Tag: HABR

Over the past several months, the proposed Ambler Industrial Road has remained in the news. Federal actions related to domestic critical minerals and a recent Alaska Board of Game meeting have prompted many hunters and anglers to ask the same question:

What does this mean for the future of the Brooks Range?

While the policy landscape continues to evolve, the fundamentals of the project have changed very little. The Ambler Road has not been built and continues to face significant legal, financial, permitting, and logistical hurdles. At the same time, hunters and anglers remain engaged and committed to maintaining North America’s most wild and remote hunting and fishing grounds.

Here’s where things stand today.

Federal Directives Continue to Emphasize Domestic Security

In July, the administration issued a new Executive Order 14415, Securing America’s Defense Supply Chains and Ensuring Domestic Acquisition of Critical Minerals, a directive aimed at reducing America’s reliance on foreign-controlled supply chains for national defense. It is the latest in a series of federal directives—including Executive Orders 14272 and 14241—aimed at reducing or eliminating America’s dependence on foreign mineral supply chains. The order emphasizes that critical materials and components should be sourced domestically or from allied nations, and it calls for greater scrutiny of where those materials originate, how they move through the supply chain, and whether foreign adversaries retain leverage over the process.

At first glance, that policy might appear to strengthen the argument for industrial development in the Ambler Mining District. But the details point in the opposite direction. The administration’s stated goal is not simply to mine more materials; it is to build secure, resilient supply chains that serve U.S. interests from extraction through processing and end use. If minerals from Ambler are shipped overseas for processing, particularly to markets dominated by China, the project would fail that test.

According to the most recent feasibility study by Trilogy Metals, “delivery of all concentrates would be to a smelter in the Asia Pacific region,” adding that “the significance of the Chinese market for concentrate cannot be understated.” That is a critical distinction. A road built through the Brooks Range would not necessarily create a secure American minerals supply chain. It could instead move raw mineral concentrates out of Alaska and into the same overseas processing networks that federal policy is trying to avoid.

That makes the proposed Ambler Road difficult to square with America First priorities. Rather than strengthening domestic security, the project could perpetuate U.S. dependence on foreign-controlled processing, benefit rival markets, and deepen the very vulnerabilities the administration has pledged to eliminate. For hunters and anglers, the conclusion is clear: the risks of the Ambler Road continue to outweigh the potential benefits.

Alaska Board of Game Proposal 4

Another significant development occurred this summer at a special meeting of the Alaska Board of Game in Fairbanks.

The Board considered Proposal 4, which would establish a two-mile-wide hunting and trapping closure along the proposed Ambler Industrial Road corridor. After hearing testimony from hunters, residents, organizations, and agency staff, the Board voted to table the proposal until its January 2027 meeting in Kotzebue. We thank the Board of Game for tabling the vote and utilizing the necessary time to consider the proposal next year.

The Board’s decision postpones consideration of hunting restrictions tied to a road that has not been built and remains subject to significant uncertainty. If constructed, the Ambler Road would operate as a private industrial transportation corridor with controlled access, meaning the public would not be permitted to use the road to access public lands.

We appreciate everyone who participated in the process by attending the meeting, submitting testimony, or following the issue closely. The Board’s decision provides additional time for hunters, anglers, local communities, and other stakeholders to weigh in before any final action is considered. Given that the proposed road remains unbuilt and faces substantial permitting, legal, and financial uncertainty, many hunters and anglers believe associated changes to hunting regulations are premature.

What Hasn’t Changed

Although federal policy continues to evolve, the fundamental realities surrounding the Ambler Road remain largely unchanged.

The Ambler Road has not been built and continues to face significant permitting, financing, and legal challenges before construction could begin. Major federal permits remain outstanding; financing questions have not been resolved, and additional regulatory review remains ahead.

The proposed route would cross thousands of streams and numerous major rivers while traversing one of North America’s most intact hunting and fishing landscapes. The Brooks Range supports the Western Arctic Caribou Herd, world-class fisheries, and populations of moose, Dall sheep, bear, and other wildlife that sustain Alaska’s hunting and fishing traditions and rural food security.

Just as importantly, Ambler Road has always been proposed as a private industrial transportation corridor. Although the public could ultimately bear financial risk associated with the project, hunters, anglers, and other Alaskans would not be allowed to use the road to access the public lands it crosses and could even see future public lands hunting closures as a result.

Looking Ahead

The coming months will likely bring additional developments as federal agencies consider applications related to the project and the Alaska Board of Game prepares to revisit Proposal 4 in January 2027.

Whether you’re preparing for another season in the Brooks Range or simply care about the future of Alaska’s public lands, your voice continues to matter. Hunters & Anglers for the Brooks Range will continue tracking developments, sharing fact-based updates, and ensuring hunters and anglers have a seat at the table regarding the future of this unparalleled hunting and fishing landscape.

Dispatch from the Middle Fork of the Koyukuk

By Mary Glaves, Alaska Program Manager, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers

There are still places in Alaska where the landscape—not the clock—sets the pace. Along the Middle Fork of the Koyukuk River, travel depends on water levels, weather, and a willingness to adapt. Gravel bars become campsites. Rising rivers determine where you sleep. Wildlife appears on its own schedule, not yours.

This summer, a small group of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers staff from Alaska and Washington D.C., members, and folks committed to conserving wild public lands, traveled north on the Dalton Highway before launching onto the Middle Fork for a week-long float through the southern Brooks Range. The trip was part wilderness adventure, part opportunity to document a landscape receiving increasing attention as planning and field work continue around the proposed Ambler Industrial Private Road.

Like many Alaska trips, our plans were intentionally flexible. We packed fly rods for Arctic grayling, tackle for northern pike, bear tags, and enough food to adapt to whatever the country offered. In Alaska’s backcountry, success is often measured less by what you accomplish than by your willingness to go with the flow.

The drive north from Fairbanks provided familiar reminders of Alaska’s working landscape. Construction slowed traffic along the Dalton Highway while the Trans-Alaska Pipeline stretched north toward Prudhoe Bay. Moose browsed quietly along roadside ponds, largely indifferent to the steady stream of trucks heading toward the North Slope.

Coldfoot

In Coldfoot, conversations naturally drifted toward the Ambler Road. At the truck stop, where travelers fuel up before continuing north or south, a wall covered in stickers reflects decades of opinions left behind by visitors. Among them were several simple messages:

“No Ambler Road.”

That evening we made camp at Marion Creek Campground beneath the midnight sun, organizing gear, preparing meals, and getting to know one another before launching the next morning.

Marion Creek serves as a gateway to the Brooks Range, welcoming hunters, hikers, anglers, photographers, and travelers seeking a few days in one of Alaska’s most remote regions.

Before long, I ran into someone from Juneau who recognized me from local BHA Pint Nights—a reminder that while Alaska’s landscapes are enormous, its outdoor community often feels surprisingly small.

Launching on the River

The following morning, we prepared to launch under nearly continuous daylight and unusually warm temperatures.

Before we ever pushed away from shore, helicopters carrying sling loads crossed overhead, moving equipment between work sites supporting nearby pipeline and field operations. It was our first indication that industrial activity had become a regular feature of this otherwise quiet country.

Once on the river, however, the pace changed immediately.

The Middle Fork carried us through broad gravel bars, willow-lined banks, and sweeping views of the Brooks Range. We found Eskimo potatoes growing along the shoreline, shared meals of moose and salmon around camp, and watched evening light linger well past midnight.

The river also reminded us who was in charge.

Cold rain settled over us for much of the second day, slowing progress and leaving everyone soaked while we searched for high ground and dry firewood. On the third evening, steadily rising water had a few of us watching the river through the night to ensure camp remained above the flood line. Thanks to modern technology we had some hydrographic information to base some peak time calculations on, so imminent danger was not at the absolute forefront of our minds, but you must always be vigilant in the backcountry.

These weren’t inconveniences so much as reminders that wild rivers still make the rules.

Signs of Change

Throughout the trip, however, signs of change were difficult to ignore.

Near Tramway Bar, where previous visitors remembered quiet campsites, active placer mining had returned. Heavy equipment worked nearby while barking dogs rushed the riverbank as we floated past. Trucks, excavators, hose lines, and CAT equipment sat just beyond the willows, framed by fresh flood scars left behind only weeks earlier.

By the time we reached Bettles, helicopters had become a familiar part of each day.

Aircraft crossed the valley repeatedly. Helicopters landed nearby in the black spruce forest, on pre-carved landing zones (LZs) still semi-visible from camp, while residents described Bettles increasingly serving as a staging area for exploration, environmental monitoring, and logistical support connected to activity in the Ambler corridor.

Several members of our group had floated the Koyukuk before and remarked that they had never experienced this level of aviation traffic.

