Tag: Sheefish

“The real draw on the Kobuk, aside from it being a remote beautiful river, is it’s got the best run of sheefish in the state of Alaska and maybe in the world!” 

This short video highlights the ‘Tarpon of the North’, one of the many sport fishing opportunities made possible by the clean, cold waters of the wild Brooks Range. Anglers from across Alaska and all over the country include the Kobuk River on their bucket lists, largely because of these sheefish – one of the most exhilarating and unique species to target on the fly. 

“They can push to over 40. It’s exciting when you get a 20-pound, 30-pound fish slam your streamer mid strip… There’s nothing quite like that!” 

However, the proposed Ambler Road, a 211-mile private-only industrial corridor that would require nearly 3,000 river and stream crossings, could forever alter the habitats of fish like these and eliminate the allure of places like this. 

Watch other videos from the Brooks Range HERE.  

Take action for the Brooks Range. 

Mat Brunton lives in Valdez but his work as a guide and educator, as well as his love of hunting, has allowed him to experience much of wild Alaska. He points out the Brooks Range is unique even by Alaska standards. Whether it’s guiding visitors on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure or hunting caribou for his table fare, Brunton says the Brooks is “beyond words special.” 

Brunton opposes the proposed Ambler Road. If built, the Ambler Road would be a 211-mile industrial corridor through the southern flanks of the Brooks Range that would open the region to mining and other industrial development. It would mostly benefit foreign interests’ short term economic gain and leave Alaskans and visitors who love wild places to pay the cost.  

Here is his story.  

Where was your first trip to the Brooks Range? 

My first time to the Brooks Range was guiding a backpacking trip in the Arrigetch Peaks region. The famed granite spires are located off the Alatna River, one of the 3,000 rivers and creeks the proposed Ambler Road would have to cross. I was very excited and felt especially blessed to visit such an iconic area.  

The Brooks is a very diverse mountain range. That southern part has much more forest and vegetation on lower elevations than the vast, seemingly endless tundra of the northern Brooks. Words can’t adequately express how special it is. Many of the clients I guide come with lifelong dreams to visit places like Gates of the Arctic. Often the experience greatly exceeds their dreams. 

Share a favorite memory from the Brooks 

I’ve had some magical experiences hunting caribou. I’ve used skis and a pulk sled for hauling meat in the spring (which is more efficient than on foot with no snow and a backpack in the fall). My first hunt was a total beatdown: a five-mile (one way) ski from the Dalton Hwy and no caribou in this area. My next hunt played out wonderfully. It was bulls only, which required careful glassing since the bulls don’t have antlers at that time of year. It was April and I harvested two bulls on a long sunny day in a majestic area. The distant mountains were so enticing that I came back later to climb the most prominent peak on a long backpacking trip. 

How is the Brooks Range different from other places in Alaska? 

There’s the endless daylight during the Brooks’ short summer. It’s also the farthest point in Alaska from modern civilization to the south. Yet, for being so vast and remote, you can still drive and access the Brooks via the Dalton Highway. The Ambler would offer no such access. Words can’t adequately express how special and unique it is. You must visit the Brooks to understand. Further industrial development could change that “beyond words” sacred character.  

What’s one piece of advice you’d give someone heading to the Brooks for the first time? 

Avoid summer bugs when and where they’re bad! 

How do you think the Brooks Range experience would change if the Ambler Road was built?  

For one, it’d make the most affordable and easy way to experience the Brooks, driving up the Dalton Hwy, a much less enjoyable experience due to increased industrial traffic. This would come without the benefit of expanding access since the proposed road would be closed to the public. 

What aspect of the proposed Ambler Road project concerns you most? 

The precedent. Once we accept that something like the proposed Ambler Road is allowed in one of the last intact landscapes in North America, what’s next? 

Industrialization will only spread to our other last, best wild places. Roads like Ambler invite more development, more pressure, and more justification for use. The concern isn’t just environmental impact; it’s the cultural shift that says wild places must prove their economic value to exist. 

