Defenders applauds BLM’s move to maintain land protections in Alaska

 The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) today finalized its decision to retain environmental protections on 28 million acres of habitat critical to salmon, moose and migratory birds in Alaska. Defenders of Wildlife applauds the agency for listening to the 78 Alaskan Tribes and their partners who urged the BLM to protect these areas called D-1 lands.  

“D-1 lands are woven through the traditional subsistence territories of Alaskan Tribes, which depend on these vast lands to support healthy wildlife populations," said Christi Heun, Defenders of Wildlife senior Alaska representative. “This decision shows the agency’s improved commitment to managing federal lands in tandem with Tribes’ ancestral knowledge on some of the most pristine landscapes left in the world today.”  

This map shows the ANCSA 17(d)(1) lands under evaluation during this EIS process (in orange) across five BLM Land Use Planning Areas. 

A series of Public Land Orders issued from 1972 to 1975 prohibited mining and mineral leasing on 58 million acres under section 17(d)(1) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, or, “D-1 Lands.” The Trump administration prepared five PLOs attempting to lift the D-1 protections for specific lands covering 28 million acres within Bristol Bay, Bering Sea- Western Interior, East Alaska, Kobuk-Seward and the Ring of Fire regions, but these never took effect legally. The completion of today’s EIS reaffirms the importance of D-1 lands for wildlife and the surrounding communities.