Farther along the corridor, we observed helicopter landing zones, monitoring sites that appeared associated with permafrost studies, field crews traveling between work areas, and activity near potential river crossings and gravel sources.

None of this represented road construction itself. They did, however, reflect the growing amount of exploration and data collection taking place as agencies, corporations, and developers continue evaluating the proposed route.

Conversations Along the Way

Just as notable as what we saw were the conversations we had.

Hunters, local residents, pilots, and longtime river travelers offered a variety of perspectives, but several common themes emerged.

Many observed that discussions about wildlife management, subsistence, and future access are increasingly occurring in anticipation of a road that has not yet been built. Others wondered how much of the ongoing field work is visible to the broader public.

One longtime visitor to the region summed it up simply:

“It’s not just the road people notice. It’s everything that starts happening before the road.”

Hunting and Access

For hunters, access was often at the center of the conversation.

The country surrounding the Middle Fork supports relatively low-density moose populations where distance and limited access naturally influence hunting pressure.

Several experienced hunters observed that roads—or even the infrastructure supporting them—could significantly change hunting opportunity.

Residents of Bettles spoke about relying on these lands to fill freezers each winter, while others pointed farther north and west, where similar changes could affect both Alaska residents and, in some areas, nonresident hunters.

Others focused less on harvest opportunity than on the experience itself.

One hunter who has returned to the Brooks Range for years told us that the biggest difference wasn’t what he harvested—it was what he heard.

“There are just more helicopters now.”

This statement isn’t a prediction of things to come with the Ambler Road but an observation by a regular user on the changes already happening on the landscape.

Questions About the Future

Questions about economics also surfaced repeatedly.

Several residents wondered how much long-term benefit nearby communities would ultimately see compared to the scale of the proposed development, while others questioned whether the road’s primary beneficiaries would be outside Alaska.

Those conversations often returned to the same point: weighing potential economic opportunities against changes already becoming visible on the landscape.

Why This Place Matters

Our week on the river also served as a reminder of why places like this continue to matter.

The Brooks Range still offers experiences that have become increasingly uncommon:

• Watching a bear swim across a river.
• Hearing distant echoes carry through an empty valley.
• Finding a quiet gravel bar to call home for the night.
• Floating for hours without seeing another person—or hearing anything but the current and wildlife.

These moments are difficult to quantify, but they remain central to Alaska’s hunting, fishing, trapping, and outdoor traditions.

Alaska remains one of the few places where people can experience vast landscapes, genuine solitude, and a way of life shaped more by seasons than by calendars.

For generations, that promise has drawn people north.

Landmark events—including statehood, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act—helped shape the Alaska we know today.

Yet despite decades of growth and change, much of the Brooks Range continues to offer something increasingly rare: intact country where remoteness remains part of the experience.

Helicopters, monitoring crews, and conversations in communities like Bettles suggest that change is no longer something discussed only in planning documents.

Exploration, environmental studies, and logistical support are already becoming part of the landscape.

Looking Ahead

Our goal on this expedition wasn’t to settle the debate over the Ambler Road.

It was simply to document the country as it exists today—to record the places, the people, and the conversations that define this corner of Alaska while larger decisions concurrently shape its future.

For now, the Middle Fork of the Koyukuk still flows much as it always has.

Rainstorms can transform the river overnight. Gravel bars that serve as camps one evening can disappear beneath rising water the next. Moose move quietly through willow bottoms.

Hunters, pilots, river travelers, and local residents continue to experience this country on its own terms—while also noticing changes in the landscape, including increased aviation activity and growing concerns about airspace use in the region.

Whether the landscape looks the same a decade from now remains an open question.

Before the road, we wanted to document what still exists today.

Unanswered Questions Remain About the Ambler Road Project 

As summer arrives in Alaska, hunters, anglers, guides, pilots, and other outdoor businesses are preparing for another busy season in the Brooks Range.

Floatplanes will soon lift off from gravel runways carrying anglers to remote rivers in search of sheefish, Dolly Varden, grayling, and salmon. Hunters are making final preparations for fall adventures across the tundra and mountains. Guides will open camps, air taxis will shuttle clients into the backcountry, and rural communities will once again welcome visitors drawn to the unmatched hunting and fishing opportunities of the Brooks Range. For generations, this landscape has supported a thriving outdoor economy and world-class hunting and fishing experiences without an industrial road crossing its heart.

