Alaska Wilderness to Be Developed Following Covert Land Exchange

By Ammoland Editor Joe Evans

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -(Ammoland.com)- Public lands sportsmen and women across the continent could experience a ripple effect of negative impacts as an Interior Department decision allowing development of wilderness lands in Izembek National Wildlife Refuge advances.

Located near the tip of the Alaska Peninsula on the Bering Sea, the Izembek refuge comprises habitat critical to entire populations of migrating waterfowl, as well as big game species such as caribou and brown bear and coldwater fish species, including salmon, steelhead, Dolly Varden and Arctic char.

The administration decision to accept the trade of Alaska tribal lands for areas within Izembek not only conflicts with the best available science; it could be precedent-setting, opening the door to similar development in wilderness, national wildlife refuges and other areas valuable to fish, wildlife and sportsmen.

Backcountry Hunters & Anglers members have strongly opposed past efforts to develop the refuge.

“Izembek National Wildlife Refuge belongs to the American people,” said BHA member Barry Whitehill, who lives in Fairbanks. “We the people deserve better than backdoor administration decisions that would irrevocably harm places so important to fish and wildlife, hunters and anglers. Sportsmen and women have stood up again and again …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand