📸 Eelgrass seems at low tide within the huge wetlands of Izembek Lagoon, on the fringe of Izembek Nationwide Wildlife Refuge, AK | Kristine Sowl/USFWS
WASHINGTON, DC – November 20TH, 2024 – The Nationwide Wildlife Refuge Affiliation (Refuge Affiliation) stands firmly towards the Biden administration’s endorsement of a proposed land swap that might pave the best way for a street via the center of the Izembek Nationwide Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. This resolution undermines a long time of conservation efforts, threatens crucial wildlife habitat, disregards tribal opposition, and units a harmful precedent for all public lands in Alaska.
The Izembek Nationwide Wildlife Refuge is an ecological gem, residence to a few of the largest eelgrass beds on this planet and designated as a Wetland of Worldwide Significance below the Ramsar Conference. This distinctive habitat helps almost all the international inhabitants of Pacific black brant and emperor geese, in addition to Steller’s eiders, caribou, wolves, and bears. For many years, the Refuge Affiliation has fought tirelessly to guard this pristine panorama, recognizing its unparalleled ecological significance and its position as a sanctuary for numerous species.
“The proposed street would carve via one of the crucial biologically wealthy and delicate areas within the refuge, disrupting the habitats of numerous migratory birds and different species that depend on Izembek’s protected lands,” mentioned Desirée Sorenson-Groves, President and CEO of the Nationwide Wildlife Refuge Affiliation. “Permitting a street to slice via this refuge just isn’t solely an environmental catastrophe however a direct violation of Alaska Nationwide Curiosity Lands Conservation Act and the very rules that created the Nationwide Wildlife Refuge System.”
The opposition from tribal communities has been loud and clear. Over 20 resolutions have been handed by tribes throughout Western Alaska, denouncing the land swap and street. The Native Village of Hooper Bay, together with dozens of different tribes, have voiced grave issues over the influence this street would have on crucial meals assets and conventional subsistence practices. Supporters of the street embrace the Agdaagux Tribe of King Cove and the King Cove Company who argue it could present emergency entry to Chilly Bay’s airport. Nonetheless, the proposed route could be impassable a lot of the time attributable to harsh climate circumstances, making the street an unreliable resolution whereas inflicting irreparable hurt to wildlife and subsistence existence. There are viable transportation alternate options that must be explored.
“Many Alaska Native tribes have voiced their opposition to the street via their collective resolutions, underscoring the urgency of this concern,” mentioned Sorenson-Groves. “These lands aren’t solely irreplaceable habitats for wildlife however are additionally central to the subsistence existence of native communities. The Pacific black brant and emperor geese are important to the diets, tradition, and heritage of tribes within the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and all through Alaska.”
The proposed land swap threatens not solely Izembek NWR but additionally the integrity of refuges and different public lands in Alaska. Enacted to safeguard Alaska’s wilderness, the Alaska Nationwide Curiosity Lands Conservation Act established important protections for locations like Izembek NWR, making certain they continue to be sanctuaries for wildlife. Permitting a street via Izembek NWR undermines these authorized protections and units a harmful precedent, opening the door for related tasks that might erode the very objective of the Refuge System, jeopardizing its mission to offer protected havens for wildlife in an period of accelerating habitat destruction and local weather change.
The Refuge Affiliation urges the Biden administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to rethink this ill-conceived endorsement. Viable alternate options exist that don’t compromise the integrity of public lands or threaten livelihoods of tribal communities. Investments in a marine ferry, which was deemed 99.9% dependable by the Military Corps of Engineers, present a sustainable and fewer damaging resolution to attach King Cove to Chilly Bay.
Reflecting on the continuing battle to guard Izembek Nationwide Wildlife Refuge, Sorenson-Groves underscored the importance of this second with a poignant quote featured within the Washington Put up: ““As [Jimmy] Carter is in hospice occupied with his life and legacy, that is one thing that’s vital sufficient to him to take motion on. That claims loads.”
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Because the main unbiased voice advocating on behalf of the Nationwide Wildlife Refuge System, the Nationwide Wildlife Refuge Affiliation protects, promotes, and enhances America’s wildlife heritage via strategic applications that serve the System and wildlife past its boundaries. The group addresses Refuge System funding, administration, and strategic development, whereas additionally selling applications that maximize the system’s conservation influence.
For all media inquiries and questions, please contact Eden Taylor, Director of Communications & Advertising at etaylor@refugeassociation.org.
