Washington, D.C. (October 31, 2007) -- The Wilderness Society (TWS) today denounced a proposal (H.R. 2801) by Alaska Rep. Don Young (R-AK) to remove 206 acres of critical and irreplaceable wilderness land from the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska in order to build an unnecessary road between the communities of King Cove and Cold Bay. TWS also sharply criticized the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for its unprecedented willingness to support the road proposal rather than advocating to protect Izembek’s globally significant migratory bird and animal habitat entrusted to the agency’s care. USFWS’ provisional support for the road project marks the first time in history that the agency has supported legislation that would allow a road corridor through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge wilderness.
Testifying before the House Natural Resources Committee, on which Rep. Young serves as ranking minority member, Nicole Whittington-Evans said Young’s proposal (H.R. 2801) “would be incompatible with the primary purposes of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge,” and would “place at risk the integrity of [Izembek’s] internationally significant and strategically vital waterfowl wetlands habitat.” Hundreds of thousands of migratory waterfowl—including nearly all of the world’s populations of approximately 150,000 Pacific black brant and 55,000 Emperor geese—nest, breed, and feed on some of the world’s largest eelgrass beds located near a narrow isthmus of land that runs between the Izembek and Kinzarof Lagoons (the Lagoons Complex) in the refuge. The isthmus also serves as a vital travel corridor for wolves, bears, and caribou.
Whittington-Evans, the organization’s Associate Regional Director and Alaska Refuge Program Director, noted that designating and protecting Izembek’s Wilderness has enjoyed widespread support for nearly four decades beginning in the 1970s. Protecting Izembek’s wilderness habitat has been a priority of every Administration since Ronald Reagan’s. Congress specifically prohibited a road through the Lagoons Complex when it passed the King Cove Health and Safety Act in 1998. And the Association of Village Council Presidents, representing 56 indigenous Native villages in Western Alaska, recently reaffirmed its opposition to a road through the heart of Izembek’s isthmus because of a road’s potentially destructive impact on Native subsistence cultures, which rely on healthy populations of Pacific black brant and other migratory waterfowl that, in turn, depend on the eelgrass beds in Izembek and Kinzarof Lagoons.
Young’s road proposal supposedly answers a need of the town of King Cove for safe passage for town residents to the airport in Cold Bay during medical emergencies. In fact, this need already was met in 1998 when Congress passed the King Cove Health and Safety Act—a law that provided $37.5 million in taxpayer subsidies to improve the town’s medical clinic, improve access to a marine terminal, and purchase a hovercraft capable of transporting residents to Cold Bay in virtually any weather. The hovercraft began operation this year, and has successfully carried out every needed medical evacuation without loss of life—in addition to serving as a regular ferry service between the two towns. A road through Izembek is simply not needed, TWS’ Whittington-Evans told the House committee considering H.R. 2801.
Rep. Young’s bill offers 61,000 acres of state and township lands in exchange for the critical wilderness acres he proposes to remove from Izembek. According to Whittington-Evans, these lands “do not represent comparable wildlife habitat value.” She noted that “the value of any exchange lands would be diminished if the ecological heart of the refuge is lost.” The proposed road and land exchange, she told the committee, “should be rejected.”
More than 20 national and Alaska-based conservation organizations have opposed H.R. 2801 since the legislation was introduced. The Blue Goose Alliance, Environmental Defense, National Audubon Society, and Sierra Club joined TWS in its testimony opposing the bill today.
The Wilderness Society, which has more than 310,000 members and supporters, is a nonprofit organization founded in 1935 and dedicated to the protection of America’s wilderness and wildlife.
