The North Slope: prolific with culture and resources.

• Author: Barbour, Tracy
• Position: REGIONAL REVIEW

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The North Slope occupies the top of Alaska, bordering the Arctic Ocean, with the Chukchi Sea west of Barrow and the Beaufort Sea to the east, sitting completely north of the Arctic Circle. Although 80 percent of Alaska terrain is over permafrost, it is thicker on the North Slope--from 700 feet to 2,240 feet. The North Slope Borough's 89,000 square miles reach some 225 miles north to south and more than 600 miles east to west with 2,000 miles of coastline, excluding the offshore island perimeters.

The borough is the nation's largest county-level organized government--by landmass, not population. The North Slope borough has nearly 6,800 permanent residents: 4,054 in Barrow, 713 in Point Hope, 257 in Point Lay, 534 in Wainwright, 219 in Atqasuk, 424 in Nuiqsut, 4 in Prudhoe Bay and Deadhorse, 272 in Kaktovik and 284 in Anaktuvuk Pass. There's no road system connecting communities, so air travel is an important mode of transporting both passengers and cargo. In addition, residents commonly travel by boat during the summer and snow machine during the winter, especially to practice subsistence. Coastal communities harvest seals, walrus, bowhead whales, beluga whales and polar bears, along with the berries, birds, fish, caribou and other wildlife utilized by communities situated more inland.

Seventy-four percent of North Slope Borough land is federally managed. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge covers 29,678 square miles in the northeast corner, making it the largest National Wildlife Refuge in the country. The National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska encompasses 35,926 square miles and has a history of almost a century of petroleum exploration. The Bureau of Land Management currently administers more than 300 oil and gas leases in NPR-A.

OIL'S IMPACT

Alaska's North Slope is renowned for its prolific oil production. The region is endowed with the country's two largest oilfields: Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk. The petroleum sector contributed $6.1 billion in oil revenues to the State's general fund in fiscal year 2009 (about 90 percent of unrestricted revenues), plus 30 percent of all jobs for the state's residents. "Those are very well-paid, year-round jobs," says Alyssa Shanks, an economist with the Alaska Department of Labor.

When many people think of the North Slope, Shanks says, they only think of Prudhoe Bay, which is a Census Designated Place with a year-round population of just four people. It's very different than other places...