduct a 160,000-acre seismic survey within the Willow Development area of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska for the 2023-2024 winter season. Vehicles conducting the survey will stop every 20 - 65 feet to vibrate the earth in search of oil - having potentially devastating impacts on subsistence. Much of the activity will take place within the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area, which is home to the Teshekpuk caribou herd as well as polar bears, denning grizzly bears, and millions of migratory birds in the summer.

Caribou are likely avoid the area during the exploration, eliminating an important subsistence use area. The seismic exploration will also reduce the caribou’s opportunity to feed and deflect the migration of cows trying to reach their calving grounds, both of which can lead to reductions in the population.

Grandmothers Growing Goodness provided suggestions for mitigation to protect the caribou, subsistence hunting, and the tundra, but BLM did not adopt these or other mitigation measures suggested by the public. 

Click here to see BLM’s decision. Click here to read GGG’s comment letter.

Photo by Keri Oberly

2. NPRA RULEMAKING

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proposing a new rule to govern the management of surface resources and Special Areas in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR–A).

The proposed rule would revise the framework for designating and assuring maximum protection of Special Areas' significant resource values, and would protect and enhance access for subsistence activities throughout the NPR–A. For example, when designating and amending Special Areas, the rule would require the BLM to rely on the best available scientific information, including Indigenous Knowledge, and the best available information concerning subsistence uses and resources. In Special Areas where there are restrictions on infrastructure, the rule provides an exception for infrastructure if it would permit the construction of new infrastructure, including roads, transmission lines, and pipelines, that would primarily benefit communities in and around the NPR–A or would support subsistence activities. 

The rule requires BLM to manage Special Areas to protect and support fish and wildlife and their habitats and the associated subsistence use of those areas by rural residents. It also requires BLM to provide appropriate access to and within Special Areas for subsistence purposes.

The rule encourages the BLM to explore co-stewardship opportunities for Special Areas, including co-management, collaborative and cooperative management, and tribally led stewardship. 

Read Grandmothers’ comments on this draft rule here. A final rule is expected this spring. Check back for more information.

Upcoming Events & Actions

1. Updates On The Teshekpuk Lake Conservation Instrument

The Record of Decision allowing Willow to move forward includes mitigation for a conservation instrument on Teshekpuk Lake. This is mitigation for the impacts of Willow on subsistence.

BLM is considering how this instrument should be created and what it should include. Some important questions are:

  • Who would hold the instrument?

  • What land would the instrument cover?

  • What is the purpose of the instrument (e.g., protect hunting grounds, or parts or all of important caribou habitat)

  • What activities would be prohibited in the area protected by the instrument?

  • Who will oversee management of the area covered by the instrument?

  • How will the costs of administering the instrument and managing the land be covered?

  • What are the opportunities for co-stewardship of this area?

Grandmothers will provide additional updates about this process as we receive them.