History of the Proposed Road
Through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge
The efforts to run a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge have gone on for nearly 20 years. The following
timeline highlights the milestones of the wildlife refuge and the efforts to put an unnecessary road through it.
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1982–83: A report by the state of Alaska and others, including the U.S.
Department of the Interior, finds that a road through Izembek would
cause significant long-term, ongoing and irreparable damage to
important fish, wildlife, habitat and wilderness values of the refuge.
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1986: Izembek National Wildlife Refuge and adjacent Izembek State
Game Refuge becomes the first wetland area in the United States to
be recognized as a Wetland of International Importance.
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1994: The City of King Cove passes a resolution1 that supports a road
through Izembek for “positive socioeconomic impacts.”
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1995: The Alaska State Transportation Plan identifies the King
Cove/Cold Bay road as a high priority for improving the economic
infrastructure of the Lower Alaska Peninsula area. However, the Alaska
Department of Transportation rates the proposed road less safe than a
marine link or improved air travel.2
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1996: A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report again finds that if a road
were built, there would be unacceptable environmental impacts.3
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1
1980: After close to a decade of public discourse leading up to the
passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act,
Izembek National Wildlife Refuge is established with much of it
designated as wilderness. The area was originally established as the
Izembek National Wildlife Range in 1960.
1997: King Cove Corporation offers to exchange corporation lands at
the mouth of Kinzarof Lagoon for a road right-of-way across the
Izembek refuge and wilderness. The Fish and Wildlife service declines
the offer and states, “an exchange would not be in the public interest
Legislative History
1997-98: Alaska Sen. Frank
Murkowski introduces the King
Cove Health and Safety Act (S.
1092), which would allow
construction of a road through
designated wilderness between
King Cove and Cold Bay. President
Clinton issues a veto threat on the
bill. It passes the Senate, but not
the House.
2007: Sens. Ted Stevens and Lisa
Murkowski and Rep. Don Young
introduce bills to authorize a land
exchange and road corridor
through the heart of the Izembek
National Wildlife Refuge and its
designated wilderness (S. 1680 and
H.R. 2801). Neither bill receives a
floor vote.
2009: Congress passes the
Omnibus Public Lands Act (P.L.
111-11) with a provision to initiate
an analysis for a proposed road
and potential land exchange in
Izembek.
City of King Cove, Resolution 94-26.
1994 ADOTPF, Alaska intermodal Transportation Plan, Alaska Peninsula Project King Cove – Cold Bay Access, Appendix C, p. 18.
3 1996 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Izembek Briefing Report
2
because of the high-value wildlife lands in the road corridor.”4
4
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1997: The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities determines that, “Cold Bay and King Cove
statistics indicate no particular elevation in accident statistics overall or related to weather ... Statistically, it is
not clear that King Cove residents are in greater danger than other Alaskans who rely on air transportation.”5
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1998: The Waterfowl Conservation Committee of the Association of Village Council Presidents, representing 56
Native villages in Western Alaska, passes a resolution opposing a bill to build a road from King Cove to Cold Bay,
citing concerns regarding critical habitat for black brant and other subsistence waterfowl. 6
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1998: Congress expressly disallows a road through Izembek’s designated wilderness and instead appropriates
$37.5 million dollars to address King Cove’s health and safety concerns. The funds are allocated for:
o $20 million for the construction of a one-lane, unpaved road to a hovercraft terminal, a dock and
marine facilities and equipment.
o $15 million for improvements to the King Cove airstrip necessary to accommodate non-stop flights
between Anchorage and King Cove.
o $2.5 million to the Indian Health Service for improvements to the health clinic in King Cove.
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2001-04: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducts an Environmental Impact Statement analysis and concludes
that a road through Izembek’s designated wilderness would not qualify as an environmentally preferable option.
In 2003, Sen. Ted Stevens attaches an amendment to an appropriations bill that legislates the outcome of the
EIS, choosing a hovercraft alternative with a terminal in the northeastern corner of Cold Bay adjacent to the
refuge’s wilderness boundary that dictates the need for a 17-mile road from King Cove to the terminal site.7
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2004-07: The Aleutians East Borough spends the $37.5 million in federal funds in the following ways:
o $9 million to purchase the Suna X - a top-of-the-line hovercraft that seats 49 passengers as well as
vehicles. An entire ambulance and crew is able to drive aboard.
o $2.5 million for a state-of-the-art telemedicine facility.
o More than $25 million to build a portion of the 17-mile road to the proposed hovercraft terminal in the
northeastern corner of Cold Bay.
Appropriated funds for airport improvements are instead used for road building. Construction of this road
begins in March 2004 and building costs reach about $2 million per mile. The road is not finished but all of
the funds are depleted, and a hovercraft terminal is built in Lenard Harbor, the southeastern corner of Cold
Bay, where the hovercraft operates between 2007 and 2010.
