Original Map of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is Missing

On Friday, an article at NY Times Online reported that the original map delineating the legal boundaries of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has been missing since early 2003. And, to make matters worse, there are no known copies, no digitized GIS data, no scanned image, nothing. The USGS made a new map, but it apparently differs significantly from the original. The last person known to have seen the map was quoted as saying he did not believe the map was stolen, but only a few people knew where the map was stored. In any event, the new map has already been used as part of a measure to open the ANWR to drilling.

(Also blogged over at The Map Room and GeoCarta)