Known and Unknown Tracks | Oil and the Geese | 2006 | 68 in. x 86 in.

July 2006, Teshekpuk Lake wetland, Alaska. When I shared this photograph with environmental groups, it instantly raised a controversy. To the conservationists, the faint caribou tracks were well–known, but what were these linear tracks? With some research it was discovered that they are the imprints left behind by heavy 3–D seismic exploration vehicles—a technology that has existed only a few years, and no oil company should have had permits to explore this protected northeast section of the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area. The photograph was used in the “Save TLake” campaign to oppose oil and gas development in the wetland. When the Bush administration granted permission to open up the area for oil and gas development the conservation community in partnership with the indigenous Iñupiat community filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Interior. In September 2006, the District Court of Alaska ruled in favor of conservation, on the grounds that the government had not done enough ecological studies and did not make a persuasive case that development would ensure safety for the sensitive ecology and way of life of the Iñupiat communities who depend on the wetland.