On April 19, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its final supplemental environmental analysis for the Ambler Road project, a proposal by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) to build a 211-mile road across the south slope of Alaska’s Brooks Range, and some of the wildest country on the continent, to facilitate huge mining operations that would benefit a private Canadian company at the expense of Wilderness and wildlife.
Thankfully, the BLM identified “No Action” as its preferred alternative, which is exactly what Wilderness Watch and our supporters advocated. The “No Action” alternative, if finalized in a Record of Decision, would mean that the AIDEA would not receive a right-of-way to build the road across BLM-administered public lands.
This big leap forward to stop the Ambler Road was made possible, in no small part, to tens of thousands of our members and supporters who have spoken out to stop this “road to ruin” for the past six years, as well as those who fought on the ground and in the courts. Thank you!
If built, the Ambler Road would stretch west from the Dalton Highway (aka the Haul Road leading to the Prudhoe Bay oil field on the North Slope) to the mining claims. Along the way, the road would cross Gates of the Arctic National Preserve and the Kobuk Wild and Scenic River, both ecologically significant public lands which make up part of the largest remaining roadless area in the country. The Ambler Road also would cross nearly 3,000 streams, 11 major rivers, major caribou migration routes, and would bisect a wide swath of the southern Brooks Range, home to numerous Athabaskan and Iñupiat villages, as well as grizzly bears, wolves, and Dall sheep. While some Native Alaskan communities supported the road and the economic benefits they would derive from mining, many others have played a critical role in opposing the road.
Wildernesses in Alaska, even those as large as Gates of the Arctic, derive much of their extraordinary values from the expanse of wildlands surrounding them—which are critical to maintaining the integrity of these great places. If built, the Ambler Road would undoubtedly lead to more use and motorized intrusions into the Wilderness.Road noise, dust, and vehicle headlights would further degrade the area’s wild character.
Thanks again for taking action to help protect Wilderness and wildlife in Alaska! We can all breathe a sign of relief, but we must also remain vigilant until this road plan is put to bed.
