Brooks Range Voices: Robert Olsen-Drye
Aircraft mechanic, hunter, and adventurer shares how he fell in love with the Brooks Range and why the proposed Ambler Road would be bad for the Arctic wilderness, wildlife, and outdoorsmen and women.
Aircraft mechanic, hunter, and adventurer shares how he fell in love with the Brooks Range and why the proposed Ambler Road would be bad for the Arctic wilderness, wildlife, and outdoorsmen and women.
Robert Olsen-Drye is an aircraft mechanic and the owner of Pops’ Air Service in Homer, Alaska. He got his first gig as an aircraft mechanic in Bettles, a small community near the southern edge of the Brooks Range. He spent three summers there, exploring Alaska’s northernmost mountain range by plane, foot, and paddle. Since then, he’s searched high and low but has never found another place like the Brooks Range.
Olsen-Drye doesn’t normally get fired up about politics. But, when it comes to things like the proposed Ambler Road, he has to get involved. If built, Ambler would be a private 211-mile industrial corridor across the Brooks Range, aimed at supporting the development of an unknown number of foreign-owned, open-pit mines to the detriment of the region’s land, wildlife, and hunter and angler opportunities.
Here is his story.
Describe the types of activities you’ve enjoyed in the Brooks Range.
I have flown all over the Brooks Range from as far east as the Sheenjek River to as far west as the Kobuk Sand Dunes. I have landed my airplane on the gravel bars of most rivers flowing from the Brooks Range. I’ve hunted. I’ve floated rivers. I try to get up there every year for an adventure.
Share a memory that stands out to you.
I was dropped by a floatplane on a lake on the western edge of the Brooks Range for a solo caribou hunt. During the more than a week I was out, I encountered fox, muskox, wolf, brown bear, and caribou. It was really enjoyable to experience nature, wildlife, and solitude. There’s something about being in that sort of solitude that really makes for lasting memories.
If you could come back, what would you love to do there next?
I would love to reattempt a sheep hunt. Or maybe a month-long raft trip.
A road through that wilderness would change everything. I like to see and hunt animals doing their natural thing. A big road with heavy equipment passing, with culverts and bridges, power stations and porta potties will 100% change wildlife behavior. It will alter water drainage and change the vegetation. There is no coming back if the Ambler Road is pushed through.
Robert Olsen-Drye
Think of your first trip to the Brooks – what was different than you expected?
My first trip to the Brooks consisted of flying my airplane to a remote village of 12 people to work as an aircraft mechanic for the summer. I didn’t know a single person and had never been that far north in my life. The village took me in and, since then, have become my lifelong friends. The Brooks Range will always be my home away from home.
What is most special about this place?
The wilderness. The vastness. The way the mountains seem to look at you with a mysterious eye. It’s raw. It’s more than most can handle. More than some can comprehend. The Brooks Range is definitely more than words can describe.
Share at least one piece of essential gear you’d recommend packing or advice you’d share with someone going to the Brooks for the first time.
Get an inReach. There is zero reason to not have a communication device in case of emergency. The Brooks Range is a wild place, and you cannot expect your trip to go as you planned.
How do you think your experience in the Brooks would change if the Ambler Road was built? What do hunters and anglers stand to lose?
A road through that wilderness would change everything. I like to see and hunt animals doing their natural thing. A big road with heavy equipment passing, with culverts and bridges, power stations and porta potties will 100% change wildlife behavior. It will alter water drainage and change the vegetation. There is no coming back if the Ambler Road is pushed through.
What aspect of the proposed Ambler Road project concerns you most?
Once lost, we cannot “create” more wilderness. Every time we insert ourselves into nature we change it. If a person walks through the woods one time, we change it in the slightest bit like causing an animal to avoid the moss we stepped on. But to build this road through the Brooks—there will be massive machines blasting over it day and night. It will greatly affect the wilderness for the worse.
What might you say to someone who said, “I don’t understand why this road is such a big threat?”
A road through one of the wildest places in the world is the worst idea possible. It would completely change the experience of venturing to the Brooks Range for the remoteness.
Why is it important that hunters and anglers across the nation speak up against the proposed Ambler Road?
The corporations pushing the Ambler Road project have no shortage of money. It’s going to take all of us to keep them from bullying their way through this. It’s our duty as conservationists to speak up for our public lands and wild places.
Photo credit: Robert Olsen-Drye
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