Overview - Mining

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is the largest unit in the National Wildlife Refuge System and is one of America's finest intact, naturally functioning arctic/sub-arctic ecosystems. The broad spectrum of diverse habitats and fauna and flora occurring within a single protected unit is unparalleled in North America, and perhaps in the entire arctic region of the northern hemisphere. ANWR contains the Brooks Range Mountains, which compress the coastal plain and foothills tundra to a 20-40 mile wide band between the mountains and the sea. By contrast, the mountains further west rise far away from the Arctic Ocean coast, creating broad coastal tundra ranging 100-200 miles north to south in the Prudhoe Bay and NPR-A areas.