Interactive Journey through the Arctic Refuge Museum Exhibit

2006 Arctic Traverse: 50th Anniversary of the Murie Expedition

 

"The refuge was established not for economic reasons, but as a statement of our nation's vision and intangible spiritual values. We must not forget that value lies less in possessing riches than what we do with them. There are places on earth that are so special and unique that they must remain unaffected by greed and preserved without compromise. The Arctic Refuge is one of these."     —George Schaller

 

In his first trip to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in fifty years, conservationist George Schaller was pleased to find many things about the place unchanged. It was still the pristine and undeveloped wilderness he remembered.

 

As a graduate student in 1956, Schaller was part of a team accompanying pioneering naturalists Olaus and Mardy Murie on a two-month scientific survey of the northeastern Alaska wilderness. The resulting report provided the scientific backing that led to the creation of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge “for the purpose of preserving unique wildlife, wilderness and recreational values.”
 
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the original survey, George Schaller joined journalist Jonathan Waterman on a National Geographic expedition to the refuge. In the Murie tradition, they invited three graduate students, Forrest McCarthy, Martin Robards, and Betsy Young, to travel with them.

 

From their campsite at Last Lake in the Sheenjek River Valley, also one of the Murie base camps, Schaller read excerpts from his 1956 journals and shared insights on the value of preserving the Alaska wilderness.