To the editor:

I am submitting this letter because the main subject of the convention will most likely be the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, for the Native people in Alaska oppose the drilling of ANWR. The drilling of ANWR might lead to the extinction of the caribou or at least a major decline of the population of the Porcupine Caribou Herd due to an unforeseen oil spill. It happened once. Who is to predict an event might not happen again.

I have lived within the ANWR boundary and have enjoyed the pristine beauty of the refuge in a town called Canyon Village. I do not stay there now, though I will likely return to Canyon Village and I would love to see it as a natural beauty rather than an oil field covered with oil rigs. And the day I relocate once again to Canyon Village I would enjoy seeing moose, caribou and the abundant wildlife that call ANWR home, for the wildlife has no voice to speak but the Native people of Alaska can be the voice of all Alaskan's including the wildlife that populate Alaska and call Alaska home.

So let all Alaskans raise their voice so all the world can hear us say ANWR is a beautiful land and it is our land and it should be kept that way.

Michael Jason Jonas / Fort Yukon