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, Inc.(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 eighth
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
2005–2012, 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).
