For the past ten years, AWL has taken the lead in the fight to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from being opened to oil and gas development, and its leadership has made a significant impact in this area.
The organization has rallied public support and successfully stopped numerous attempts by Congress to open the refuge to development.
In 2001, AWL and its supporters helped fund photographer Subhankar Banerjee's ground-breaking winter field photography in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
[2] Starting in 2004, AWL expanded its work to include ecologically significant areas of Alaska's vast National Petroleum Reserve, the Tongass National Forest, and the outer continental shelf areas of the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas.
AWL's work has had long-standing support from President Jimmy Carter, who served as its Honorary Chairman of the Board of Directors until his death in 2024.