Despite decades of debate, fundamental questions about the proposed Ambler Industrial Road remain unanswered. Chief among them is whether the project’s estimated $2 billion cost and its extensive impact on the lands, waters, and wildlife of the Brooks Range can be justified. Supporters often describe the road as a path to economic opportunity in northwest Alaska. But for many Alaskans, the Ambler Industrial Road would do just the opposite. Furthermore, the public and local communities would not have access to the road.

The region supports thousands of jobs, sustains rural economies, and attracts visitors from around the world. This is why more than 100 businesses, organizations, and brands have joined together to support and continue to grow the Hunters & Anglers for the Brooks Range coalition. The Brooks Range is not an empty place waiting to be developed. It is a working landscape that already provides significant economic, cultural, and recreational value.

“Our business relies on the Brooks Range and supports dozens of families in interior Alaska,” says Michael Wald, the owner of Arctic Wild, a family-owned and operated wilderness guiding company. “We’ve been working in the Brooks Range for decades and will be far into the future.”

Earlier this spring, we examined the growing price tag associated with the Ambler Industrial Road and argued that Alaska taxpayers should not shoulder the burden of financing a private industrial corridor through one of the world’s greatest hunting and fishing landscapes, especially when the project’s economic viability remains in doubt.

Since then, the conversation has evolved. During a recent convening in Alaska, state and federal leaders emphasized their desire to develop hard rock minerals and discussed efforts to advance resource projects across the state. At the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference in Anchorage, Trilogy Metals announced that Ambler Mining District projects had been accepted into the federal FAST-41 program, which is intended to expedite permitting for federal mining. Yet, even as federal attention on the proposal increases, significant questions remain about how the proposed Ambler Industrial Road would ultimately be financed, permitted, and built.

Discussions about financing often proceed as if the project is shovel ready for construction. It is not, and in reality, substantial hurdles remain. A completed design plan for the road has not been unveiled, key federal authorizations, including a Clean Water Act Section 404 permit, remain unresolved, and ongoing litigation could upend decisions that were already made. Before Alaskans are asked to assume financial risk for the road, there should be transparency about exactly what would be built, how much it would cost, and who would ultimately be responsible for paying the bill.

It should also be made clear that this road will only be available to private mining companies. The public is being asked to potentially help finance an infrastructure project where they would be denied access at a security check point at the start of the road.

Before additional public resources are committed, Alaskans deserve clear answers to several fundamental questions:

• Who ultimately pays for the road?

• Who bears the financial risk as costs continue to rise?

• What role should public investment play in supporting private infrastructure that the public will not be able to use?

• What benefit is it for Americans to extract minerals that will be shipped overseas to our competitors?

• What would taxpayers receive in return?

• What impact will this road have on the landscape of the entire region?

We know what exists today is worth safeguarding. The Brooks Range already delivers economic opportunity, world-class hunting and fishing, and access to one of the most intact landscapes remaining in North America. What remains unclear is why the public should assume financial risk for a private industrial corridor that would primarily benefit foreign nations. The minerals extracted from the Ambler Mining District would be shipped to Asia for processing, meaning foreign countries—including strategic adversaries such as China—could ultimately benefit most from a project financed by American taxpayers.

As the administration considers the future of the Ambler Industrial Road, we respectfully urge leaders to reconsider whether this project reflects our shared values of conservation, strengthens America’s interests, or represents the best use of public resources. Before risking one of Alaska’s greatest hunting and fishing landscapes, decisionmakers should carefully weigh what could be lost and who truly stands to benefit.

Alaska’s Brooks Range is sometimes called the most Alaskan part of Alaska, and for good reason. The arctic mountains and valleys, stretching 700 miles from the Yukon border to the Chukchi Sea, offer a step back in time. There, you can witness massive caribou migrations and pursue everything from sheefish to Dall sheep, grizzly bear to Dolly Varden. The Brooks is the sort of place that supports a subsistence lifestyle as well as unparalleled outdoor opportunities for visiting hunters, anglers, and anyone who loves America’s wild public lands. The proposed Ambler Industrial Road threatens all that.

If built, the private road would stretch 211 miles across the southern foothills of the Brooks Range and serve to develop some 1,700 mining claims. The companies that own these mines have made it clear that their intention is to ship the ore to Asia, specifically China. By enabling raw minerals to be exported overseas, the Ambler Road project would deepen U.S. dependence on foreign mineral processing and supply chains. This would directly undermine America First priorities which emphasize reducing reliance on adversarial nations for critical minerals and strengthening American control over strategic critical resources.  

