Young activist tries to help Alaska in D.C.

Upper Freehold's Jake Calvitti (l) and his friend Jesse Miller met Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) during Alaska Wilderness Week in Washington, D.C. UPPER FREEHOLD — The Arctic NationalWildlife Refuge is one of the last unspoiled wilderness places left in America and the Alaska Wilderness League is trying to keep it that way.

For his commitment to the environment and protecting Alaska, Upper Freehold resident Jake Calvitti, 15, one of the youngest members of the league, received an all expenses paid trip to attend Alaska Wilderness Week (Feb. 28 to March 4) in Washington, D.C. While there, he trained to take a youth leadership role in the league by attending classes, meeting with legislators and helping present Bill HR-39 to congressmen and senators

"This bill will protect the Arctic from future oil drilling," Calvitti said. "The Artic refuge already faces the challenges from global warming, which are effecting migration patterns of the wildlife. With the threat of industrialization, things will just get worse."

Calvitti and approximately 60 other conservation-minded activists from all over the United States participated in Alaska Wilderness Week activities. Calvitti had the opportunity to speak to Alaska natives who live off the land.

"They told us about how oil drilling would effect the wildlife which they depend on for food," Calvitti said. "They even brought native food to share with the group."

He also went to lectures where Sierra Club and National Audubon Society representatives spoke about lobbying for the passage of Bill HR-39.

"They told us how to effectively get our cause supported by Congress and how to have them sign on to the bill," he said. "We decided who would talk to each senator or congressman and what we wanted to tell them and why they should support this bill."

Calvitti met with Reps. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), as well as other legislators to discuss solving the current economic, energy and environmental problems by building a clean energy economy while preserving pristine places like Alaska's North Slope, which contains millions of acres of ecological resources unlike anywhere else in the United States or on earth.

The group also sent a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to take swift and decisive action to implement science-based precautionary management for America's Arctic, in particular the federal portions of the Beufort and Chukchi Seas, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the National Petroleum Reserve — Alaska. They asked Obama to establish an interagency task force to develop a comprehensive conservation and energy plan for America's Artic to guide if, when, where and how industrial activities should be permitted in the Arctic.

The group also lobbied for Obama's support of the strongest possible protection for the coastal plain of the Arctic refuge, in- cluding wilderness designation legislation. They asked the president to close the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area in the reserve to further oil and gas leasing and to support legislation to permanently withdraw that area from mineral leasing laws. They also asked Obama to suspend the expansion of industrial activity, including offshore oil and gas leasing, exploration and development, additional shipping and commercial fishing and mining exploration and development in America's only arctic ecosystem.

Calvitti said, "People can help by checking out the website and reading more on this issue."

For more information, visit www.AlaskaWild.org.