Defenders Opposes Proposed Illegal Land Exchange in Izembek National Wildlife Refuge

Conservation groups are outraged today by a Department of the Interior’s proposal released today to trade away congressionally-designated wilderness lands within the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge to allow construction of a road. The Secretary of the Interior does not have the authority to privatize refuge wilderness lands to allow roads, and to do so undermines the purposes of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act and the Izembek refuge.  

“The Secretary of the Interior does not have the authority to conduct this land exchange,” said Nicole Whittington-Evans, Defenders of Wildlife Alaska program director. “Any exchange of Izembek Refuge wilderness lands to allow a road would harm this world-class wetland and sets a dangerous precedent allowing future secretaries to trade away prized Alaska public lands to private parties for their gain.”

Six alternatives are included in the environmental analysis released today; two of them would rely on marine transport to connect the communities of King Cove to Cold Bay, while the rest analyze land exchanges and road options.  

“The release of the draft environmental study with a preferred alternative authorizing a land exchange to allow a road to be build in the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge is the wrong choice when alternatives such as a marine option are viable,” said Desiree Sorenson-Groves, President and CEO of the National Wildlife Refuge Association. “We look forward to the robust comment period and public meetings so that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fully considers all alternatives and their consequences.”

In 2015, a marine ferry alternative was determined to be 99.9% dependable by the Army Corps of Engineers. The federal government is already spending $43.3 million to upgrade the Cold Bay dock. A marine ferry linking the communities is a viable solution and would not pose harm to the sensitive wetlands in Izembek Refuge.

In 2023, the Biden administration abandoned a backroom Trump-era land exchange/road deal in Izembek Refuge, finding it severely flawed. In doing so, however, the Secretary directed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider a potential land exchange and road by supplementing a decade-old environmental impact statement.

Izembek National Wildlife Refuge comprises some 300,000 acres of prime wetland habitat in southwestern Alaska and is visited annually by hundreds of thousands of migratory birds from around the globe. Originally protected in 1960, it is also recognized as a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention of 1986. Its eelgrass beds are among the world’s largest, and the refuge is home to virtually the entire global population of Pacific Brant and emperor geese, as well as bears, wolves, caribou and many other wildlife species.

Defenders of Wildlife supports its Tribal partners who have called on the Secretary of the Interior to not release the SEIS. Together, 77 Alaska Tribes have passed 20 resolutions opposing the road and the dangerous proposed land swap.