What’s the biggest misconception you’ve heard about the project?  

That it’s “just a road.” Roads are powerful forces. They reorganize how the land is used and change human and wildlife behavior. Another misconception is that opposition to Ambler is anti-hunter or anti-Alaska. Many people who oppose the road do so precisely because they’re very “Alaskan” and value subsistence, hunting, fishing, and long-term stewardship — not short-term extraction that will result in permanently damaging effects. 

What might you say to someone who said, “I don’t understand why this road is such a big threat?”  

Roads make decisions for us long after they’re built. You don’t get to choose later what a road means. The impacts of this project on the land would be permanent, not to mention that we can’t foresee all the consequences that would result if it were to be built.  

Why is it important that hunters, anglers, and other folks who care about wild public lands across the nation speak up against the proposed Ambler Road?  

Ambler isn’t just about Alaska. It’s about whether public land still includes places where restraint is a management strategy. If the Ambler Road is built, it would mean that no landscape is off limits to being industrialized. 

The Brooks Range doesn’t need to be opened to more industrialization. Short-sighted development will permanently damage the land, the experience, and the opportunity for more innovative and sustainable uses in the future.

_{Photo credit: Mat Brunton}

Daniel Skarzynski moved to the Brooks Range after hearing a friend share how it was the wildest place left on Earth. Getting to experience the wild freedom of Alaska’s most-arctic mountain range was a dream come true. Getting to live there full-time was even better. Skarzynski resides in Coldfoot where he works as a trapper, dog musher, and guide.  

Skarzynski is deeply opposed to the proposed Ambler Road. If built, the 211-mile industrial corridor, designed to support the development of an unknown number of mines, would cut through the southern Brooks Range. It would irreparably harm Skarzynski’s and other rural people’s lifestyle and the opportunity for visiting hunters and anglers to experience some of America’s last wildest public lands. 

Here’s his story. 

How long have you had a connection to the Brooks Range?  

I’d not heard of the Brooks Range until a friend who’d spent a couple summers doing academic field work there told me about the place. The way he talked about it made the Brooks sound like the last wild place on earth, somewhere beyond the end of the map. I had to see it for myself. So I found a job as a tour guide in Coldfoot. Being able to live and work in the Brooks Range felt like winning the lottery. I’ve been here for six years now.  

What do you love most about living in the Brooks Range?  

The freedom. In the Lower 48 when you’re out on the land, there’s always that nagging voice asking, “Can I do this? Should I be here?” You don’t get that feeling in the Brooks Range. Here, you’re free. 

When I’m out running my trapline with my dogs in the winter, I have the valleys, mountains, and forests to myself. Even though I start running my trapline from the Haul Road, I can go weeks without seeing another person. Having only myself to worry about and rely on is incredibly liberating.  

Please describe the sort of work you do in the Brooks Range.  

I worked for a couple seasons in Coldfoot for the Northern Alaska Tour company and then branched out to run my own dog-mushing business. Taking visitors from all over the country and the world into the Brooks Range is the greatest form of advocacy. Getting out into total silence is something most people have never experienced. They come away with a better understanding of how rich, rare, and invaluable the Brooks Range is.  

I also spend the winter trapping to augment my income. 

Are there particular species of fish, wildlife, or plants that are especially important to you? 

All species of fish, wildlife, and types of plants are important. A healthy ecosystem can’t really be broken down into single parts. Everything plays an important role.  

That said, wolves have a special place in my heart. I spend a lot of the winter trying to trap them. It makes me appreciate them even more. I spend days thinking about what they’re doing, how they’re moving, and watching their sign. To me, they’re the ultimate symbol of wilderness. These wolves are not reintroduced, not endangered, and not managed. They’re just here, like they’ve always been. They’re so smart. Trapping wolves is a battle of wits. That’s something most people don’t realize about trapping. It takes you from a voyeuristic experience of nature to being an active participant where you confront life and death, which, up here, is the very evident basis of all existence. And then there’s something about stopping on the trail as the moon comes up over the mountains and hearing the wolves howl all around you.  

