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Reforming Offshore Energy Leasing in the US Arctic, April 1, 2015 (Washington, DC, USA). Join Resources for the Future (RFF) and the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment for an RFF First Wednesday Seminar, where leading experts will examine offshore oil and gas leasing reform in the US Arctic. Panelists will explore how these new regulations and strategies meet the need for integrated Arctic management and what work remains to be done to design a regulatory approach that appropriately balances resource development, environmental protection, and community livelihoods. The conversation will cover recommendations put forth in the National Petroleum Council's Arctic study (to be released at the end of March) and lessons for the Arctic from the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. Willie Goodwin, former mayor of Kotzebue, Alaska, is a newly announced speaker. Please note the link is updated.
Sweden-U.S. Planning Workshop on Joint Arctic Research Using the I/B Oden, March 30-April 1, 2015 (Stockholm, Sweden). The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Arctic Section is supporting a 'Planning Workshop on joint Arctic Research using the Swedish Class 1A. Icebreaker Oden.' This workshop is held in collaboration with the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat (SPRS) and the Swedish Research Council (Formas and VR). The US delegation will be led by Drs. Patricia Matrai (Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences) and Peter Minnett (RSMAS, U. Miami), as workshop co-organizers with Dr. Caroline Leck (Stockholm U.). This workshop will bring together those with research and operational/ logistical interests in the Arctic and will discuss a baseline for establishing a new, longer-term collaborative relationship among U.S. and Swedish scientists for Oden-based research in the Arctic Ocean.
Today's Congressional Action: 
The House and Senate are not in session.
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Could Maine Become the Nation's Second "Arctic" State? Alaska, which contains within its boundaries the only U.S. territory north of -- or even anywhere near -- the Arctic Circle, has long been the nation's Arctic state. But is there room at the table for a second "Arctic" state? If there is, Maine is increasingly vying for that spot, writes the Portland Press-Herald (in a piece written by former Anchorage Daily News reporter Tom Bell). Alaska Dispatch News
Feds Move Shell Closer to Chukchi Drilling This  Summer. Shell's effort to resume exploratory drilling in the Chukchi Sea has cleared another hurdle. The Interior Department today approved the 2008 Arctic lease sale where Shell spent more than $2 billion to purchase drilling rights. A court challenge forced the government to re-examine the environmental impact of the sale. That's why the feds are announcing their approval now of an auction that actually took place seven years ago. Alaska Public Radio
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management press release: Department of Interior Affairs 2008 Chukchi Sea Lease Sale. Here
 No, Polar Bears Aren't Evolving to Live on Land. The news that polar bears were consuming more land-based foods, such as bird eggs, geese and caribou - the results of a study from the American Museum of Natural History in New York last year - was exactly the sort of optimism people had been looking for in the polar bear's sad story. Despite the fact that various scientists came out saying it was unclear whether this new foraging strategy would help polar bears survive, what the media heard was essentially: "Polar bears are adapting, hooray!" Headlines perpetuated this perception. "Stuck on land? Polar bears find ways to grab dinner," proclaimed Daily Climate News. "As Sea Ice Shrinks, Can Polar Bears Survive on Land?" National Geographic asked optimistically. And study author, ecologist Linda J Gormezano, calculated that polar bears may be able to survive for six months on land-based foods. The Guardian
Western Arctic Polar Bears in Good Shape: Inuvialuit Hunters. Inuvialuit hunters, like many of their Inuit neighbours, believe polar bears in the western Arctic are generally in good health. But to give those observations some more teeth, wildlife co-management agencies in the Inuvialuit region have a released an extensive new study on the subject. "Inuvialuit and Nanuq: A Polar Bear Traditional Knowledge Study," as its title suggests, is based on interviews with more than 70 elders and experienced hunters from six communities, prepared by the Wildlife Management Advisory Councils of the Northwest Territories and North Slope (Yukon). Nunatsiaq Online
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| Legislative Action No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday |
| Future Events
NOAA Science Seminar: Indigenous Knowledge and Use of Ocean Currents in the Bering Strait Region, April 9, 2015 (Webinar). Julie Raymond-Yakoubian of Kawerak, Inc. will be discussing a recently completed project on indigenous knowledge and use of ocean currents. This webinar will share perspectives on the importance of traditional understandings of ocean currents as a critical aspect of the body of knowledge held by communities in the region, how this knowledge was collected, and the modern-day practical applications of this knowledge for marine policy, planning, and safety considerations. The session will include examples of where this knowledge is currently being used.
Leadership, Diplomacy and Science: Resolving the Arctic Paradox" April 13-14, 2015, (Medford, MA, USA). The 4th annual Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy International Inquiry on the Warming Arctic will convene high-level decision makers from diplomatic and security circles, cutting-edge energy and science researchers, and social, environmental and business stakeholders to investigate solutions to the Arctic Paradox and promote a sustainable future for Arctic inhabitants within a "High North, Low Tension" policy framework. Special appearance: the North American debut of the Arctic Circle Assembly's panel "Rising Stars: Young Arctic Energy Researchers". For more information: [email protected]
Arctic States Symposium, April 17-19, 2015 (Charlottesville, VA, USA).
ARCTIC STATES, a three-day symposium at the University of Virginia School of Architecture, brings together an international consortium of leading designers and colleagues from allied disciplines to posit the role of design in the rapidly transforming region, and generate critical discussions by sharing recent work that will trace, critique and speculate on its past, present, and future.
Arctic Science Summit Week, April 23-30, 2015 (Toyama, Japan). The Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) is the annual gathering of the international organizations engaged in supporting and facilitating Arctic research. The purpose of the summit is to provide opportunities for coordination, collaboration and cooperation in all areas of Arctic science. The summit attracts scientists, students, policy makers and other professionals from all over the world.
The Polar Geography and Cryosphere, April 21-25, 2015 (Chicago, IL, USA). The Polar Geography and Cryosphere Specialty Groups of the Association of American Geographers will host its annual meeting in Chicago to consider: current topics in human-environment interactions; current topics in politics, resource geographies, and extractive industries; current topics in Antarctic research; advances in cryosphere research; high latitude environments in a changing climate; an mountain ice and snow.
The House of Sweden Conference, May 19-20, 2015 (Washington, DC, USA). A two day conference focusing on changes, adaptations and opportunities for a changing Arctic. The conference will be divided into separate, but intertwined thematic segments - policy, science, climate change and green technologies. The conference is organized by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, DC and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and is aimed at Arctic oriented policy-makers, researchers, business representatives and NGO's in the lead-up to the U.S. chairmanship of the Arctic Council.
The European Union and Arctic (2015 EU-Arctic Conference), May 29, 2015 (Dundee, UK). The School of Law, University of Dundee, UK and the K. G. Jebsen Centre for the Law of the Sea, University of Tromsø, Norway are pleased to announce the registration open for "The European Union and the Arctic" (2015 EU-Arctic Conference). This conference will bring together academics and practitioners from relevant disciplines such as international law, international relations, political science and marine biology, NGOs, representatives from EU institutions and international organizations to discuss the EU's potential contribution to enhance Arctic governance. A roadmap for increasing the effectiveness of the EU's action in the Arctic will be drawn at the end of the conference.
52nd Annual Conference of the Animal Behavior Society, June 10-14, 2015 (Anchorage, Alaska, USA). The Animal Behavior Society was founded in 1964 to promote the study of animal behavior in the broadest sense, including studies using descriptive and experimental methods under natural and controlled conditions. Current members' research activities span the invertebrates and vertebrates, both in the field and in the laboratory, and include experimental psychology, behavioral ecology, neuroscience, zoology, biology, applied ethology, and human ethology as well as many other specialized areas.
2015 ESSAS Annual Science Meeting, June 15-17, 2015 (Seattle, WA, USA). This symposium, to be held at the University of Washington, is intended for interdisciplinary scholars who will be prepared to discuss their research in the sub-arctic North Atlantic, sub-arctic North Pacific, and the Arctic Ocean that bears on the issue of how changes in sea ice are likely to affect these marine ecosystems. The symposium will also consider the people who depend upon these ecosystems and how they may be able to cope with the changes in the ecosystem goods and services that are coming. These goods and services include the availability of transportation corridors, the availability of subsistence foods, and the opportunity for commercial fishing. To put the present day in a longer perspective, the symposium will include a session on the paleo-ecology of people in sub-arctic and arctic regions that were forced to adjust to changing sea-ice conditions in the past. 6th Symposium on the Impacts of an Ice-Diminishing Arctic on Naval and Maritime Operations, July 14-16, 2015 (Washington, DC, USA). Program in development...check back soon. To see the programs from prior symposia, click here.
Polar Law Symposium (8th) will be held in Alaska (
Sept. 23-24, UAF; Sept. 25-26, UAA). It's sponsored by UAF, UAA (and ISER), UAA Justice Center, UW Law School. Abstracts due 3/15/15. This year's conference theme is, "The Science, Scholarship, and Practice of Polar Law: Strengthening Arctic Peoples and Places."
2015 Arctic Energy Summit, September 28-30, 2015 (Fairbanks, Alaska, USA).The Institute of the North's 2015 Arctic Energy Summit builds on our legacy efforts to address energy as a fundamental element of the sustainable development of the Arctic as a lasting frontier.Central to this concept is a focus on providing pathways for affordable energy development in the Arctic and for Arctic communities.
The Polar Oceans and Global Climate Change, November 3-6, 2015
(La Jolla, California USA.) The American Polar Society will host this Symposium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. A flyer with a partial list of presenters is available on the Society's website (
americanpolar.org
) and from the Society's Membership Chairman by
email.
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