The Sierra Club is helping to lead a petition to establish the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as a National Monument. This year marks 50 years since President Eisenhower signed the papers to protect Alaska's upper-most reaches and it's wildlife. Established in the northeastern extremes of Alaska, the ANWR holds the largest variety of flora and fauna of any reserve north of the arctic circle. Growing concerns about oil drilling in this sensitive area of our nation and the building effects of climate change are the Sierra Club's cry for establishing this area as a new National Monument, with more restrictions on such private interests. And for good reason. Pictured above are Sierra Club Conservationists Edgar and Peggy Wayburn, who in 1980 were instrumental in the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which expanded the Arctic Refuge and effectively doubled the size of the US National Park System.