What makes the Brooks Range so special or unique? Why should people in the Lower 48 care about the future of this region?  

The sad truth is that there is arguably no real wilderness left in the Lower 48. We’ve spent more time redefining what wilderness “might be” than we have protecting it. The goal posts of what wilderness is has moved incredibly far in the past hundred years. Far from the limitless wilderness many in the Lower 48 believe Alaska to be, there is not as much truly wild country left up here as you’d think. The Brooks Range is the closest thing we have to the big wild. If we want to keep anything remotely resembling wilderness, conserving the Brooks Range is just about our last chance. 

What do you think most people would be surprised to know about the Brooks Range?   

That a place like this even exists in today’s age.  

Please share at least one piece of essential gear you’d recommend and a piece of advice you’d share with someone planning their first wilderness trip in the Brooks.  

The best winter sleeping bag you can get is made by a small Colorado company called Wiggy’s. The bags are bulky, but they work and cost a fraction of what brand-named down bags do. I have used their Antarctic Sleeping Bag with an overbag and slept comfortably at -50 with nothing but spruce boughs for ground insulation and a sheet of Visqueen for shelter.  

My advice is to be prepared to be patient and roll with the punches. Rivers can come up, snow can fall, and flights can be delayed. If you’re prepared and don’t panic, none of that is a problem. Some of the best adventures I’ve had were because of needing to adapt to changing conditions.  

Is there a part of the Brooks Range that you haven’t had the chance to explore but would like to?  

I’d like to spend more time on the north side. The open country up there is not only stunning, but also a whole different challenge. There’s less shelter, less wood for fires, and more wind.  

Please share a favorite hunting or fishing memory or story from your time in the Brooks Range.   

I was coming back from a float hunt with a friend after getting a moose on the second to last day of the season. We camped next to an eddy in the river where we tied up the boats one night. In the morning the river was running slush and the large eddy had ice about an inch thick. We had to smash our way out of there from the bow of the raft. As we floated downriver, I was so low in the water that the slush was riding up and piling on the footboard of the raft. But the weather was gorgeous, and we had our moose. It was awesome. It was one of those moments that you just sit back and think, “This is why I’m out here.”  

What concerns you the most about the proposed Ambler Road and/or the associated mines?   

My biggest concern is the fundamental change that development will bring to the character of this wild and free country, and the ensuing loss of individual freedom. What’s more American than wide open country? You can’t build a road to wilderness, because if you can drive there, it’s not wilderness. Aside from the negative ecological impacts, anytime you get a road, you get more people, more hunting pressure, and more restrictions. And make no mistake, the Ambler Road is just the start of a bigger push to develop Arctic Alaska. 

How might you and your business be impacted if the proposed Ambler Road were built?   

It would get busier around here. Coldfoot lies just fifteen miles from the Ambler Road’s proposed junction with the Dalton Highway. It would make it that much harder to make a living off the land. Odds are I’d have to clear out to somewhere farther back in the country if I wanted to keep doing what I’m doing.  

What’s the biggest misconception you’ve heard about the proposed Ambler Road, and how have you responded?  

The biggest misconception is that the proposed Ambler Road is a road to a mine. Ambler is a prospect, not a mine. At one point an executive at Trilogy Metals, which is one of the two stakeholders who own Ambler Metals, said they planned to sell their share once the road was built. Trilogy is a publicly traded company. They’re looking to make a quick buck. They wouldn’t do that if they thought it was actually a strong prospect. It’s the same reason South32, the other stakeholder of Ambler Metals, has staked thousands of claims along the route of the proposed road. Once a road is there, those unproven claims will be worth a lot more money. Maybe there’s a viable amount of ore there and maybe there’s not, but that has nothing to do with why they want this road. This is just a justification for making a quick buck at the expense of Alaskans, Americans, and some of the most wild land we have left.

