A huge THANK YOU to our members and supporters who sent nearly 10,000 letters opposing the latest efforts by the State of Alaska to build a road through the spectacular Izembek National Wildlife Refuge and Wilderness. You’ll recall, the state recently requested permission to use helicopters to conduct numerous surveys in the Wilderness prior to building a road. We were told it was a “done deal,” but that didn’t stop us from raising our collective voices to say, “NO!” And guess what, the US Fish and Wildlife Service changed course and grounded the survey choppers! The Izembek Wilderness is a remote stretch of land at the tip of the Alaska Peninsula where hundreds of thousands of migratory birds congregate each fall, and is home to brown bears, thousands of caribou, and hundreds of sea otters and Stellar sea lions. A new road bisecting Izembek would be catastrophic. Unfortunately, the Biden administration continues to defend the Trump administration’s agreement to exchange lands in the Izembek Wilderness so the State of Alaska can punch the road through. On August 4, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the government’s appeal of our June 2020 legal victory, which rejected then-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt's agreement for the land exchange. To watch and listen to oral arguments from August 4, please visit: https://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/media/video/?20210804/20-35721/ Thank you once again for raising your voice again to protect the irreplaceable Izembek National Wildlife Refuge and Wilderness! We’ll keep you posted as the battle rages on. |
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Learn more about this issue by watching our webinar, “Izembek: World-Class Wilderness or Highway?” or by visiting our website. |
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Help us protect Izembek and Wilderness around the country. All first-time donations matched by a generous donor in Massachusetts! |
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