Defenders of Wildlife Blog

Wetlands in Izembek National Wildlife Refuge (©USFWS)

Isabel Ricker, Landscape Conservation Coordinator

A few months ago we told you about an important milestone being reached in the battle to preserve the wilderness and wetland integrity of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. This occurred when the Fish and Wildlife Service released its final environmental impact statement (EIS) recommending against building a $30 million road through the refuge. When a federal agency issues a final EIS, it has to wait at least 30 days before it can finalize its recommendation and begin its implementation. When the Service issued the Izembek EIS, the final decision rested in the hands of then-Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, but he subsequently retired from office without resolving the dispute over the proposed Izembek road.

So where do things stand at this point with regards to that road? Despite having fallen off the political radar screen in recent weeks, the future of this incredible wildlife refuge remains as uncertain as ever. And for that we can thank Congressional politics playing out as usual.

The problem stemmed from Salazar’s retirement and the need for the Senate to confirm his proposed successor, Sally Jewell. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska threatened to block Jewell’s nomination unless the Department reversed the Service’s recommendation against the Izembek road. So at the last moment before a vote on her nomination, an unfortunate deal was struck by the Department which agreed to seek further public comment from the supporters of the road. The deal between Senator Murkowski and Interior will likely delay a final decision on Izembek for many months, but it does not bind or force the Department to ultimately approve the road. So the fate of Izembek now rests in Sally Jewell’s hands.

Many species of birds, especially the Pacific black brant, rely on Izembek’s protected habitat (©Ryan Hagerty/USFWS)

Izembek was established in 1960 to protect some of the most distinctive and important wetlands in the world, and is home to an abundance of wildlife, including 98% of the world’s population of Pacific black brant (a sea bird), as well as grizzly bear, caribou, and salmon. The proposed road would bisect refuge and designated wilderness lands in order to connect the communities of King Cove and Cold Bay, crossing sensitive wetlands as well as steep slopes prone to avalanches. Numerous studies – by the federal government, the state of Alaska and wildlife experts – have concluded since the 1980s that a road through Izembek would permanently and significantly damage the wilderness and wildlife habitat value of the refuge. Furthermore, the road would set a dangerous precedent of sacrificing our nation’s protected wilderness national wildlife refuges for indefensible development projects.

The damage from the road is not being exaggerated. In the final EIS for the project, which was released earlier this year, the Service determined that the road would require the construction of eight bridges, 19 culverts and 254 stream crossings. Despite this unambiguous assessment by the Service, proponents of the road continued to push for its approval, saying that the road is a public health necessity for King Cove. Ironically, the village of King Cove had previously been provided with a $9 million all-weather hovercraft to cross the bay in medical emergencies to the air strip at Cold Bay, but the community ultimately gave the hovercraft away.

The hovercraft that they no longer wanted was able to reach Cold Bay in 20 minutes in a medical emergency. By contrast, the proposed road would take more than two hours to travel, even in the best of weather conditions. The hovercraft had a 100% success rate with 30 medical evacuations, while the road would be impassable for much of the year due to frequent icing, high winds, blizzards and other inclement weather. Pete Mjos, the region’s former U.S. Public Health Service director, has said that attempting to travel on the proposed road during the region’s extreme winter storms would be “foolish beyond reason” and “would clearly jeopardize life.”

The Aighleen Pinnacles in Izembek NWR (©John Sarvis/USFWS)

The best estimates suggest that between past efforts to enhance medical services to King Cove and the construction of the proposed road, the final bill to the American taxpayer would be close to $75 million, an extraordinary expense in a time of federal budget austerity. Two weeks ago, Defenders of Wildlife CEO Jamie Rappaport Clark and former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt co-authored an op-ed in the Washington Post that details the decades-long history of King Cove’s pork-barrel projects and the environmental consequences of this road.

Secretary of the Interior Jewell will face many tough decisions in her new position, but the Izembek road should not be one of them. While Izembek may be politically challenging to decide, from an economic and environmental perspective, it is easy and self-evident – the road must be rejected. We urge the new secretary to make the right decision – the honest and responsible decision – and preserve this iconic wilderness wildlife refuge. Both American taxpayers and the Izembek wildlife will thank her.

Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Jamie Rappaport Clark, President & CEO
Bruce Babbit, former Secretary of the Interior 

The true price of Sally Jewell’s confirmation as the new interior secretary is about to be revealed. Before agreeing not to fight Jewell’s nomination last month, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) extracted a commitment from the Interior Department to delay a decision on whether a road can be built to the southwest Alaska village of King Cove, population 950.

