Conservation groups ask Obama Administration to protect the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge and Wilderness
Contacts:
Beth Peluso, Audubon Alaska, 907-276-7034, bpeluso@audubon.org
Rebecca Noblin, Center for Biological Diversity, 907-274-1110, rnoblin@biologicaldiversity.org
Alex Slippen, Defenders of Wildlife, (202) 772-3226, aslippen@defenders.org
David Raskin, Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges, 907-299-2420, davidc.raskin@me.com
Desiree Sorenson-Groves, National Wildlife Refuge Association, 202-290-5593, dgroves@refugeassociation.org
Bob Keefe, Natural Resources Defense Council, (202)289-2373, bkeefe@nrdc.org
Dan Ritzman, The Sierra Club, 206-378-0114, extension 311, dan.ritzman@sierraclub.org
Tim Woody, The Wilderness Society, 907-223-2443, tim_woody@tws.org
Fran Mauer, AK Chapter Wilderness Watch, 907-455-6829, fmauer@mosquitonet.com
A coalition of conservation groups sent a letter to President Obama today urging him to direct U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar to act swiftly in finalizing the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s decision that a proposed road through a wilderness area in Alaska’s Izembek National Wildlife Refuge and wilderness is not in the public’s interest.
The USFWS recently released a Final Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed land exchange and road project after determining that the road should not be built, and would have severe negative effects on the wildlife refuge and the species it was established to protect.
Supporters of the road proposal said it is needed to provide emergency medical transportation from the community of King Cove to an airport in the nearby town of Cold Bay.
But opponents have pointed out that Congress in 1998 appropriated $37.5 million to improve local infrastructure and purchase a state-of-the art hovercraft capable of carrying an ambulance and its crew to Cold Bay in only 20 minutes under most weather conditions, while a road – costing millions more taxpayer dollars for construction and maintenance, would require more time to travel and would often be impassable because of weather. It would also cause significant ecological damage and set a terrible precedent for the National Wildlife Refuge System and the Wilderness Act.
“Izembek is an irreplaceable, globally important area for many hundreds of thousands of migratory birds, “ said Nils Warnock, executive director of Audubon Alaska. “In some years, virtually all of the world's Pacific brant stop at Izembek to feed and rest. Brant are important for a subsistence way of life for residents of more than 40 traditional villages across the Yukon and Kuskokwim River Delta in western Alaska, a region the size of Oregon.”
“Cutting a road through Izembek’s world-class wetlands would leave a scar not just on the refuge itself, but on America’s wilderness legacy,” said Rebecca Noblin, Alaska director of the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s a precedent of destruction we can’t afford to set.”
“The proposed road would cause significant damage to an ecologically sensitive and critical part of the refuge without providing more safe, reliable transportation for the local community,” said Noah Matson, vice president at Defenders of Wildlife. “It also would set a dangerous precedent for the future of wildlife refuge and wilderness area management across the country and cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. While this is a difficult decision, the administration needs to say no.”
“Contrary to the claims of the road proponents, the health and safety issue was solved in 1998 with the Congressional appropriation of $37.5 million. They are not satisfied because they have always wanted the road for commercial purposes, not health and safety,” said David Raskin, past president and advocacy chair at Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges. “In winter, the road would be impassable much of the time, but summer would allow shipping seafood along the road and out of Cold Bay by air. With budget cuts costing thousands of jobs and reducing essential services nationwide, it makes no sense to waste another $25 million of taxpayer funds to build an environmentally destructive road through the heart of the Izembek Wilderness. Secretary Salazar needs to follow the USFWS recommendations and act now to deny the road.”
“This road is a bad deal for wildlife and taxpayers,” said the National Wildlife Refuge Association’s vice-president of government affairs, Desiree Sorenson-Groves. “The American taxpayer has already paid $37.5 million to a community of 800 people to successfully address health, safety and transportation needs - how much is enough?”
"We support Secretary Salazar's decision to stand with the US Fish and Wildlife Service's extensive analysis that the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge wilderness should remain intact," said Dan Ritzman, Arctic Program Director with the Sierra Club. "Community needs in King Cove and Cold Bay are most adequately met with a marine vessel, and this will protect the core habitat within the wildlife refuge. Izembek Refuge contains one of the world's largest eelgrass beds that feeds nearly the entire population of Pacific black brant and is a gem in our county's public lands."
“We are sensitive to the concerns and needs of King Cove residents,” said Nicole Whittington-Evans, Alaska regional director for The Wilderness Society. “But the Fish & Wildlife Service’s decision confirms what we have known for years and demonstrated with our own economic analysis: The road would be a boondoggle project costing millions of taxpayer dollars for a problem that was already solved. Taxpayers would also foot the bill for damaging wetlands habitat that is important on a global scale. The road would affect not only wilderness and wildlife in the area, but also migratory waterfowl that are an important subsistence food source for communities across the Arctic and Western Alaska.”
"The opening statement of the Wilderness Act of 1964 states: To establish a National Wilderness Preservation System for the permanent good of the whole people ... This proposed land exchange and road in the Izembek Refuge would shatter forever the wilderness at great expense to the American people," said Fran Mauer, Alaska chapter representative for Wilderness Watch.