Trump’s Assault On Alaska's Wildlands

One of the first Executive Orders from the Trump Whitehouse is to reverse environmental protections for federal lands in Alaska and hasten, expand, and encourage resource development.

Sec. 2.  Policy.  It is the policy of the United States to:

(a)  fully avail itself of Alaska’s vast lands and resources for the benefit of the Nation and the American citizens who call Alaska home;

(b)  efficiently and effectively maximize the development and production of the natural resources located on both Federal and State lands within Alaska;

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(c)  expedite the permitting and leasing of energy and natural resource projects in Alaska; and

(d)  prioritize the development of Alaska’s liquified natural gas (LNG) potential, including the sale and transportation of Alaskan LNG to other regions of the United States and allied nations within the Pacific region.

Trump appears eager to specifically negate all of President Biden’s conservation efforts in the state. It almost seems like a vendetta against Biden, as if he personally wants to wipe out any conservation efforts the former President enacted.

Trump’s order says: rescind, revoke, revise, amend, defer, or grant exemptions from any and all regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, and any other similar agency actions that are inconsistent with the policy set forth in section 2 of this order, including but not limited to agency actions promulgated, issued, or adopted between January 20, 2021, and January 20, 2025;

OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT

Trump’s executive order rescinds any cancellation of oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Trump orders the federal agencies to issue all permits, right-of-way permits, and easements necessary for the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas from leases within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge;

However, Trump’s order goes well beyond the Arctic Refuge. He also wants to negate any protection for Coastal Plaine oil and gas leasing.

Trump also wants to expand oil development on the National Petroleum Reserve and to eliminate any special protected areas within the reserve.

Many Alaskan natives support the oil development proposals and other resource extraction in the state.

ROADS THROUGH WILDLANDS

AMBLER ROAD ACROSS SOUTHERN BROOKS RANGE

Trump also ordered the BLM to approve the Ambler Road corridor, which the BLM under Biden had rejected. This road would travel from the pipeline haul road (Dalton Highway) across the southern edge of the Brooks Range to access large copper deposits owned by Native Corporations in the headwaters of the Kobuk River.

The proposed road would cross the Gates of the Arctic NP and a number of Wild and Scenic Rivers. If the road is constructed, many fear this new access will increase the economic viability of other lands for potential mining and potential oil development.

IZEMBEK NATIONAL WILDLIFE ROAD THROUGH WILDERNESS

Trump orders that the proposed road across designated wilderness in the Izembek NWR be permitted to go forward. This road was opposed by the Obama and Clinton administrations, as well as Jimmy Carter who was President when the original Izembek Refuge was established.

Native people in the village of King Cove desire land access to the Cold Bay airstrip, providing year-round air travel.

This proposal negates the Wilderness Act and has much larger implications than this single road.

During the first Trump administration, the road proposal was approved, The Biden Administration under Sec of Interior Haaland also approved of the road, likely because Aleuts in King Cove also supported the road.

If the road is allowed to go forward across designated wilderness, then any Sec. of Interior could approve roads across any designated wilderness.

HUNTING AND TRAPPING

To its credit, the Biden administration tried to alter the worse hunting and trapping behavior permitted in National Park Preserves. While hunting and trapping are permitted in national preserves, the Biden ban outlawed baiting bears, killing wolf pups in dens, and shooting swimming caribou that were crossing rivers.

These restrictions were opposed by many Alaskans, including the Alaska Federal of Natives, who claimed such a ban interfered with their traditional subsistence activities.

Shooting caribou swimming in rivers will again be legal due to Trump’s Executive Order. Photo George Wuerthner

Trump directs the National Park Service to rescind these rules.

Another provision of the Executive Order directs federal agencies to make all federal lands where hunting and trapping occur consistent with state land rules.

For instance, there has been legal debate over wolf trapping along the border of Denali National Park, with the NPS arguing that wolves should be protected while the state argues that wolf trapping is legal.

NAVIGABLE WATERWAYS

Trump ordered that the control of waterways, even in nationally protected lands like national parks or on Wild and Scenic Rivers, be “restored” to state authority.

This issue stems from a lawsuit about who controls “submerged lands” across Alaska. It stems from a lawsuit filed in 2007 dealing with a hunter who used a hovercraft to hunt moose on the Nation River.

The NPS bans hovercraft in the National Preserve. The state argues that it should control uses on these lands, including mining, use of motorized access, and other related issues.

ROADLESS LANDS

The Trump Executive Order places a “temporary moratorium on all activities and privileges authorized by the final rule and record of decision entitled “Special Areas; Roadless Area Conservation; National Forest System Lands in Alaska.”

This would reverse a restriction on logging and roadbuilding in Alaskan roadless lands implemented by the Biden administration in 2023 and reinstate the rule opening up these lands to development enacted during the first Trump administration.

It primarily affects the Tongass and Chugach National Forests in Alaska, which hold substantial amounts of carbon in old-growth forests and where there are substantial roadless lands that would qualify for wilderness designation.

The rest of the order has language exhorting federal agencies to avoid impeding or hindering any development in Alaska.

No doubt, lawsuits will be filed to stop or slow the implementation of these rules, and we can hope future administrations will recognize the value of Alaska’s wildlands.

In some cases, economic considerations may thwart Trump’s agenda. For example, several oil lease sales were authorized on the coastal plain of the Arctic Wildlife Refuge in 2024, but there were no bids.

The same is true for logging operations on the Tongass National Forest. Without federal subsidies, the cost of road construction is exorbitant, and the value of the timber doesn’t cover these costs.

Nevertheless, I suspect Trump would argue expanding resource exploitation in Alaska is in the national interest, and if subsidies are necessary to implement resource extraction, his administration will find a way to fund it.