Wildlife

Learn about the ecological impacts of the oil and gas industry through FracTracker articles, maps, and imagery.

Wildlife & Ecology

Explore the articles and maps below to learn the impact of fracking on wildlife and ecology. Oil and gas activities can harm endangered species, critical habitats, watersheds, and ecosystems by polluting the air and water, installing disrupting infrastructure such as roads or pipelines, creating noise and light pollution, and more.

Explore our albums of energy imagery

Learn about the impact of fracking on wildlife and ecology through visualizations such as maps, digital atlases of critical watersheds, and aerial photography.

The fight to protect Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

March 12, 2021

Regulatory actions to open ANWR for drilling in ANWR have significant and potentially grievous implications for Alaska’s Native peoples, and do not bode well for Alaska’s air, water, and landscape, and the biodiverse species such as the Porcupine caribou that call it home.

Oil and Gas Wells on California State Lands

February 12, 2021

The fossil fuel industry has historically taken advantage of…

Image courtesy of Lois Bower-Bjornson from the Clean Air Council.

Landscape Changes and Mental Health Impacts in Southwestern Pennsylvania Communities: A Qualitative Study

August 20, 2020

The primary goal of this qualitative study was to identify residents’ attitudes about the changing physical landscape resulting from fracking operations. Furthermore, how have these landscape changes affected residents’ engagement with the outdoors and their overall health?