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The fate of Alaska Native communities, Arctic wildlife, and Alaska's critical mineral prospects lies in part with the Interior Department's review of a proposed 211-mile gravel road at the doorstep of Gates of the Arctic National Park. The proposed road would provide access to the Ambler Mining District, an area rich with copper, cobalt, lead, and zinc—minerals essential to electric vehicles.
In 2020, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) found that the road would degrade salmon habitat, disrupt caribou migration, spread invasive species and asbestos, and contribute to thawing permafrost, but the leadership at the department under the Trump administration nonetheless approved the Ambler Road. In September, the BLM began updating its environmental review of the proposed road and soliciting public comments. It is expected to announce next steps on the approval process in the coming months.
Alaska's Arctic ecosystem is already rapidly transforming due to the impacts of climate change. Nancy Fresco, a research professor at the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks said of the potential for expanded drilling and mining in Alaska's Arctic, “Once humans start chiseling away at the larger landscape, the connectedness starts to break down. Ecosystem repair is much harder than ecosystem protection.”
Many Alaska Native tribes worry that the road construction and associated mining will damage salmon and caribou habitat essential for their survival. “It feels like so many times people think they have better ideas of what we should or shouldn’t do in regards to our traditional lands,” said Brian Ridley, chief of the 37-tribe Tanana Chiefs Conference, which has sued to stop the road. “We’ve been the stewards for thousands of years, and that’s why our concern is trying to protect them as much as we can.”
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Public lands are a key component of our Hispanic identity, especially in New Mexico, as they help tell the story of the diverse and complex history of our nation. These places, all of which are Indigenous ancestral lands, preserve our shared cultural heritage."
