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
CD4 drill site and access road. The North
Slope Borough (NSB) development permit for
CD4 stipulated that a 10-year study of the
effects of development on caribou distribution
and movements be conducted within a 48-km
(30-mile) radius of CD4, which encompasses
CD3 (also constructed in winter 2004–2005)
and the planned CD5, GMT1 (formerly CD6),
and GMT2 (formerly CD7) pads and
associated infrastructure and activities
proposed by CPAI.
This report presents results from the fifth year
of the ASDP caribou monitoring study,
combining analyses of data from aerial
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
2005–2009, 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 1990–2009 for the TH and
1986–1990 and 2001–2005 for the CAH; and
GPS-collar data were collected during
2004–2009 for the TH (including 37 collars
deployed specifically for this study in early
July 2006, late June 2007, late June–early July
2008, and late June 2009) and during
2003–2006 and 2008–2009 for the CAH
(including four collars deployed specifically
for this study in early July 2008 and six
deployed in late June 2009).
