Alaska

Protecting Alaska’s wilderness and the Indigenous way of life is critical to a green future, says advocate

Published

2 years ago

January 11, 2024

Protecting Alaska’s wilderness and the Indigenous way of life is critical to a green future, says advocate

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

“Alaska is America’s natural resource warehouse.” That is what Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy told then-President Donald Trump in 2018. But our home is far more than storage for the next fad of consumer desires in the Lower 48 states. In Alaska, we are facing an onslaught of proposed projects that threaten to destroy our way of life. Perhaps the most concerning of these is the proposed Ambler industrial mining road.

The proposal is to build a road to a potential mining district in remote northwest Alaska, near the Arctic. Proponents of the plan claim they would be able to access copper and other minerals that could be used for the U.S. tech sector and green energy products, such as wind turbines. But this road would cut through 211 miles of pristine wilderness, through the watershed that feeds thousands of rivers, streams and lakes and would deal a possibly fatal blow to the subsistence way of life my people have maintained for millennia.

I teach my children to see this landscape as my ancestors did—it’s an intricately connected system we are only a small part of. We depend on the land, animals, water and fish for our food. Caribou, moose, ducks, geese, berries and fish make up most of our diet. We use every part of the animals we take, and depend on their hides and furs for our traditional clothing, tools, art and regalia.

The area that would be affected by the road includes the Brooks Range mountains; the Yukon, Koyukuk and Kobuk rivers; and the Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge and Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, home to uninterrupted boreal forest, mountains, waterways and the 180,000 animals that make up the Western Arctic caribou herd. With the climate crisis, it is not just my people who will suffer at the destruction of my homelands but all of humanity. The true critical resource for a green future is intact wilderness.

When this project was given a rushed green light under the Trump administration, 41 tribes, including my own, sued the federal government and asked it to follow its own policy to review what the effects of the project would be. This report was recently released by the Bureau of Land Management and describes only a fraction of the incredible consequences. Nearly 90 tribes expressed opposition to the road during the recent window allowing for public comment on the report.

The road would require 3,000 culverts, or water channels, 200 major bridges and would lead to contamination of waterways. Trucks transporting hazardous materials would travel the gravel Ambler mining road daily, over permafrost tundra and waterways including the federally designated wild Kobuk River. There would also be fragmentation of Western Arctic caribou migration paths at a level never before seen; disruption of salmon, sheefish and whitefish spawning grounds; thawed permafrost; and the introduction of trespassing, noise and worse to our traditional tribal lands.

The huge corporations that want the road show up in villages promising it would help with affordable delivery of goods or bring jobs to Native communities. They claim it’s a single road leading to only one mine. We can see through these lies, however.

A map of mining claims shows they have made plans to use the road to industrialize our entire homelands. The mining claims they have already made cover many hundreds of miles. The road would be close enough to villages to contaminate their water, kill off their fish and prevent the caribou they depend on from migrating. But it would still be dozens of miles away and restricted to industrial use alone.

The promised jobs would be many miles away, and historically the only work made available to Native people would be low-paying and temporary. The road would be paid for by American taxpayers and used only by mining companies until they were done pillaging.

The companies that want the road and industrial mining development only care about profit. They use the constant talking point that we need the minerals for a green future. Yet the most recent data show that that claim is false and the only thing present in abundance is copper. A green future that destroys some of the last intact wilderness in the world defies logic.

The public comment period for the federal report on the road has closed. The Bureau of Land Management will make a decision in the coming months about whether to permit the road. In theory, the Biden administration recognizes the importance of Indigenous knowledge.

A 2022 White House memo stated that despite controlling only 24% of ecosystems worldwide, Indigenous people’s lands contain about 40% of all “ecologically intact landscapes and protected areas left on the planet,” and a staggering 80% of the world’s biodiversity, suggesting that “the most intact ecosystems on the planet rest in the hands of people who have remained close to nature.”

Yet, the unified tribal opposition to the proposed Ambler road has been largely dismissed. We are calling on our fellow Americans to stand with us. If we raise our voices together, we may be able to reverse this disastrous path. Follow the Ambler mining road issue and urge the leaders and people of influence in your own states and communities to oppose the road.

