Protect Alaska’s wilderness

As Congress works on legislation that will fund the Federal government in 2016, there is an extraneous rider provision that would undermine important wilderness protections in Alaska. After three years of extensive scientific analysis, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2013 determined that a proposed road through the Alaska’s Izembek National Wildlife Refuge and Wilderness Area should not be built because it would cause irreparable harm to sensitive wildlife habitat and important wetlands.  And after months of review, the Department of the Interior made the right decision to reject the proposed road.  The proposed road would set a terrible precedent for the National Wildlife Refuge System and designated Wilderness Areas all across our great nation.

While I was serving as Interior assistant secretary in the administration of President George W. Bush, I visited the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.   I strongly agree with the findings and recommendations of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  I have walked on the isthmus where the proposed road, if built, would destroy wetlands – wetlands where swans nest, and caribou and brown bears forage and migrate. Some of the largest eelgrass beds in the world- which support hundreds of thousands of migratory waterfowl – would be damaged by the construction of this unnecessary road.

{mosads}The village of King Cove is insisting that the road is needed as a means of emergency access to an airport in the nearby village of Cold Bay.  But in 1998, Congress invested $37.5 million to help address King Cove’s health and transportation needs, by providing a safe, reliable, and seaworthy hovercraft, upgraded village medical clinics and port terminals.

The $9 million, state-of-the-art hovercraft that the Aleutians East Borough purchased with federal funds proved capable of transporting an ambulance between King Cove and Cold Bay in 20 minutes, which is much faster than it would take to drive the proposed road.  The hovercraft performed successfully in more than 30 medical evacuations from 2007 until 2010. Nevertheless, the borough halted its use in 2010, citing the annual operating cost of $1 million.  The borough has been using the hovercraft at another island at a cost of $2.5 million per year to transport seafood workers.

According to federal and state data, the projected total road construction costs exceed $80 million.  Given that a significant amount of public money has been spent to address the community’s transportation needs, additional costs would not be a wise use of federal funds.  If tens of millions of taxpayer dollars were to be spent, Americans should demand that it be invested in something that benefits the entire region, such as a year-round Coast Guard station.

Alaska’s Izembek National Wildlife Refuge is a national treasure.  Hundreds of thousands of migratory birds and waterfowl, seals, sea otters, caribou, wolves and grizzly bears depend on the wetlands, tundra, streams, and tidal areas to reproduce and feed.  Almost the entire world’s population of Pacific Black Brant stop at the refuge during their spring and fall migrations to rest and feed on the eelgrass beds.

The proposed road would bisect the heart of the refuge, fragmenting habitat that is vitally important for wildlife, and would permanently diminish the value of this congressionally designated wilderness. Migrating birds that rely on this habitat are an important subsistence food resource for Alaska Natives across western and northern Alaska.  The Association of Village Council Presidents, the largest Alaska Native organization, opposes the proposed road because of the impacts on brant and emperor geese.

The Department of the Interior supported sound science and the professional recommendations of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in rejecting this road proposal.  Taxpayers have provided a transportation solution and the proposed road would set a terrible precedent for the National Wildlife Refuge System and designated Wilderness Areas all across the nation

Laverty served as assistant secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks in the Bush Administration from 2007-2009 and Colorado director of State Parks from 2001-2007.