We need your help to protect Alaska's wildlife. The Ambler Road project would build a road over 200 miles long in Alaska's Brooks Range. It would cross Gates of the Arctic National Park ? the second largest national park in the United States, as well as 2,900 streams, 11 major rivers, and 1,700 acres of wetlands. If the road is developed, it paves the way to develop the Ambler Mining Industrial Complex-- an open-pit copper mine in the heart of Alaska's wilderness.

This would not be a narrow and tidy road in the boreal forest with an occasional wooden bridge across a stream, but a massive piece of infrastructure where single span steel bridges support dozens of ore trucks rumbling by 24 hours a day.

The rocks within the main deposit of the mining district ? the Arctic Deposit near the village of Kobuk ? have among the highest risk of Acid Mine Drainage of any type of ore. As soon as the revenue from the mining company disappears, so do the responsible parties.

We have a chance to stop this road, but we need your help.

Ambler Road Impacts on Wildlife

• Humans, sheefish, arctic char, and salmon rely on the watersheds endangered by this project, and marine mammals such as seals and beluga whales subsist on fish from these watersheds. In short, the entire food chain would be in jeopardy if toxic mining waste were spilled into the Kobuk River watershed, where the annual subsistence fish harvest is hundreds of tons. The Koyukuk River Drainage is in similar jeopardy. The king salmon spawning grounds on the South Fork Koyukuk River and on Henshaw Creek are of utmost concern.

• The road will also intersect the migratory routes of three caribou herds, including the Western Arctic Caribou herd. There is a strong possibility that roadside hunters will usurp the Western Arctic Caribou herd allocation to an entirely new road-access user group. Road access will also allow large boats to be launched in the Kobuk drainages, opening hunting to all Kobuk drainages and the Chukchi coast. People who live in these communities rely on these harvest seasons for food and their way of life - protecting their hunting rights is essential.

• Moose populations are also predicted to be affected up and down the Koyukuk, Wild, Alatna, John, and Kobuk Rivers by boat and all-terrain vehicles, accessing from the Ambler Road. Further, the construction, maintenance, and use of the road will bring invasive plant species, and impact permafrost conditions and waterways already under stress from climate change. 

•  The construction, maintenance and use of the road and its river crossings will negatively impact vegetation (e.g., with invasive species), permafrost conditions, and waterways in an area already under stress from climate change, making the cumulative effects of the project difficult to predict. 

Impacts on Communities

• There is important local opposition to this project. Communities, tribes, and other entities have passed resolutions in opposition and have voiced serious concerns about the project, and the Western Arctic Caribou Herd Working Group had a formal vote opposing it 17:1.

• For Alaskans more widely, the total cost of building, operating, and maintaining this project is expected to be between $844.0 and $906 million. If the mines go bankrupt, the state will be on the hook to pay for damages and restoration.

• The proposed road will run near, but not directly through, any communities ? meaning, these communities will experience the negative impacts of being near an industrial road, without experiencing the benefits of being connected to the road. BLM needs to further study and consider the negative impacts to subsistence use and these communities.

Impacts on Democracy

• The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) has not provided enough information about what this project will look like or about its potential impacts for the public to fully understand the proposal. AIDEA?s permit application and the BLM provide only vague information about the fact that this project will start as a 1-lane ?pioneer road? and will ultimately become a 2-lane gravel road. There is not enough information for BLM and the other agencies to approve this project.

• The purpose of this road is to access a mining district. BLM failed to fully consider the impacts of these mines and any infrastructure related to the mines or roads (e.g., gravel mines for road construction, processing facilities, tailings disposal areas, ore/export terminals, gaslines, ports, etc.). BLM also failed to consider the serious risk of harmful acid rock drainage and other contamination from any mining activities.

The Alaska Wildlife Alliance is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Anchorage, Alaska. We advocate for healthy ecosystems, scientifically and ethically managed to protect our wildlife for present and future generations. To learn more about our work and support our programs, visit www.akwildlife.org.

Proceeds benefit Alaska Wildlife Alliance.

Photo credit: National Park Service

Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve currently does not contain any roads or trails, making it one of the last true wild places on Earth. It covers over 8.5 million acres of tundra, mountain ranges, braided rivers, and boreal forest.

Caribou serve as a vital food source for native people who's homelands are in the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. Over 500,000 caribou migrate through the park each year.

Many species rely on the protected and isolated lands of the Brooks Range for survival and refuge. Arctic fox, caribou, brown bears, Dall's sheep, lynx, golden eagles, wolves, and many more call this region "home."