The fight to keep the Izembek Wilderness wild continues! As we shared with you recently, on August 18 U.S. Federal District Judge Sharon Gleason vacated the Trump administration’s illegal land exchange to transfer public lands within the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge and Wilderness to King Cove Corporation (KCC). This land exchange, done behind closed doors with zero public involvement, would have allowed the construction of a road through the Wilderness to connect the village of King Cove with the town of Cold Bay and its all-season airstrip. With road construction slated to begin on September 1, this ruling represents a major victory for the Izembek Wilderness and its wildlife—and just in the nick of time. But it was not the end of the fight. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had in July issued a so-called Section 404 Clean Water Act permit to the State of Alaska for the construction of the road through Izembek. A Section 404 permit is required for dumping dredged or fill materials into the waters of the United States, including wetlands. Fortunately, the Army Corps of Engineers suspended that permit on August 26 following Judge Gleason’s ruling, thus withdrawing permission to fill wetlands and stream channels in Izembek as the state had planned. Furthermore, Wilderness Watch and our allies had earlier, through our wonderful attorneys at Trustees for Alaska, filed a motion for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and Preliminary Injunction (PI) to stop the road construction in case Judge Gleason did not rule before construction began on September 1. That motion went before a different federal judge, Judge Aaron Peterson. Since the TRO and PI were no longer needed after Judge Gleason’s ruling, and not wanting to risk any kind of potentially adverse ruling from Judge Peterson, we successfully withdrew that motion on August 28. As you can see, there are a lot of moving parts in this long-running fight to keep Izembek wild. Thankfully, Izembek and its wildlife are safe—for now. This, of course, is not the end of the story. The State of Alaska may still try to construct 2.8 miles of road across private lands owned by KCC outside of Izembek’s boundaries, even though it would be another Alaskan “road to nowhere.” Still, even those 2.8 miles would add pressure to the ongoing efforts to build the complete road through Izembek as well as facilitate more illegal ATV use into Izembek. Our attorneys at Trustees for Alaska are looking for options to stop the 2.8 miles of road construction. And, after fighting this road proposal for a couple of decades, we know that the road proponents are not giving up! A big thank you to all our members and supporters who have written thousands of letters to decision-makers and contributed to our efforts to protect the Izembek Wilderness and its wildlife over the years—this victory belongs to all of you! | 
