The Interior Department today laid out a sweeping management plan for an Alaska reserve that it said would balance oil and gas development with protection of caribou and other wildlife important to Alaska Native communities.

The proposal, which was strongly backed by environmental groups but opposed by energy proponents, would govern management of the 22.5-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve in northwest Alaska, known as NPR-A.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the plan would provide special management protections to 13 million acres while allowing access to the "vast majority" of oil and gas reserves and allowing consideration of a future construction of a pipeline to transport crude to market.

"To harness the oil and gas potential of the NPR-A, we need a plan that will help the industry bring energy safely to market from this remote location, while also protecting wildlife and subsistence rights of Alaska Natives," Salazar said in a teleconference from Alaska, where he is wrapping up a three-day visit. "This plan also strikes an important balance by recognizing the need to protect America's treasures in the Arctic, from the raptors of the Colville River and the polar bears of the Beaufort Sea coast to Teshekpuk Lake, Peard Bay and some of the largest caribou herds on Earth."

Notably, Salazar did not announce approval of a proposal by Royal Dutch Shell PLC to drill exploratory wells in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas this summer. Salazar called the Shell review a "dynamic situation" and pointed to delays associated with the Coast Guard's certification of Shell's oil spill response barge. It was unclear whether Salazar intends to issue a final decision on the plan by Wednesday, as he previously indicated to the New York Times.

Onshore, the Bureau of Land Management's plan marks the first time the agency has proposed a unified management system for the Indiana-sized reserve, which is the nation's largest contiguous block of federal lands.

BLM's integrated activity plan, which was introduced in the spring, will determine which areas are appropriate for oil and gas leasing and, in some cases, what measures are needed to protect surface resources (Greenwire, March 30). It also evaluates whether more lands should be designated as special areas off limits to drilling and whether BLM should recommend Congress designate up to a dozen new wild and scenic rivers, which would preserve their free-flowing state.

Today's proposal -- a modified version of a conservation-oriented alternative BLM introduced in March -- will be the preferred alternative in the agency's final environmental impact statement due for release later this year.

Alternative B-2, as it will be called, will identify areas within the reserve to receive special protection from development, including Peard Bay and Kasegaluk Lagoon along the coast, which serves as habitat for seals, polar bears and other marine mammals, the agency said. Protections will also be given to the Colville River raptor nesting areas, calving areas for the Teshekpuk caribou herd and the western Arctic herd, and areas important for subsistence users.

The proposal was praised by the Pew Environment Group, which said alternative B identifies the reserve's most critical wildlife habitat in five recognized special areas while allowing oil and gas leasing on 11 million acres of the reserve.

"The secretary's proposed action is an important step in the right direction for all Americans, including Alaska Natives, sportsmen and other conservationists who want to balance energy exploration with wildlife protection in Alaska's spectacular western Arctic," said Ken Rait, director of Pew's Western Lands Initiative. "This proposal would make millions of acres available for oil and gas leasing, while preserving irreplaceable habitat for the western Arctic caribou herd in the Utukok Uplands and other wildlife areas."

Cindy Shogan, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League, said the plan recognizes the importance of caribou to the needs of Alaska subsistence communities on the North Slope.

"Protecting the caribou herds' migration corridors, calving grounds, insect relief area and wintering grounds will protect and preserve the Alaska Natives' subsistence way of life for now and into the future," she said.

But the oil and gas industry and its supporters on Capitol Hill have called the plan unnecessary and have warned it would place prospective areas off limits to development.

"Today, the Obama administration picked the most restrictive management plan possible," Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) said in a statement. "The environmentally sensitive Teshekpuk Lake area was already under a 10-year deferral for additional study, but this alternative goes vastly beyond that, putting half of the petroleum reserve off limits. This decision denies U.S. taxpayers both revenue and jobs at a time when our nation faces record debt and chronic unemployment."

Alaska Oil and Gas Association Executive Director Kara Moriarty last week said the group does not support alternative B.

"We do not support the new or expanded special areas, wild and scenic river designations, or the adoption of any mitigation measures that would serve to block onshore oil and gas activities or the construction of infrastructure necessary to transport oil from the Chukchi Sea to [the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System]," she said in an email.