30th Annual Run for the Refuge (Virtual)

Since 1971, the Northern Alaska Environmental Center has worked to protect Interior and Arctic Alaska through grassroots activism, education, advocacy, public process, and litigation when necessary. The Arctic Refuge comprises 19.3 million acres in northeast Alaska, land that has been stewarded and held sacred by Gwich'in and Iñupiat people for millennia. The Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge is known as Iizhik Gwats'an Gwandaii Goodlit, or "the Sacred Place Where Life Begins," in Gwich'in. This sacred place provides critical calving grounds for the Porcupine caribou herd, which in turn supports the food sovereignty, cultural practices, and lifeways of Indigenous people, who have long led efforts to protect these lands, waters, wildlife, and communities from harmful industrial extraction.

NAEC's Arctic Refuge work is part of that long history of care and protection. We advocate for permanent protections for the Refuge, oppose oil and gas leasing and seismic exploration, uplift Indigenous leadership, including the leadership of the Gwich'in Steering Committee and Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic, challenge harmful decisions in court, and organize public pressure to protect the Coastal Plain. This year's Run for the Refuge theme, "Drilling is not the ANsWeR," reminds us that industrial extraction is not a solution for Alaska's future. The answer is protecting the lands, waters, wildlife, and communities that sustain life. Run for the Refuge celebrates this place and helps continue the work that has defined NAEC since 1971: standing with Indigenous leaders and protecting the Interior and Arctic Alaska for future generations.