Can Alaskan wildlife be protected without tanking local economies?

As President-elect Donald Trump approaches the beginning of his second term, concerns for Arctic wildlife continue to rise. Following his inauguration, the incoming commander-in-chief has promised to sign an executive order that would end energy conservation efforts put in place by the Biden administration. Trump has stated these changes to be in pursuit of increasing oil production for both national and local economic gain. He plans to use his executive authority to declare a state of national energy emergency. This action would allow for the supersedence of in-place environmentally protective legislation to increase oil extraction efforts in areas such as the oil and wildlife-rich Alaskan coast.

Back in 2021, President Joe Biden signed into action an executive order for the suspension and review of oil drilling leases for companies with active oil rigs along the coast of Alaska’s Arctic Refuge. The review included updated evaluations of the environmental impacts oil drilling has on Arctic ecosystems. While drilling suspension and litigation are still ongoing for the majority of companies involved, as of 2025, the order did result in the voluntary and premature cessation of two leases. Biden’s work to protect Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) continued throughout his presidency. In fall of 2023, his administration proposed the addition of a regulation to the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A), which includes the thirteen-acre ANWR and spans twenty-three acres total along Alaska’s northern coast. Regulatory action would further suspend any present leases from ongoing oil extraction in the NPR-A and protect the reserve from new leases being issued.

Efforts to protect the reserve have been loudly supported by climate change scientists, who report the dangerous effects of arctic amplification. An area of ongoing research and resolution, arctic amplification is the disproportionate effect of climate change on the Arctic region. Recent research estimates its warming to be up to four times faster than global averages. This rapid warming threatens the health and safety of both local wildlife and the humans that rely on them. While the dangers of arctic amplification are well agreed upon, which actions should be taken to prevent it are not. Leaders from the Iñupiaq community of Kaktovik, natives who inhabit the reserve, have maintained outspoken support for the restoration of local oil extraction. The necessary presence of the oil industry for maintenance of the local economy has been cited as reason for their support. The Iñupiaq plan to oppose any external attempts to enforce leadership over the land through environmentally protective actions. Contradicting pushback comes from other local communities, indigenous to areas just outside of the refuge, that consider the ANWR to be sacred land. Leaders of these communities have stood in allegiance to the environmental protection efforts of the Biden administration and other activist groups. Many locals also maintain a reliance on the land for food and resources. Damage to local ecology from oil digging is a threat to this deeply valued way of life.

As heat rises in both the Arctic reserve and the national political economy, the clock is running out for Arctic wildlife. Indigenous communities and the federal government continue to face the pressure of balancing the fragility of environment and economy as the world watches on.