What might you say to someone who said, “I don’t understand why this road is such a big threat?”  

I think there’s plenty of reasons ordinary American citizens should care about maintaining open country beyond just fish and game.   

It’s a 211-mile road that will open thousands of square miles to development. On top of making subsistence for rural communities in Western Alaska much harder, the whole project is being steered by foreign interests. Do we want foreign corporations deciding what’s best for Alaska and America’s wildest public lands?  

Why is it important that hunters and anglers across the nation speak up against the proposed Ambler Road?  

Conservation is a hard battle. You must stay vigilant and win constantly to protect the land and way of life you love. Developers, who take away your rights to public land, only need to win once. There was a time in our history when we thought the West was limitless and untamable—even places like California used to be rugged frontier. Now look at it. Alaska is no different. We’re not immune. If we want to have any land left for future generations to hunt and fish and exercise their basic right to test themselves against the land, we need to put our foot down somewhere. Otherwise, it’ll be taken away piece by piece until nothing is left.  

Is it too much to leave a few places like the Brooks Range wild?

_{Photo credit: Daniel Skarzynski}

“I want to make sure that future generations of hunters and anglers can experience this place just like me.” says Chelsea Pardo, TRCP’s Alaska senior program manager. “But the proposed Ambler Industrial Road would change that future.” 

This short video highlights some of the landscapes and angling opportunities Pardo enjoyed as she spent nine days floating and exploring the Kobuk River on the south slope of the Brooks Range. 

The proposed Ambler Road, a 211-mile private-only industrial corridor, would require nearly 3,000 river and stream crossings, forever changing bucket-list trips like this one. 

Watch other videos from the Brooks Range HERE. 

Take action for the Brooks Range. 

Read more about Pardo’s adventure and why she returned home with renewed motivation to keep the Brooks Range wild. 

“The Brooks is one of the last really remote and wild places left in not just Alaska, but the country—the world,” says Greg Halbach, owner of Remote Waters which offers guided fishing trips in the Brooks Range. 

This short video follows Anchorage-based outfitter Greg Halbach as he showcases the incredible fishing opportunities of the Brooks Range, and what’s at stake if the proposed 211-mile private industrial Ambler Road is built.  

“You can’t really reproduce the wildness of a place like this. To protect this place needs more than the voice of the people just in this region, because there’s not a lot of them. And it needs the voice of more than just Alaskans, because there’s not enough of them to move the needle on something like this either.” 

The Brooks Range matters to all of us who care about wild places, bucket-list adventures, and America’s most remote hunting and fishing grounds. 

Take action for the Brooks Range. 

Read more about Greg Halbach and his pursuit of the near-mythical sheefish.

The ranks of Hunters & Anglers for the Brooks Range continue to grow as the coalition working to maintain America’s most wild and remote hunting and fishing grounds recently reached the monumental milestone of 100 formal partners. 

These 100 formal partners include Alaska-based businesses and guides, as well as national conservation and outdoor industry leaders. This coalition stands shoulder-to-shoulder in opposition to the proposed Ambler Industrial Road, a 211-mile private industrial corridor that would slice across the southern flanks of the Brooks Range and open the region to mining and other industrial development. The road would cross 3,000 streams and several rivers and bisect the migration of the Western Arctic caribou herd. 

​​“This 100-partner milestone shows that the unified voice celebrating America’s most remote hunting and fishing grounds has never been stronger,” said Greg Halbach, owner of Remote Waters which offers guided fishing trips in the Brooks Range. “As one of the original partners, it’s incredible to see our numbers grow as we continue to work to ensure future generations of hunters and anglers can experience a wild Brooks Range.”

Representing various stakeholders across Alaska and America, coalition partners all agree: 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. 

By enabling raw minerals to be exported overseas, the Ambler Road project would deepen U.S. dependence on foreign mineral processing and supply chains, including those controlled by China. 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.  

