Discoveries of additional oil reserves on the
Colville River delta and in the northeastern
National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska (NPRA)
in the 1990s led to a proposal by
ConocoPhillips Alaska (CPAI)—the Alpine
Satellite Development Program (ASDP)—to
expand development from the original Alpine
Project 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. Although the 48-km
radius later was dropped from the permit
stipulation, the caribou monitoring study was
designed using that distance to delineate the
primary study area. The study area
encompasses the CD3 drill site (also
constructed in winter 2004–2005), the planned
CD5 drill site (which received agency approval
in late 2011), and the proposed GMT1
(formerly CD6) and GMT2 (formerly CD7)
pads and associated infrastructure.
This report presents results from the seventh
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
2005–2011, 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 1990–2011 for the TH and
1986–1990 and 2001–2005 for the CAH; and
GPS-collar data were collected during
2004–2011 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 2008–2010 for the CAH
(including four collars deployed in early July
2008, six deployed in late June 2009, and 12
deployed in mid-June 2010, all specifically for
this study).
