ANCHORAGE, Alaska— The Trump administration today approved a deal trading away federal lands to pave the way for building a road through the center of Alaska’s Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.

The deal would privatize federal refuge lands and reverse decisions made by previous administrations concerned that the trade would cause irreparable harm to Izembek's ecosystem and wildlife. The refuge provides an essential stopover for millions of migratory birds, including birds that are an important cultural resource for Alaska Native Tribes elsewhere in the state.

“I worry every day about what’s going to happen to the brant and emperor geese if there’s a road in Izembek,” said Chief Edgar Tall Sr. of the Native Village of Hooper Bay. “We need the brant and emperor geese because they’re nutritious and fatty from feeding in Izembek. Our people hunt these birds together so we can learn from each other and teach our children how to hunt and take care of the land. But it’s getting harder and harder to survive off the land and the sea because there’s stronger storms and so much climate change that’s affecting the wildlife. If the birds disappear because of the Izembek road, our community could disappear too. I just want the government to know that, but they don't listen us.”

Izembek contains internationally renowned wetlands, which provide essential habitat for vulnerable migratory birds, including species like Pacific black brant, emperor geese, and endangered Steller’s eider.

These birds depend on Izembek’s vast eelgrass beds as a stopover and feeding ground on their migratory journeys to and from other parts of Alaska. Pacific black brant and emperor geese continue on to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region, where they are essential to the food security, health and culture of many Alaska Native communities.

"With the ravages of Typhoon Halong still fresh in the minds and hearts of the far-reaching, intertwined network of Yup'ik families and communities of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in Southwestern rural Alaska, the timing of this Izembek decision couldn't be more pertinent,” said Angutekaraq Estelle Thomson, Traditional Council President of the Native Village of Paimiut. "To see the Izembek land exchange back in the news, while Alaska is still reeling from this most recent climate change-induced heartbreak, is disheartening and anger-inducing. Surely, the people of King Cove can see the value of leaving the habitat for so many species intact would be far more valuable than any road could be. The Trump administration greenlighting further development projects in Alaska does far more than provide accessibility for a small community of people. It sets a dangerous precedent for other protected areas in our already vulnerable state and in this country. The floodwaters have already reached us...your community may not feel it today or tomorrow, but you will feel the impacts.”

The Native Village of Hooper Bay, the Native Village of Paimiut and many other Tribes and Tribal organizations in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region and across the state have passed resolutions opposing the land swap, citing severe harm to migratory birds and subsistence ways of life.

Izembek is also home to other wildlife species, including grizzly bears, caribou, salmon, sea otters and sea lions. The refuge has one of the largest carbon-storing eelgrass beds in the world. Prior administrations concluded repeatedly that bulldozing a road through Izembek would cause permanent harm to wildlife habitat and is not in the public interest.

Today’s approved land swap will exchange approximately 500 acres of ecologically irreplaceable wilderness lands within the refuge for a maximum of 1,739 acres of King Cove Corporation lands currently outside the refuge.

“Building a road through Izembek is a profoundly bad idea that will wreak havoc on one of the planet’s most important migratory bird sanctuaries,” said Cooper Freeman, Alaska director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “There are far safer and more reliable options to connect King Cove and Cold Bay that won’t destroy Izembek’s bird habitat. Carving a road through irreplaceable eelgrass beds defies both common sense and conservation, and trading away refuge lands for road development sets a dangerous precedent that puts more than a hundred million acres of Alaska conservation lands at risk. Once this door is opened, every national park, monument and refuge in Alaska becomes unacceptably vulnerable.”

The Native Village of Hooper Bay and other Tribes in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region have repeatedly requested to meet with decisionmakers on Izembek and to have their perspectives included in the process. Those requests have been denied or left unanswered.

The Center for Biological Diversity and other conservation organizations have opposed the Izembek land swap and road for decades because of the harm they would cause to the refuge and the concerning precedent this deal would set for all public lands across Alaska.

See the full statement from the Native Village of Paimiut here.