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Photo: Aaron Hitchins 
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Photo: Remote Waters 
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Photo: Aaron Hitchins 
WE ARE HUNTERS & ANGLERS FOR THE BROOKS RANGE
OUR MISSION // To defend America’s most wild and remote hunting and fishing grounds.
Alaska's Brooks Range
Vast. Wild. Remote.
Just how we like it.
Located above the Arctic Circle, the Brooks Range is one of the most isolated regions of Alaska. This expansive and rugged terrain takes considerable effort to reach, and even more fortitude to explore. You don’t come here for a weekend.
- You come to the Brooks Range when you want to float a scenic river through undisturbed boreal forest, alpine tundra and sweeping mountains for 10 days without seeing another group.
- You come to the Brooks Range when you want to pursue iconic species that survived the ice age, like caribou, or are relatively unique, like sheefish.
- You come to the Brooks Range when you want to push your limits, recalibrate yourself, or make lasting memories with people most important to you.
We must maintain a few special places where future generations of hunters and anglers can experience genuine solitude and carry forward our outdoor traditions. That’s why the hunt-fish community is speaking up to prevent the proposed Ambler Industrial Road, a risky proposal that threatens the very qualities that we value most about the Brooks Range.
Photo: Remote Waters
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The Brooks Range is the northern-most mountain range in America. These ancient mountains span 700 miles across Alaska and Canada’s high Arctic. This vast region is one of the largest undeveloped areas remaining in the world, and it is home to some of Alaska’s finest fly-in hunting and fishing opportunities.Map Courtesy TRCP
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Our focus is the southern foothills of the Central Brooks Range, where developers are proposing to build a 211-mile industrial corridor to several economically uncertain mineral deposits. The proposed route would cut across important fish and wildlife habitat, including wetlands, alpine tundra, boreal forest, and nearly 3,000 streams and rivers.Map Courtesy TRCP
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The Brooks Range is home to 14 species of sport fish, including Dolly Varden, Arctic grayling, and trophy sheefish. Anglers enjoy fishing crystal clear holes in pristine, free-flowing rivers that support healthy populations and receive little fishing pressure.Photo: Larry Bartlett
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Hunters are drawn to the Brooks Range to pursue some of Alaska’s most iconic big game species, including moose, caribou, Dall sheep, grizzly, and black bear. Float hunts can be an effective way to hunt moose while enjoying ever-changing scenery.Photo: Jim Dau
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The Brooks Range supports over 22 species of migratory and upland game birds. The region is renowned for its waterfowl hunting opportunities, including Tundra swans, Sandhill cranes, White-fronted geese, and Northern pintail.Photo: Lew Pagel
Previous NextSee all ArticlesBrooks Range stories
Learn about the unique backcountry hunting and fishing opportunities at stake in the Brooks Range and meet stakeholders and advocates who oppose the Ambler Road on our blog.
Fifty Days Living off the Land in the Brooks Range
October 15, 2024Buck Nelson, a retired smokejumper, shares his story of surviving off the land in the Brooks Range and what makes this untamed landscape so worth defending
Brooks Range Voices: Tori Hulslander
July 31, 2024The pilot, hunter, and all-around adventurer shares her love for the Brooks Range and why it’s imperative as hunters and anglers that we fight to conserve wild places and wildlife for future generations
Brooks Range Voices: Billy Molls
July 16, 2024The seasoned guide shares his appreciation for the Brooks Range and calls on hunters to unite to protect hunting opportunities in one of America’s last, best wild places
WHAT’S AT STAKE
WORLD-CLASS HUNTING AND FISHING
From pursuing an Arctic grizzly to hooking a trophy sheefish, the Brooks Range offers unique hunting and fishing opportunities that you have to truly earn.
The very qualities that hunters and anglers value the most about the Brooks Range—the unbroken expansiveness, the lack of human activity, the unmatched solitude—are simply incompatible with a major industrial access corridor designed to help foreign mining companies develop a remote mining district.
The Ambler Industrial Road could also result in fewer hunting and fishing opportunities by heightening tensions over the allocation of wildlife resources—especially if the project’s adverse impacts contribute to the decline of key game species.
Photo: Aaron Hitchins
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Wilderness float trips
Float trips near the proposed corridor—including the scenic Kobuk and Koyukuk watersheds—would be severely impacted by road construction and persistent noise from industrial traffic that would be heard for miles.
Photo: Remote Waters
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Western Arctic Caribou Herd
The industrial corridor would partially bisect the migratory area and winter range for one of Alaska’s largest caribou herds, which would likely result in behavioral disturbances and could ultimately result in less hunting opportunity for all users.
Photo: Ryan Sapena
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Trophy Sheefish
This unique species—dubbed “tarpon of the north”—is a coveted catch species for adventurous anglers. There are less than a dozen known sheefish spawning areas in Alaska, and several of them could be impacted directly by road construction or toxic spills.
