The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is conducting land-use planning on issues relating to the future management of the northwest portion of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. This plan considers resources such as wilderness, wildlife, and subsistence resources, as well as current and potential future activities on these lands, including possible development of the area's oil and gas potential.

The Draft Northwest NPR-A Integrated Activity Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (IAP/EIS) was available on January 17, 2003. BLM held public meetings throughout Alaska and in Washington D.C. during February and March 2003 to take comments.

The public comment period, which ended April 2, 2003, resulted in approximately 95,000 public comments. BLM analyzed these comments while revising the plan during the summer and fall of 2003.

BLM announced availability of the Final IAP/EIS on November 20, 2003. The plan was mailed to public libaries throughout Alaska, Federal Depository libraries nationwide, and to Alaska state and local government. The executive summary and complete IAP/EIS are available online, as is a news release giving further information.

On December 2, 2003, BLM published a public notice of the Northwest plan's completion in the Federal Register. Following a 30-day period, Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton issued a Record of Decision (ROD) on January 22, 2004.

You can download a copy of the Northwest Planning Area Map by clicking here - NW NPRA MAP (568K PDF file) . You will need to download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the PDF file.