Indigenous people are still fighting for basic rights, such as having access to clean water as well as the hunting and fishing rights we depend on; protecting our lands and practicing our religion and culture. I want my children to be able to live on their traditional homelands. I want them to eat salmon and whitefish, hunt caribou and moose, practice our ceremonies—and to teach their children to do the same.

2024 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Protecting Alaska’s wilderness and the Indigenous way of life is critical to a green future, says advocate (2024, January 11)
retrieved 11 January 2024
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Alaska

Officials finish moving Western Alaska storm evacuees from Anchorage shelters into longer-term housing

Published

2 hours ago

October 31, 2025

Press Room

Officials finish moving Western Alaska storm evacuees from Anchorage shelters into longer-term housing

Operations Manager Brandon McKinney sets up cots at the Alaska Airlines Center on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025 in Anchorage. The facility had served as a mass shelter for Western Alaska residents displaced by ex-Typhoon Halong this month, but as of Friday, storm evacuees had been moved out of mass shelters in Anchorage and into longer-term housing. (Bill Roth / ADN)

All evacuees recently sent to mass shelters in Anchorage after a devastating Western Alaska storm forced them from their homes have been placed in longer-term, non-congregate housing, officials said Friday.

“This transition will help families as they continue to put their lives back together,” said Bryan Fisher, director of the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, in a statement.

Earlier in October, ex-Typhoon Halong displaced scores of residents from their Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta communities after the storm’s powerful winds and flooding severely damaged or destroyed homes and infrastructure across the region.

A mass evacuation effort resulted in more than 650 people arriving in Anchorage in the storm’s wake, with many ending up in mass shelters at Anchorage’s Alaska Airlines Center and Egan Civic and Convention Center while officials looked for more suitable long-term shelter situations.

On Friday, the State Emergency Operations Center said it had finished moving all evacuees — 379 people in total — who had been staying at Anchorage’s two mass shelters into hotels and closed the spaces.

Evacuees who had been sheltering in Bethel have also been placed in non-congregate housing, the State Emergency Operations Center said in a separate Friday statement.

Some shelters will remain in “standby status for the coming days” to accept potential evacuees before placement into non-congregate settings, according to the State Emergency Operations Center.

Officials started moving hundreds of evacuees from congregate shelter spaces in Anchorage into longer-term housing earlier this week while in Western Alaska, crews raced to clean up and winterize communities, or conduct basic repairs in villages, so displaced residents can start returning home.

It’s unclear how long evacuees will remain in the long-term shelters, said Vivian Korthuis, CEO of the Association of Village Council Presidents.

“It’s very stressful right now, but in the long run, things will work out, and we just need to keep on moving forward,” she said.

AVCP, a regional nonprofit that supports and advocates for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta’s 56 tribes, held a media briefing Friday afternoon to detail its current relief work in affected communities and long-term disaster response priorities.

The organization, alongside others like the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp., Alaska Organized Militia and Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection, has been working to make homes and communities livable since officials wrapped up mass evacuations.

“These relief efforts are not a short-term thing,” said AVCP spokesperson Dendra Chavez. “This is going to be a long-term effort that we’re all working on.”

While work continues in villages for displaced residents to return, officials said they will continue to help evacuees who have moved into longer-term shelter housing in Anchorage access disaster recovery services and financial assistance.

Other resources, like a Midtown Anchorage disaster resource assistance center, will also remain open, Fisher said in a statement.

“We will continue to work with organizations providing services to storm survivors to ensure their needs are met,” he said.

As of Friday, 1,177 people affected by the storm had applied for state disaster recovery aid, while more than 320 had applied for individual federal aid unlocked by President Donald Trump’s Oct. 22 federal disaster declaration, according to a State Emergency Operations Center statement.

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Alaska

‘People experience justice:’ First female African-American judge in Alaska judicial history retiring

Published

21 hours ago

October 31, 2025

Press Room

‘People experience justice:’ First female African-American judge in Alaska judicial history retiring

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The first African-American female Judge appointed to the Alaska Judiciary is retiring this week — Judge Pamela Scott Washington.

