This website describes the process used to develop Geographic Response Strategies (GRS) to protect sensitive coastal environments in the Northwest Arctic (NWA) Subarea.
This project was funded with qualified outer continental shelf oil and gas revenues by the Coastal Impact Assistance Program, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement, U.S. Department of the Interior.
GRS’ are oil spill response plans tailored to protect a specific sensitive area from oil impacts following a spill. These response plans are implemented as a third tier of any water-based response. The first response is to stop the source of the spill and immediately contain it, second is to collect the oil as it is freely floating on the water, third is to protect sensitive coastal areas that are at risk of being impacted by the oil.
These map-based strategies that can save time during the critical first few hours of an oil spill response. They show responders where sensitive areas are located and where to place oil spill protection resources. These plans have been developed in other regions of Alaska and they can be reviewed here.
These oil spill response strategies will be part of the NWA Subarea Contingency Plan. Alaska is divided into 10 regions and each region has a Subarea Contingency Plan that directs the state and federal actions in a response to the release of hazardous substances and oil spills. More information on these plans is available here.
The NWA Subarea consists of the lands encompassed by the Northwest Arctic Borough and the Bering Straits Regional Corporation. For the purpose of developing these geographic response strategies the subarea has been further divided into 3 zones, which are shown on the following map. Text links to the zones individual web pages are listed below the map.
Download (225KB pdf) a printable copy of this map in pdf format.
Northern Northwest Arctic Zone
Southern Northwest Arctic Zone
Saint Lawrence Island Zone
A workgroup has been formed to develop GRS for the NW Arctic Subarea. Participants include Local, State and Federal Agencies, spill response experts and oil spill contingency plan holders. In 2010, 63 GRS were developed for the 3 areas.
The workgroup selected the sites for GRS development using a site selection process.
The NWA GRS Site Selection Process
The GRS site selection process begins with the identification of candidate sites. Candidate sites are identified based on a set of three major site selection criteria.
- environmental sensitivity,
- risk of being impacted from a water borne spill; and
- feasibility of successfully protecting the site with existing technology.
The Work Group has sought public input for the sites selected. Public involvement is essential to ensure that the sites selected and the strategies developed reflected the environmental protection priorities of local communities, stakeholders, and resource users. Once GRS site selection was finalized, the workgroup developed the strategies for each site.
The GRS locations identified in the site selection matrix (key) were selected based on the following criteria of environmental sensitivity, which are set forth in the NWA Subarea Plan:
- Threatened and Endangered Species/Habitats
- Subsistence Harvest Areas
- Marshes
- Eel grass beds
- Sheltered Tidal Flats
- Sheltered Rocky Shores
- Seal Haulouts
- Sea Lion Rookeries and Haulouts
- Walrus Rookeries and haulouts
- Large Seabird Colonies
- Waterfowl and Shorebird Spring,Fall or Winter Concentration Areas
- Large Anadromous Fish Streams
- Intertidal Salmon Spawning Areas
- Herring Spawning Areas
- Federal Wilderness Areas, Wild and Scenic Rivers, and National Natural Landmarks
- State Refuges, Sanctuaries, and Critical Habitat Areas
- Cultural Resources/Archaeological Sites
- Intertidal Sites
- High Use Commercial Fishing Areas
- High Use Recreational Areas
Public involvement is essential to ensure that the sites selected and the strategies developed reflected the environmental protection priorities of local communities, stakeholders, and resource users. The workgroup welcomes public input to ensure that everyone with a stake in Northwest Arctic is made aware of Geographic Response Strategies and their importance during an oil spill response.
The Northwest Arctic GRS
The NWA Subarea Contingency Plan can be found at the following url:
http://www.dec.state.ak.us/spar/perp/plans/scp_nw.htm. The final Northwest Arctic GRS documents will consist of the following parts, in draft form at this date:
Table of Contents
Part 1.Introduction including: Purpose and Scope
- How to Use this Document
- Who to Contact for Input
- How the Document was Developed
- How Sites were Selected
Part 2. Site-specific Geographic Response Strategies including:
You can learn more about Geographic Response Strategies by reading our Frequently Asked Questions.
For more information about the Geographic Response Strategies or questions pertaining to this project, please contact: dec.spar.grs@alaska.gov
This page last updated: June 29, 2011 by Nuka Research & Planning Group, LLC