On Arctic Ground: Tracking Time Through Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve

Fossilized dinosaur bones. Caribou tracks, both ancient and new. Wide open spaces. Vast migrations... The National Petroleum Reserve -- Alaska is more than a natural resource -- it's a place of rare, unprotected beauty

* Full color conservation advocacy book features essays from Arctic authorities such as Bruce Babbitt, Jack Horner, Jeff Fair, and more.
* Published in collaboration with the Alaska Wilderness League

Originally set aside by President Harding in 1923 as a back-up resource for military fuel needs, the National Petroleum Reserve -- Alaska is home to half a million migrating caribou, countless migrating birds from all over the world, and, surprisingly, one of the largest Polar dinosaur fossil beds in the Arctic. The Reserve is also the largest piece of undisturbed public land in the United States -- yet few outside of Alaska have ever heard of it.

On Arctic Ground, from Braided River, the conservation imprint of Mountaineers Books, features a series of vignettes written by well-loved Alaskan author Debbie S. Miller (Midnight Wilderness) about the astonishing array of wildlife she has encountered over many seasons exploring the Reserve. Additionally, former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt writes the book's preface, drawing on his years of experience managing both the economic and biological resources of the Reserve.

Miller's vignettes are accompanied by images from an array of award-winning conservation photographers. The book also features essays and insight from Alaskan writers and science authorities -- including wildlife biologist Jeff Fair and senior Audubon Alaska scientist John Schoen -- as well as an essay and audio download by noted Alaska writer and soundscape artist Richard Nelson. Paleontologists Jack Horner and Patrick Druckenmiller share the most recent research and remarkable discoveries associated with dinosaur studies in the Alaskan Arctic.

This book will serve as a platform to bring greater public awareness to the opportunities for permanently preserving the significant biological areas and wildlife that thrive within the Reserve. Braided River will collaborate with the Alaska Wilderness League to bring this story to members of Congress, the media, and the general public. Visit www.braidedriver.org to learn more.

DEBBIE S. MILLER grew up near the San Francisco Bay. In 1975, she and her husband, Dennis, moved to teach in Arctic Village, Alaska, a Gwich'in Athabascan Indian village located on the southern boundary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Over the past twenty-eight years, Miller and her family have explored the refuge on many trips through all of its seasons.

Miller has authored two nature books for adults, many children's books about Alaska's environment, and a number of essays and magazine articles. In 1998, she received the International Reading Association Teacher's Choice Award, and her book, Arctic Lights, Arctic Nights, received the 2003 John Burroughs Nature Book for Young Readers award. Her most recent book, Big Alaska: Journey Across America's Most Amazing State, won the 2007 Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children Award from the National Science Teachers Association. Her adult book Midnight Wilderness: Journeys in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge describes the natural and political history of the refuge through a series of wilderness adventure essays. She received the 1999 Refuge Hero Award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for her writing, education, and conservation work. Miller lives near the wilderness in Fairbanks, Alaska, with Dennis and their two daughters, Robin and Casey.

Debbie Miller contributed "Clinging to an Arctic Homeland" to Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land (Braided River, 2003) and "Songs from Around the World" to Arctic Wings: Birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Braided River, 2005). To learn more about her books and current work, click here.