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The National Wildlife Refuge Association stands firmly against the Biden administration’s endorsement of a proposed land swap that would pave the way for a road through the heart of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. This decision undermines decades of conservation efforts, threatens critical wildlife habitat, disregards tribal opposition, and sets a dangerous precedent for all public lands in Alaska.
The Department of the Interior issued a Notice of Intent to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for a potential land exchange in the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge that would allow the construction of a road.
The Department of the Interior recently announced that Secretary Deb Haaland rescinded a 2019 proposed land exchange in the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge that authorized a road to be constructed through the heart of this pristine Alaskan landscape. The National Wildlife Refuge Association has worked for decades to protect the Izembek NWR from this threat and celebrates this important step towards safeguarding America's most ecologically significant national wildlife refuge.
Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska recently had a big win in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals when a rehearing was granted for a previous District Court decision that could allow a road to be constructed across the unique national wildlife refuge. The National Wildlife Refuge Association, former President Jimmy Carter, Former Secretary Bruce Babbitt, and other conservation partners petitioned to request a rehearing of that decision by a larger set of 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges earlier this year.
Former President Jimmy Carter has filed an amicus curia, or friend of the court brief, supporting a rehearing of a District Court decision to allow a road to be constructed across the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Carter’s brief comes in support of the National Wildlife Refuge Association and other conservation partners’ petition requesting a rehearing of that decision by a larger set of 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges.
The National Wildlife Refuge Association continues to counter an assault on Alaska’s 16 national wildlife refuges by the state’s powerful congressional delegation, now empowered by the Trump administration to undo 40 years of protection afforded Alaska’s refuges by the 1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act