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2007: Izembek road bills are introduced in Congress: Senators Lisa Murkowski and Ted Stevens introduce
legislation (S. 1680) that would authorize a land exchange and road corridor through the heart of the Izembek
National Wildlife Refuge and its designated wilderness. Congressman Don Young introduces a companion bill
(H.R. 2801) in the House of Representatives.
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2007–10: The hovercraft operates out of Lenard Harbor8 (southeastern corner of Cold Bay) and successfully
performs more than 30 medical evacuations in most all weather conditions.
o The hovercraft is, “a life-saving machine ... and it is doing what it is supposed to do.” – Stanley Mack,
Aleutians East Borough mayor, 2008.9
1996 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Izembek Briefing Report
Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, King Cove – Cold Bay Access Assessment of Transportation Need, 1997
6
The Association of Village Council Presidents Resolution 98-03-02
7
Section 115 of PL 108–137 (a 2003 appropriations act) says, “The Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers, shall
direct construction of Alternative 1 (Northeast Corner) for the project authorized in section 353 of Public Law 105–277
notwithstanding any other provision of law.”
8
Fast Ferry Vessels International, BHT-130 hovercraft enter service in UK and US, September 2007
9
Aleutians East Borough Minutes, Administrator’s Report, 13 March 2008.
5
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2009: Congress passes the Omnibus Public Land Management Act (P.L. 111-11), authorizing the Secretary of the
Interior to determine if building the proposed Izembek road would be in the public interest.
- Sen. Murkowski praises passage of the omnibus act and says of the Izembek provision: “The bill
authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to determine whether a land exchange between the state of
Alaska and the King Cove Native Corporation and the U.S. Department of the Interior is in the public
interest.”
- Sen. Mark Begich says: “At the conclusion of the EIS process, expected this fall, Secretary of Interior
Ken Salazar must make a public interest determination and decide whether the proposed land trade
will move forward.”
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2011: While visiting King Cove, Sen. Murkowski states, “The decades-old push to get the road built between
King Cove and the Cold Bay Airport so that we can have greater access for transportation is going to be a
critical ingredient in that thriving economic future going out for the next 100 years.”10
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2012: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service releases a Draft Environmental Impact Statement of the proposed road
and land exchange. It indicates that the section of road through the wilderness area will cost about $22 million
in additional funds to build. However, an economic analysis commissioned by The Wilderness Society suggests
that the road construction and maintenance costs would likely be closer to $30 – $35.5 million. The economic
analysis determines that the road would likely result in economic losses that are more than 7 to 13 times the
economic benefits.11 An additional analysis done by The Wilderness Society indicates that the total road costs
from King Cove to Cold Bay would likely exceed $80 million.12
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2012: There are 70,111 comments generated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opposing the road,13 including
the following from Dr. Peter Mjos, past Eastern Aleutian Medical Director for the U.S. Public Health Service:
“These hurricane-force storms are not infrequent, of course. No vehicle, boat or plane or medevac can even
consider travel in such horrific conditions. Combined with darkness, avalanche conditions, and ice-glazed
roads, an attempt to travel the proposed road would be foolish beyond any reason, regardless the emergency
or business. Any attempt to maintain the road for travel in such conditions would clearly jeopardize life.”14
Department of Interior Decision, 2013
“The Fish and Wildlife Service’s preferred alternative would protect the heart of a pristine landscape that
congress designated as wilderness and that serves as vital habitat for grizzly bear, caribou and salmon,
shorebirds and waterfowl – including 98 percent of the world’s population of Pacific black brant. … After
extensive dialogue and exhaustive scientific evaluation, the agency has identified a preferred path forward
that will ensure this extraordinary refuge and its wilderness are conserved and protected for future
generations.” – Interior Secretary Ken Salazar
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10
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, USFWS Press Statement, February 5, 2013
2013: The U.S. Department of the Interior rejects a land swap and road proposal once again determining that a
road in the Izembek wilderness is not in the public interest, and would cause irreparable harm to habitat and the
species that the wildlife refuge was established to protect. After reviewing the decision and visiting King Cove,
Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announces in December that she will uphold the decision.
Sen. Murkowski during a public celebration as reported by the Aleutians East Borough, In the Loop, 2 December 2011.
http://wilderness.org/sites/default/files/1205%20CSE%20TWS%20DEIS%20Comments%20Final.pdf
12
TWS fact sheet: wilderness.org/sites/default/files/Proposed Izembek Road Costs_0.pdf
13
2013 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Final Environmental Impact Statement, Appendix G, p. 2
14
Peter O. Mjos, M.D., to Ms. Stephanie Brady, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 15 May 2012
11