Fox News made me angry for years over this. Whenever there was a news item about this the backdrop video would be of a large caribou running through a lush tundra. Especially when Sheepturd Smith was doing the report. Turns out the whole area is the stereotypical Seward’s Folly, an icy desolate place.
All of the media did this. Most of the time they showed photos of the Brooks Range, which is wildly beautiful, but hundred of miles away and protected from any development. I once saw an ANWR story on the front page of the Slimes that featured a photo of Mt. McKinley!
You are correct, ANWR is featureless tundra and almost entirely empty. The drilling would be on a tiny percentage of the land and would not affect what little wildlife lives there.