A few weeks ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that the road would severely damage the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, a national treasure that is home to a vast array of creatures, including seals, salmon, caribou, bears and waterfowl. The senator was buying time in an effort to persuade the new secretary to go against the service’s findings and approve the road anyway. Now the final decision is pending — and more than wildlife is at stake. It is really the U.S. taxpayer who stands to lose if the road goes through.

The additional cost to federal taxpayers for building the road would be more than $33 million — a lot of money for one tiny village. And if it seems like you have heard this story before, that’s because you have.

In 1998, we were the interior secretary and director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, respectively, when the Izembek road proposal was earmarked in an appropriations bill headed for passage in Congress. But a lengthy scientific review determined that the road would devastate the Izembek refuge, so President Bill Clinton threatened a veto unless the earmark was removed.

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), then chairman of the Appropriations Committee, rolled out his main argument: The residents of King Cove needed better access to an air strip in the event of medical emergencies requiring evacuation. In response, we suggested upgrading the existing ferry service from King Cove across Cold Bay to the air strip, which would avoid the need for a road through a wildlife refuge.

Stevens responded that an upgraded ferry would work, if we were prepared to also fund an upgrade of the existing marine terminals on the bay. We agreed. The senator then demanded an upgraded video teleconference link to a trauma facility in Anchorage. We agreed. Then he asked for a new ocean-worthy hovercraft capable of crossing the bay in any weather. We agreed to that as well. The final bill to the U.S. taxpayer? Over $50 million; more than $52,000 per resident of King Cove.

It was a huge price to pay to accommodate the rare medical emergencies of one small Alaska village, but accommodate them we did. Alaska got its taxpayer-funded medical emergency solution, and we helped ensure the survival of the Izembek Refuge. End of story.

Or so we thought.

Now the Alaska delegation is back, once again demanding a road through the refuge, as if the 1998 deal had never happened. That hovercraft purchased with taxpayer dollars? Despite a 100 percent success rate in carrying out more than 30 medical evacuations, local officials suspended service in 2010, saying the hovercraft was unreliable and too expensive to operate. But that hasn’t stopped them from using it to transport seasonal seafood workers from a nearby cannery.

Moreover, as Pete Mjos, the former medical director for the area, recently said, the proposed road would be impassable and even life-threatening during the region’s typical winter storms. Even in the best weather conditions, it would still be a two-hour trip. The hovercraft? Thirty minutes each way across the bay. And all without slicing through a pristine wilderness area with 21 miles of road, eight bridges, 19 culverts and 254 stream crossings.

Congress is on record calling for an end to earmarks for pork-barrel projects. And every day we hear more calls for spending cuts and belt-tightening. U.S. taxpayers have already chipped in more than enough for this project. Asking them to pay tens of millions on top of the more than $50 million they have already spent is asking too much. It’s time the Izembek road project was killed for good.

This letter was originally published in the Washington Post.

Izembek National Wildlife Refuge (c)USFWS

Alex Slippen, Communications Associate

This week, the Department of the Interior signaled its preferred alternative to deny a request to build a road through remote wilderness areas of Alaska’s Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. The nearby city of King Cove, Alaska (pop. 938) had been advocating building a road that would connect King Cove to Cold Bay, Alaska, a move conservation organizations feared would severely damage the refuge and set a horrible precedent for future wilderness refuge management decisions. Interior secretary Ken Salazar has 30 days to make the final determination that the road is not in the public interest to block a land exchange that would have facilitated its construction.

Our president, Jamie Rappaport Clark, had this to say about the decision:

“The Department of the Interior was faced with a very difficult decision to make on the proposed Izembek road, but ultimately it has made the correct one given the wildlife and wilderness resources at stake.

The proposed road would have significantly damaged an ecologically sensitive and critical part of the refuge that migratory species like the Pacific Black Brant depend upon. It also would have set a dangerous precedent for the future of wildlife refuge and wilderness area management across the country.

Secretary Salazar takes his responsibilities for the Alaskan Native community very seriously, but in this case he was not persuaded that building a road through a wilderness refuge was the best solution to a difficult problem. National wildlife refuges are special places we as a nation have set aside as safe havens for wildlife. The Interior department has made a responsible choice to protect the integrity of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge and the wildlife refuge system as a whole.”

Want to learn more about how Defenders works to protect national wildlife refuges? Click here.

