In 1987, the U. S. Department of the Interior completed the final legislative environmental impact statement (FLEIS, Clough, et al. 1987) on the feasibility for oil development on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Arctic NWR) as mandated in paragraph 1002(h) of the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act (ANILCA, 1980). The conclusions in the FLEIS were that there was a strong possibility for economically recoverable oil and that the biological impacts may be acute to a number of vertebrate species, in particular large herbivores, large mammalian predators, and staging migratory waterfowl. The recommendation to Congress from the Secretary of the Interior, based on the interpretation of the existing data, was to open that portion of the coastal plain (1.5 x 106 ac, known as the 1002 lands) of the Arctic NWR that had been designated for possible development to full leasing. Concomitant with the recommendation for leasing was an influx of funding in the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to support additional biological research with respect to the 1002 and adjacent wilderness lands. The specific research hypotheses were to address the natural dynamics of the coastal plain ecosystem and its megafaunal components, to assess the potential impacts to the ecological system from development, and to provide data for devising mitigation programs to minimize impacts. The research effort that has been afforded the 1002 area of the Arctic NWR is unprecedented. It involved a landscape level approach to studying arctic tundra ecosystem dynamics. Although the field research has concluded and has produced a vast array of information, there is a need to delve further into understanding all of the components of this ecosystem and to attempt to decipher the accumulative impacts, both ecologically and sociologically, that are associated with long-term perturbation of natural systems. To this end, a Final Report will be written to incorporate the findings of the terrestrial research conducted on the coastal plain of the Arctic NWR.