Recent discoveries of oil in the northeastern
National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska (NPRA)
led to a proposal by ConocoPhillips Alaska
(CPAI)—the Alpine Satellite Development
Program (ASDP)—to expand development
from the Alpine facilities on the Colville River
delta and into NPRA. The first ASDP facility
to be constructed (winter 2004–2005) was the
CD-4 drill site and access road. The North
Slope Borough (NSB) development permit for
CD-4 stipulated that a 10-year study of the
effects of development on caribou distribution
and movements be conducted within a 48-km
(30-mi) radius of CD-4, which encompasses
CD-3 (also constructed in winter 2004–2005)
and the planned CD-5, CD-6, and CD-7 pads
and associated infrastructure and activities
proposed by CPAI.
• This report presents results from the fourth
year of the ASDP caribou monitoring study,
combining analyses of data from
aerial-transect surveys, radio telemetry, and
remote sensing. Aerial strip-transect surveys of
caribou distribution were conducted in three
adjacent survey areas (NPRA, Colville River
Delta, and Colville East) from April to October
2005–2008, and similar data from earlier
studies in those areas during 2001–2004 also
were analyzed. The telemetry analyses used
location data from VHF, satellite, and GPS
radio-collars in the Teshekpuk Herd (TH) and
Central Arctic Herd (CAH) collected by the
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
(ADFG), the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM), the NSB Department of Wildlife
Management, and the U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS). VHF-collar data were collected
during 1980–2005, satellite-collar data were
collected during 1990–2008 for the TH and
1986–1990 and 2001–2005 for the CAH, and
GPS-collar data were collected during
2004–2008 for the TH (including 30 new
collars deployed specifically for this study in
early July 2006, late June 2007, and late
June–early July 2008) and during 2003–2006
and 2008 for the CAH (including four new
collars deployed specifically for this study in
early July 2008).