PHOTO: Remote Waters
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Recreation Economy
The Bureau of Land Management determined in its final environmental review that “the reputation of the region as a whole would be changed” by the Ambler Road, with an economic impact on pilots, guides, transporters, and lodge operators.
Photo: Aaron Hitchins
The Proposed Ambler Industrial Road
STATUS // The Bureau of Land Management issued its final Record of Decision denying the Ambler Road permits on June 28, 2024. The agency collected public comments in late 2023 and issued its final environmental analysis of the project in April 2024. The BLM has concluded that there is no way to adequately mitigate the potential impacts of any version of the proposed Ambler road. Still, new threats to the Brooks Range are emerging.
PHOTO: RED DOG MINE, NORTHWEST ALASKARISKS OUTWEIGH REWARDS
The 211-mile industrial corridor would connect the Dalton Highway with several economically uncertain mineral deposits where foreign-owned mining companies hope to develop at least four open-pit mines. Collectively, the four primary mineral deposits would span approximately 400,000 acres in addition to the Ambler Road’s footprint.
The private industrial access road would be closed to the public.
If approved, the Ambler Road would be financed through the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA), a publicly-funded development bank. In theory, the project cost ($1.4 billion) would be paid back through tolls paid by the mining companies. In reality, it is unclear whether the mineral resources in the area are economically feasible due to the quality and quantity of the deposits, increases in construction costs, and the variability of global markets.
Mining companies plan to ship ore concentrates produced in the Brooks Range to East Asia and elsewhere for refining, so the Ambler Road would not significantly improve our nation’s mineral independence.
One thing is clear: The risks of the proposed Ambler Industrial Road far outweigh any potential benefits, especially for people who want to maintain the world-class hunting and fishing opportunities that the Brooks Range is renowned for.
Satellite image: Maxar Technologies
The road and the mines together would substantially alter the recreation environment along the southern Brooks Range.
BLM, Final Environmental Impact Statement, 2020Frequently Asked Questions
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Who wants to build the Ambler Road?
The proponent of this project is the Alaska Industrial Development & Export Authority (AIDEA), a publicly-funded corporation with a concerning history of subsidizing large, risky projects that have performed poorly. Since it funded its first project 35 years ago, AIDEA has received a net total of $301 million of public money from the State of Alaska, while AIDEA’s development projects have lost $233.3 million.
The Ambler Road is AIDEA’s latest attempt to heavily subsidize a megaproject that would primarily benefit outside interests—in this case, Canadian and Australian mining companies and East Asian refineries.
There is no good reason to tear up the remote Brooks Range when more economically viable prospects exist with fewer impacts to important habitat.
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How many mines would be built if the proposed Ambler Road were to be authorized?
The BLM determined that, at a minimum, the four leading prospects in the Ambler Mining District would be developed with a combination of open-pit and underground mining.
According to the BLM, the open-pit mines could each be nearly one mile across and with tailings areas up to 1.5 miles long and 0.75 mile wide. Along with the mines would come traffic dust, spur roads, air strips, bright lights, and industrial buildings housing up to 1,000 workers.
One of the most concerning aspects of this project is that a maximum mining scenario has not been established. Without knowing how many large mines could be built in the region as a result of the Ambler industrial corridor, it is impossible to properly evaluate the cumulative impacts of the project on fish, wildlife, and people.
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Would this project strengthen America’s domestic mineral independence?
In short, no. A mineral is deemed “critical” if it is “essential to the economic or national security of the U.S.” and if it has “a supply chain that is vulnerable to disruption.”
The primary identified mineral resources in the district include copper, lead, zinc, silver, and gold (DOWL, 2016). These minerals can be mined in larger quantities in other U.S. states and/or in allied countries, in areas that have fewer adverse impacts to world-class hunting and fishing opportunities than the Brooks Range.
Of the primary identified minerals, only zinc is currently listed as a critical mineral by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The biggest vulnerability with many domestic supply chains is a lack of refining capability in the U.S. and allied countries. Sourcing minerals from a remote region in the Northwest Arctic—far from any refining facilities—does nothing to address this issue. The mining company plans to ship the zinc concentrate to “East Asia” for refining.
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What do local people think about this project?
In Alaska, opposition to the proposed Ambler Road continues to build across the political spectrum as people learn more about this issue. Rural residents who live near the project area are particularly concerned about the likely adverse impacts to their subsistence ways of life. There are standing resolutions opposing the Ambler Road from 95 Alaska Native Tribes. Many business owners in the region—including guides, outfitters and transporters—also oppose the project because of the negative potential impacts to their outdoor recreation businesses.
The Scope of the project
2,900+ Culverts
211 Miles
$1.4 Billion Total Cost
Projected Peak Daily Traffic
Up to 168 trips on the proposed Ambler Road
Up to 238 additional trips per day on the Dalton HwyAccess
Private industrial road. No public access.
Take Action
Your Voice Matters
The BLM has denied the permits for the Ambler Road, but some in Congress are working to reverse this decision. It’s critical that hunters and anglers remain engaged as we continue our work to defend America’s most wild and remote hunting and fishing grounds.
