Public Review Draft of the North Slope Area Plan

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has issued the Public Review Draft (PRD) of the North Slope Area Plan (NSAP) for review and comment. Following the public review period, which may result in changes to the PRD, DNR intends to adopt the NSAP. Once adopted, this plan will serve as the basis for the management of state lands and water within the planning area for the next 20 years. This plan includes a Land Classification Order (NC-19-001) that affects approximately 12 million acres of state-owned, state-selected, and top filed lands.

The planning area encompasses the area north of the Umiat meridian between the eastern boundary of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and the western boundary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The plan boundary also includes offshore areas out to the 3-mile nautical limit from the Canadian border west to Icy Cape. Major drainages included within the NSAP are the Colville, Kuparuk, Sagavanirktok, and Canning Rivers. The classification order implements classifications identified in the plan and primarily classifies lands as:  Material Land, Oil and Gas Land, Resource Management Land, Settlement Land, Transportation Corridor Land, Water Resources Land, Waterfront Development Land, and Wildlife Habitat Land.

The NSAP reflects current and anticipated changes to physical, economic, and social factors in the area. This plan will provide guidance for the development and conservation of the state’s natural resources, with goals to continue to provide economic benefit to Alaskans while maintaining a diversity of public uses of the land. This plan replaces and supersedes all existing classifications and management intent within the plan's boundary. The NSAP will not affect borough, federal, municipal, native, private, or other non-state lands and will not affect oil and gas lease sales or gas only lease sales.

Your written comments are encouraged during this public comment period. To facilitate your review and comment, the PRD is available online, on a USB flash drive by request, and will be available in print format at the DNR offices in Anchorage and Fairbanks, and within the planning area at the North Slope Borough Office. Comments on the PRD must be received no later than July 15, 2020 by mail, email, fax, or through the website provided below. Comments may also be hand delivered to the DNR, Resource Assessment and Development Section office in Anchorage during normal business hours of operation.

To review and download an electronic version of the PRD, please visit our webpage at: http://dnr.alaska.gov/mlw/planning/areaplans/nsap/ .

To submit an online public comment on the North Slope Area Plan Public Review Draft, please visit the MLW comment portal here: https://dnr.alaska.gov/mlw/comment/

For additional information contact: