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NSSI Mission

To enhance the quality and quantity of the scientific information available for aquatic, terrestrial, and marine environments on the North Slope, and to make this information available to decision makers, governmental agencies, industry, and the public. This mission will be accomplished through a coordinated and integrated approach to conducting inventory, monitoring, and research activities on the North Slope.

 

Objectives

  • Develop an understanding of information needs for regulatory and land management agencies, local governments and the public;
  • Identify and prioritize information needs for inventory, monitoring and research activities to address impacts of past, ongoing and anticipated development activities on the North Slope;
  • Coordinate ongoing and future inventory, monitoring and research activities to minimize duplication of effort, share financial resources and expertise, and assure the collection of quality information;
  • Identify priority needs not addressed by existing agency science programs and develop a funding strategy to meet these needs;
  • Maintain and improve public and agency access to accumulated and ongoing research, and to contemporary and traditional local knowledge; and
  • Ensure through appropriate peer-review that the science conducted under the oversight of the NSSI and by participating NSSI agencies and organizations is of the highest technical quality.

 

History

In 1998, The Northeast National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska Integrated Activity Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (IAP/EIS) Record of Decision authorized a Research and Monitoring Team (RMT), whose chartered mission was to determine the effectiveness of mitigation and stipulations of oil and gas activities development as applied to Northeast NPR-A.  The RMT charter was signed by the Secretary of the Interior in November, 2000, and the charter expired in November 2002.  Since the RMT, development on the North Slope has extended further than the NE NPR-A. Planning efforts on the Northwest IAP/EIS began, the Bureau of Land Management announced it would revisit and amend the Northeast IAP/EIS, a full field development plan at the Alpine development in the Colville River Delta began, and Congress considered reauthorizing oil and gas activities in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  Clearly, these activities, and other developments across the North Slope, set a stage for a new, broader organization, with an expanded mission, that should replace the RMT whose charter was limited to the Northeast IAP/EIS.

 

Establishment

In 2004 the North Slope Science Initiative was chartered to provide a consistent approach to high caliber science (inventory, monitoring and research) across the entire North Slope.  This initiative is envisioned to provide better understanding of the terrestrial, aquatic and marine ecosystems of the North Slope.  Conducted through a comprehensive science strategy and implementation plan, this initiative will focus on prioritization of pressing natural resource management and ecosystem information needs, coordination and cooperation among agencies and organizations, competitive selection of approved projects, enhanced information availability and public involvement.

  • Oversight Group – The NSSI Oversight Group (OG) is an executive level organization that develops and implements the science initiative.  The NSMOG includes executive membership from federal, state and local government agencies that have responsibilities for land and resource management across the North Slope.  Members include U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, Minerals Management Service, U.S. Geological Service National Park Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Alaska Department of Natural Resources, the North Slope Borough and the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation.  The Department of Energy and the U.S. Arctic Research Commission serve the Oversight Group in an advisory capacity.  Each agency has affirmed support for the science initiative and committed senior staff for additional development. The group emphasizes coordination and cooperation in supporting inventory, monitoring and research activities.   
  • Science Technology Advisory Panel – The NSSI Science Technology Advisory Panel (STAP) will be an integral part of shaping this initiative by providing the OG technical advice on proposed inventory, monitoring and research functions.  The STAP will have a membership of up to 15 scientists and technical experts from a diversity of professions. This group will be chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), management decisions related to the North Slope Science Initiative.

 

The general organizational structure and mission statement have been shared with the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, Ducks Unlimited, Inc. and The Nature Conservancy.  All organizations have voiced support for the initiative.

 



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