Former Governor Sean Parnell appointed Washington to the Anchorage District Court on August 9, 2010, making history in the process. Prior to Washington. Superior Court Judge Larry Card was the first Black Judge in the state.

“I hadn’t thought about being special because I was the first African-American woman. And I got educated by that from the newspaper,” Washington said.

Washington’s career, trailblazing status, and retirement were celebrated at a party on Thursday evening, hosted by the Alaska Black Caucus.

In the span of her 15 years on Alaska’s Court Bench, Washington served as the Presiding Judge Mental Health Court, and Co-Chair of the Alaska Supreme Court Fairness, Diversity, and Equality Commission. Shortly before going into retirement, Washington was sworn in as the newest president of the National Association of Women Judges.

Reflecting back on her time on the bench, and her nearly 40 years in the legal industry, Washington said she never anticipated being a “trailblazer” when she started, but relishes the impact that she made.

“People experience justice, not just… it’s just not just done,” Washington said. “It’s seen, it’s experienced, it’s felt, and I think if my colleagues recognize that it’s the entire… the administration of justice is a whole process.”

“And so sometimes you can just be kind. People might not like your decision, but they’re going to remember how they experienced you.”

Having served for so long, working with judges and lawyers across the country, even serving on an advisory committee of only five American judges to Pope Francis, Washington’s resume is lengthy. Of all that, Washington said the highlight of her career is the community she served, speaking at schools, and leaving an impact outside of the courtroom.

“I think the thing that I’ve learned the most is that being a public servant and having people recognize you in the grocery store, letting them see that you’re just like them,” Washington said. “We’re doing life the same, doing life together. I think that’s how people trust the system better, if we could be more transparent, more open.”

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Alaska

Donald Trump announces Alaska gas deal with China

Published

2 days ago

October 30, 2025

Press Room

Donald Trump announces Alaska gas deal with China

President Donald Trump has suggested a possible oil and gas deal for Alaska with China following his meeting with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday: “A very large scale transaction may take place concerning the purchase of oil and gas from the great state of Alaska.”

Why It Matters

China has previously avoided purchasing U.S. crude oil, and has been reselling U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) since early this year. America only accounted for around five percent of China’s LNG imports and two percent of its crude oil imports in 2024, according to Chinese customs data. Trump’s announcement indicates a change in China’s trade policy.

It comes after trade tensions escalated rapidly between the U.S. and China this year, with tariffs being imposed by both nations.

This has included China’s 44 percent tariff on U.S. soybean exports, which was a huge blow to American farmers. Soybeans make up about 14 percent of total U.S. agricultural exports, making them America’s most valuable foodstuff sold abroad.

Trump also threatened earlier this month to impose an additional 100 percent tariff on Chinese goods starting in November following China’s tightening restrictions on rare earths exports.

What To Know

Trump said on Truth Social that China had agreed to “begin the process of purchasing” American energy, and added that Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum would be meeting to see if a deal “can be worked out.”

The president also said that President Xi had authorized China to begin purchasing “massive amounts” of soybeans and other farm products. “Farmers should immediately go out and buy more land and larger tractors,” he said.

Trump added that China had agreed to “openly and freely” continue the flow of rare earths and critical minerals, and that Beijing would “work diligently” with the U.S. to stop the flow of fentanyl.

Trump has previously said that China had not done enough to prevent the flow of precursor chemicals – which are used to make fentanyl – into the U.S.

It comes after the Trump administration announced last week that it had finalized plans to open Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to potential oil and gas drilling, reviving a decades-long political and environmental battle over one of America’s most pristine and contested landscapes.

The move fulfilled a campaign promise by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans to restore energy exploration in the Arctic region.

What People Are Saying

Trump wrote on Truth Social: “I had a truly great meeting with President Xi of China. There is enormous respect between our two countries, and that will only be enhanced with what just took place. We agreed on many things, with others, even of high importance, being very close to resolved.

“I was extremely honored by the fact that President Xi authorized China to begin the purchase of massive amounts of soybeans, sorghum, and other farm products. Our farmers will be very happy! In fact, as I said once before during my first Administration, farmers should immediately go out and buy more land and larger tractors. I would like to thank President Xi for this!”