Defenders’ members and supporters submitted more than 40,000 public comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last week, voicing opposition to a proposed land swap and road through the ecological heart of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

It’s one of Alaska’s most diverse refuges, with lagoons, tundra and stunning mountain peaks. This incredible habitat is home to brown bears, wolverines, caribou and other wildlife.

Tens of thousands of waterfowl, seabirds and shorebirds rely on the Izembek Refuge for nesting and feeding. In fact, each fall the refuge shelters nearly the entire population of Pacific black brant and emperor geese.

But the community of King Cove (population 938) wants to build a road through federally protected Wilderness lands within the refuge that would put this wondrous place at risk.

In exchange for some $38 million in federal funding to modernize medical facilities and to develop a marine transportation system (including a $9-million hovercraft for emergency medical evacuation), community officials in 1998 had agreed to leave Izembek alone.

A land swap and road proposal threaten the Izembek Nation Wildlife Refuge.

Now the town is backtracking on its promise and vigorously lobbying federal officials and the Fish and Wildlife Service to approve the precedent-setting land swap that would clear the way for this unnecessary, destructive road.

Community representatives claim it would improve emergency access to a nearby airport in Cold Bay, Alaska, but experts estimate that it would take some two hours to reach the airport traveling by road versus approximately 20 minutes by hovercraft, which has successfully performed more than 30 evacuations since 2007.

While a final decision is likely to still be months off, it will be difficult for federal officials to ignore such widespread opposition to the proposal.

A huge thanks on behalf of Izembek’s wild ones goes out to all of you who spoke out against the road.

Izembek National Wildlife Refuge shelters tens of thousands of shorebirds and waterfowl, including the threatened Steller's eider.

Located on the tip of the Alaska Peninsula, Izembek National Wildlife Refuge is internationally recognized as an important wetland, protected as a wildlife refuge and designated as a Wilderness Area.

It’s one of Alaska’s most ecologically diverse refuges, with lagoons, tundra and stunning mountain peaks. This incredible habitat is home to brown bears, wolverines, caribou and other wildlife.

Tens of thousands of waterfowl, seabirds and shorebirds rely on the Izembek for nesting and feeding. In fact, each fall the refuge shelters nearly the entire population of Pacific black brant and emperor geese.

But federal officials are under pressure to move forward with a plan to build a road through the heart of this amazing place.

Please speak out now to urge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service NOT to allow a road through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.

There are so many things wrong with the proposed road through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.

• It would slice through the ecological heart of this amazing place, devastating fragile habitat and the wildlife that lives there.
• It would cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.
• It would also set a terrible precedent, threatening other refuges and Wilderness Areas.
• It is unnecessary—faster transportation alternatives already exist for the area.

The deadline for public comments is Friday, May 18th so please take action today.

Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska.

BREAKING: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking public comment on a draft environmental impact statement released today that evaluates a proposed land exchange and road through federally protected Wilderness in Alaska’s Izembek National Wildlife Refuge that would link the rural village of King Cove to an airport in nearby Cold Bay.

The following is a statement from Jamie Rappaport Clark, president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife:

“The Izembek National Wildlife Refuge is no place for a road, and the community of King Cove does not need one to thrive. It is not a choice between protecting people and conserving wildlife. U.S. taxpayers have already provided $37.5 million to King Cove to build a safe, reliable transportation system, including a state-of-the-art seaworthy hovercraft capable of transporting an ambulance to Cold Bay. Since 2007, the hovercraft has been proven effective for more than 30 medical evacuations from King Cove. The continued wellbeing of King Cove’s residents is very important, but more spending, on yet another transportation option, is unnecessary.”

Background:

• As required by Congress in 2009, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking public comment on a draft environmental impact statement that evaluates a proposed land exchange and road through federally protected Wilderness in Alaska’s Izembek National Wildlife Refuge that would link the rural village of King Cove to an airport in nearby Cold Bay.
• King Cove continues to lobby Congress for the road despite receiving $37.5 million in federal aid in 1998 to address safety concerns. The funding was earmarked for King Cove to modernize its medical facilities, build a marine terminal and access road, and purchase a seaworthy hovercraft capable of transporting an ambulance to Cold Bay in as few as 20 minutes.
• To build the road, wetlands in the ecological heart of the refuge would have to be stripped of federal Wilderness protections, putting critically important habitat and hundreds of thousands of migrating birds — including 98 percent of Pacific black brants and nearly all of the world’s emperor geese — at risk. These birds depend on Izembek refuge’s eelgrass beds to nest, rest and feed. The area is also used by caribou, brown bears and a number of marine mammals.