ANCHORAGE, Alaska— A federal judge today overturned the Trump administration’s decision to trade away and privatize federal public lands in Alaska’s Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. The land exchange, which the court canceled, would have facilitated construction of a road through the refuge.
“Our community depends on the brant and emperor geese and subsistence use to eat, so I’m relieved the court decided to protect Izembek from a road that could hurt our harvests,” said Chief Edgar Tall Sr. of the Native Village of Hooper Bay. “I started learning how to find and save food like the birds, salmon and moose at a very young age from my elders, and that’s still how a lot of us get enough food. It’s getting harder to make our voice heard and protect our right to live off the land and the sea, but if Izembek is safe, that will help.”
In November the Native Village of Hooper Bay, Native Village of Paimiut, Chevak Native Village and the Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration to defend Izembek’s unique wetlands and wilderness.
In today’s ruling the court held that the Trump administration violated the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act by failing to comply with the Act’s mandatory procedures for authorizing a road through a wildlife refuge when it traded away 500 acres of ecologically irreplaceable wilderness lands to King Cove Corporation. The court also said the land exchange violated the Endangered Species Act and the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act.
Izembek provides an essential stopover for millions of migratory birds, including Pacific black brant, emperor geese and endangered Steller’s eiders. Those same Pacific brant and emperor geese migrate on to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in the summer to nest, where they are a key subsistence resource for the three Native Villages and other Alaska Native communities.
“With my relatives still healing from recent climate-induced heartbreaks like Typhoon Halong in Y-K Communities, this court ruling brings a vital victory and a profound sense of relief in a time of uncertainty and upheaval across the country,” said Angutekaraq Estelle Thomson of the Native Village of Paimiut. “The court has rightfully upheld the true intent of ANILCA, confirming that public lands cannot be traded away through short-sighted deals that set a dangerous, irreversible precedent for development. Izembek is a globally unique ecosystem and a crucial staging area for migratory birds like the black brant and the emperor goose, which nests exclusively in Western Alaska. Protecting this irreplaceable refuge safeguards the subsistence way of life and the food security for the tens of thousands of people across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta who depend on these flyways, as well as our Indigenous partners at the other ends of flyways.”
“This is a huge victory for Izembek’s wetlands and for all federally protected lands in Alaska,” said Rebecca Noblin, Alaska legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The judge made it clear that the Trump administration can’t just come in and trade away irreplaceable wilderness to enable destructive roadbuilding. It’s been a long, hard-fought battle and I’m thankful these lands, endangered wildlife and the migratory birds relied on by Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Villages for subsistence ways of life remain protected for future generations.”
In addition to being an essential stopover for millions of migratory birds, Izembek is home to grizzly bears, caribou, salmon, sea otters and sea lions. It contains some of the largest carbon-storing eelgrass beds in the world. Prior administrations repeatedly concluded that bulldozing a road through Izembek would cause permanent harm to wildlife habitat.
