Photographer Florian Schulz, friend of the Campion Advocacy Fund, released a stunning collection of images and videos today in National Geographic to highlight the “fragile beauty” of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. With accompanying words by Craig Welch, Florian lays out clearly what is at stake if the Arctic Refuge is disrupted by oil and gas drilling.
From the salt marshes and river deltas along the coast to the mosses and sedges blanketing the central plain and the jagged peaks of the Brooks Range, ANWR is a wildlife paradise. Birds from six continents find their way here, including dunlins and yellow wagtails. Sandpipers, swans, and eiders nest in the tundra. There are moose and seals, Dall’s sheep, and pygmy shrews. In summer, as ANWR’s vegetation changes color and warmer weather brings hordes of mosquitoes, the Porcupine caribou herd clusters in groups of ten thousand or more and seeks relief from the bitter winds near the coast.