Now, let’s discuss how the project is likely a multi-billion-dollar boondoggle for American taxpayers.

AIDEA and Rising Estimates

The Ambler Road is backed by Alaska’s state-owned and financed corporation, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority. AIDEA is tasked with promoting economic development by financing businesses and industrial projects.

However, their track record is less than stellar, with reports from independent economists indicating AIDEA’s past decisions have lost the state $10 billion in opportunity cost. This is money that could have been used to fund schools, law enforcement, the Permanent Dividend Fund, social services, and any other state-funded entity. Over the last 35 years, AIDEA has left a trail of failed, abandoned, and money-losing projects in its wake, including the Mustang Road on the north slope of the Brooks Range and a fish processing plant in Anchorage. A bill was introduced in the 2025-2026 Alaska State Legislature, commonly known as the AIDEA Accountability Act, to increase oversight, transparency, and accountability of the entity, although it failed to pass this session. Now, a new report shows that the proposed Ambler Road could be another gamble made by AIDEA that could leave the bill with Alaskans.

The project will likely cost significantly more than estimated in 2024. The study puts the new cost at about $765 million for road construction; about $88 million for closure and reclamation; more than $630 million in long-term maintenance; and roughly $550 million in financing costs. Together, these figures bring the price tag to approximately $2.03 billion.

However, while this report’s construction and maintenance cost estimates represent updated, inflation-adjusted values, they do not address the potential deficiencies in the 2024 supplemental environmental impact statement’s original cost estimates. The proposed Ambler Road’s current estimated cost per mile is about $3.6 million. This estimate is notably lower than two other proposed remote road projects in the state: the Western Alaska Access Road and the West Susitna Access Road. The estimate for the Western Alaska Access Road is $5.6 million per mile. The estimate for the West Susitna Access Road is more than $10 million per mile. If construction costs for the Ambler Road ultimately track closer to estimates of the other two projects, a comparative analysis shows the estimated construction of the Ambler Road rising from $765.2 million to $2.17 billion, not including maintenance and financing.

This would mean the Ambler Road would cost American taxpayers closer to $3.5 billion over its lifetime with maintenance costs. Alaska is projected to receive roughly $1.1 billion in revenues from the project in mining license tax revenues, corporate income taxes, production royalties, and claim rents—less than a third of the costs.

Costs Are Still Evolving

AIDEA has described the construction estimate for the proposed Ambler Road as preliminary as it was developed before the final engineering design. At this stage, key factors including detailed road design, material sourcing, and construction logistics are still being drafted.

Infrastructure costs in remote regions of Alaska often rise as projects move from concept to construction, so the actual price is likely to increase. Environmental factors like floods and melting permafrost present additional challenges. Unknown maintenance costs following closure and reclamation of the road; yet-to-be-collected fisheries data that’s needed to design the road’s culverts and bridges; and inflation will also likely increase costs.

Additionally, AIDEA must pay for access across two Alaska Native Corporation lands. Those two corporations, Doyon and NANA, would charge for the road right of way across their lands.

The Revenue Question

AIDEA has proposed funding the construction of the proposed Ambler Road through revenue bonds. Under this model, upfront costs would be covered by the State of Alaska, with the expectation that tolls paid by future mining operations will repay the debt over time. This financial model depends on a future scenario where mining operations are developed and generate enough traffic to repay the bonds. This outcome is not guaranteed.

Mining projects in the Ambler district are still in early stages, and timelines for development can shift based on market conditions, permitting, and global demand. Without sufficient toll revenue, the obligation to repay the bonds remains. This raises a fundamental question: What happens if the expected revenue doesn’t materialize?

Unlike public highways that serve communities across Alaska, the Ambler Road is designed as a private industrial access road tied to future resource development. That distinction matters. It means the project’s financial success depends on a specific set of outcomes that are not promised.

A Decision with Long-Term Consequences

Hunters & Anglers for the Brooks Range treasures the Brooks as an intricate part of our American outdoor heritage and supports responsible development in Alaska. The Ambler Road is not responsible development.

Beyond negatively impacting world-class hunting, fishing, and other outdoor opportunities, the Ambler Road is a major outlay of taxpayer dollars with long-term consequences for Alaska. Alaskans and fellow Americans deserve a clear understanding of what this road could cost, and who carries the risk of funding this project.

The significant economic questions surrounding this project are one more reason that we believe the Ambler Road is a gamble not worth making.

Click here to learn more about the Hunters & Anglers for the Brooks Range. 

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