Overview
Teshekpuk Lake (Iñupiaq: Tasiqpak) is the largest lake in Arctic Alaska, at width on the Alaska North Slope within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, South of Pitt Point, east of Harrison Bay, east of Point Barrow. The Teshekpuk Lake region is considered one of the most productive, diverse, and sensitive wetland ecosystems in the entire Arctic, habitat to a variety of arctic wildlife, including the resident Teshekpuk Lake caribou herd of 64,000 animals, large numbers of shorebirds and migratory waterfowl, for whom it is an essential part of the East Asian–Australasian Flyway site network. The lake is threatened by salt water contamination from disappearing sea ice, as well as oil drilling in Alpine, Alaska, and by ConocoPhilipps Willow project.
Etymology
Its name comes from the Iñupiaq language , recorded by Rochfort Maguire as Tasok-poh in 1854, and reported to mean "big lagoon", "big enclosed coastal water" or "big coastal lake". It is also known as Lake Teshekpuk, Tasekpuk Lake, Tasirkpuk Lake, Tasyukpun and Tasiqpak.
Geography
Teshekpuk Lake is a wide lake on the Alaska North Slope within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. It is South of Pitt Point, east of Harrison Bay, east of Point Barrow.
Environment
The Teshekpuk Lake region is considered one of the most productive, diverse, and sensitive wetland ecosystems in the entire Arctic, habitat to a variety of arctic wildlife, including the resident Teshekpuk Lake caribou herd (64,000 animals), large numbers of shorebirds and migratory waterfowl and several freshwater and anadromous fish species. The lake is part of the East Asian–Australasian Flyway site network. While the lake covers just 18 percent of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, it hosts more than 40 percent of all aquatic birds visiting the Alaska North Slope. In 1963, the Teshekpuk Lake research station was established. In 2007, the observatory was reestablished with research projects funded by National Science Foundation, U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Land Management, European Space Agency, and European Union.
It studies impacts of climate change on the arctic environment, permafrost dynamics and thermokarst, lake ice systems, coastal and lake shoreline erosion, aquatic and terrestrial ecology, near-surface geophysics, and paleoecological studies.
Oil drilling controversy
On January 11, 2006, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) approved oil and gas drilling on approximately 500,000 acres (2,000 km 2 ) of land in and around Teshekpuk Lake. Up to 90,000 geese congregate in this area in summer to undergo wing molt, and up to 46,000 caribou use the area for both calving and migration. Some environmental groups contested the DOI decision to allow drilling; these included National Audubon Society, Alaska Wilderness League, Center for Biological Diversity, Natural Resources Defense Council, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Sierra Club, and The Wilderness Society. Prior to the decision, led by a coalition of environmental organizations and Alaskan Natives, U.S. citizens sent over 300,000 comments to the Secretary of Interior and the CEO of ConocoPhillips.
Environmentalists and the region's Iñupiat have also cited the impacts of global climate change as a reason to oppose drilling in land near Teshekpuk Lake. Protection of the lake and areas near it from oil and gas leases is again taken up in court cases in 2026.
See also
*List of lakes of Alaska *Arctic Refuge drilling controversy
External links
*NASA: Teshekpuk Lake, Alaska's North Slope *Audubon Alaska: Teshekpuk Lake *Teshekpuk Lake: Arctic Nursery Video