Defenders of Wildlife Blog

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.

The U.S. Department of the Interior gave Americans a nice early Christmas present today.

The Vermillion Basin in Colorado is among the areas that could receive protection under the new order. Photo courtesy BLM.

An order from Secretary Ken Salazar restores the Bureau of Land Management’s ability to protect the wilderness quality of the nation’s “wild lands,” reversing a Bush era decision that stripped BLM’s authority to do so.

BLM manages 245 million acres of public land in the West–more than any other federal agency. Today’s announcement potentially affects nearly 6 million acres of wilderness-quality land in Utah, 650,000 acres in Colorado, more than 5.5 million acres in Arizona and more than 2 million acres in New Mexico.

Here’s what Defenders president Rodger Schlickeisen had to say about the announcement:

Some of America’s most unique and valuable lands have remained unprotected for years due to the short-sighted action of the Bush administration. Today’s announcement will allow the broad vistas of Colorado’s Vermillion Basin, Utah’s Valley of the Gods, and many other unique and irreplaceable landscapes, which provide habitat for wildlife like sage grouse and pronghorn, to be managed to maintain their wildness.

Read our full press release here.