For Immediate Release           _______ (date)

www.arcticrefuge.org

Contact: Local Contact:______________________

Author Chad Kister (740) 753-2278 or (740) 707-4110 or chad@arcticrefuge.org or www.chadkister.com

Arctic Quest author to tour __________ during this critical time

               With the threat of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge greater than ever in the 80 year history of the effort to protect it, Chad Kister, author of the newly released book Arctic Quest will give a slide presentation in ____(location)____  at ____(time and date)____ about the impacts oil development would have to the massive Arctic Refuge ecosystem.

            Arctic Quest: Odyssey Through a Threatened Wilderness brings to life the character of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge through slides and stories of the refuge.  The presentation provides an in-depth look into this timely issue.  Congress is about to debate weather drilling in the refuge should be in the budget bill, where President Bush put it.  It has nothing to do with the budget, and is a corrupt, back-door effort to destroy the refuge.

            The informative slide presentation is about a unique expedition across the Arctic Refuge, an amazing wilderness in imminent peril.  The Arctic Refuge is the last intact Arctic ecosystem left in the United States, encompassing an area the size of California.  Hundreds of thousands of caribou mass together on the fertile coastal plain wetlands each year to give birth.  But Congress is poised to pass legislation to open the coastal plain -- the biological heart of the refuge -- to oil development.

            Public Speaker and author Chad Kister backpacked and rafted hundreds of miles through the Arctic Refuge, starting at the oil industrial complex of Prudhoe Bay.  There, Kister documented pollution and the vast destruction that the oil industry caused to the Arctic ecosystem.  He then backpacked along the coastal plain into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, along the route of the proposed development.  Kister was forced to live off the land, eating fish, roots, berries and greens for much of his diet, and going hungry for long stretches.  He was flushed down a flooded Arctic river and nearly died.

            The presentation shows the amazing wilderness and explains the problems of oil development.

An automated online slide presentation with photos, maps, information and direct ways people can take action to save the Arctic Refuge is at www.arcticrefuge.org.

            “It is unfathomable that lawmakers are about to pass drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge after decades of knowing its biological importance,” Kister said.  Kister has been crusading for more than a decade to protect the Arctic Refuge as wilderness, and to oppose efforts to drill for oil in the refuge.

            Kister has delivered thousands of petition signatures to Ohio Republican Senator Michael Dewine, who voted to oppose drilling in the refuge.  Kister has gone to Washington DC numerous times to lobby legislators to protect the Arctic Refuge, including this past September.

“Chad Kister's book exploded in our hands--and it will in yours too. A model for clarity, passion and adventure, we were gripped by his extraordinary journey, and moved to rage over what he has discovered big oil is doing to the Arctic Refuge.”  --Greg Bates and Flic Shooter, founders, Common Courage Press

Famous Canadian Author Farley Mowat said Kister’s book is “a remarkable account of individual survival under conditions of extreme adversity.  I highly recommend it to anybody who is interested in the survival of the natural world.”

Bernd Heinrich, author the New York Times bestseller, Ravens in Winter and A Year in the Maine Woods said Arctic Quest is, "A powerful journey to the limits of human endurance that grabbed me from the first. I read late into the evening, only to restlessly awaken early the next morning, compelled to finish. This unadorned yet strong prose from a young explorer of uncommon verve and bravery is so rare-and so inspiring. A unique window into a world so few understand yet is a treasure for us all."