We respectfully ask the Administration to take a closer look at this project’s costs and consequences. A thorough and objective review may lead to a different conclusion, one that better reflects our shared values of conservation, national security, and responsible resource development.  

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

Sign up to join the more than 20,000 hunters and anglers committed to standing up for the Brooks Range HERE.    

For more than twenty years, Tom Phillips used his allotted two-week vacation to float, fish, and hunt the Kobuk River. Now retired, which means the pressure to return to work has faded and time can move at the river’s pace, he continues his annual tradition. Because of this deep connection, Phillips doesn’t mince words when it comes to what he thinks about the proposed Ambler Road.   

If built, the Ambler Road would be a 211-mile industrial corridor through the southern flanks of the Brooks Range that would open the region to mining and other industrial development. The road would cross 3,000 streams and several rivers, including the headwater tributaries of the Kobuk. Philips believes the Ambler Road would ruin the region and the opportunity for future hunters and anglers to experience the Brooks Range.  

Here is his story.   

How long have you had a connection to the Brooks Range?   

27 years. For the last couple of decades, I’ve floated the Kobuk every year except for a year or two during Covid. It’s one of my most favorite places. Okay, it is my most favorite place.   

What do you love most about the Brooks Range?   

I love the peace, quiet, and solitude. The Brooks is mostly untouched, especially the upper Kobuk River. We’ve done this trip and not seen another person for 10 days. When that plane takes off from Walker Lake and leaves you at the start of the float, there’s no one else in the world.  

The nights out there are special. The wolves sing you to sleep. The hoot owls come out and visit—they keep you awake for a while. The northern lights are always really vibrant up here if the moon leaves you alone.  

Please describe the types of activities you enjoy in the Brooks Range.   

I like to raft in the fall and see the impressive display of colors. I like fishing, especially for sheefish. I like the peace that comes with fishing. It’s all catch and release these days for me. I’ve caught char, lake trout, and salmon but sheefish and grayling are my favorite.  

What makes the Brooks Range so special?   

It’s one of the last truly pristine wildernesses.  

What do you think most people would be surprised to know about the Brooks Range?  

The remoteness, and lack of most everything people are used to. The Brooks has peace and quiet like you’ve never heard. Its beauty and diversity is unlike any other place in Alaska. It’s not for everybody, though. There are some people I’ve done the Kobuk float with and it scares them to death. Then, there’s some people I’ve done the float with, and they can’t believe how pristine and quiet it is.  

Please share at least one piece of essential gear you recommend and a piece of advice you’d share with someone planning their first trip in the Brooks.   

Rain gear, the best you can get.   

For advice, be self-sufficient.  

Is there a part of the Brooks Range that you haven’t had the chance to explore but would like to?    

I’ve been to most places I wanted to see and explore. I just love the peace of the Kobuk River.   

Please share a favorite hunting or fishing memory or story from your time in the Brooks Range.    

In 2004, I spent 14 days rafting the Kobuk River with my wife. The weather was perfect and there were no bugs. We fished every day and harvested a large bear on that trip.   

What concerns you the most about the proposed Ambler Road and/or the associated mines?    

The Ambler Road would ruin the area. It’ll never be the same.  

What might you say to someone who said, “I don’t understand why this road is such a big threat?”   

In that wilderness, any development is a threat to the remoteness and wildness of the area. The best trip I ever made was with a group of friends from Missouri who’d never been up here before. Those guys were just in awe of the Brooks and the Kobuk River. Every morning they’d just get up and couldn’t believe where they were.  

Why is it important that hunters and anglers across the nation speak up against the proposed Ambler Road?   

The Ambler Road is another example of where progress does not belong. It’s an abomination on the land. That’s my opinion on it. I know  a select few people are going to get rich off it. A select few are going to get short term work out of it. But it’s not going to do this place any good overall. This place is not going to be pristine anymore. It’s not going to do any good for the Brooks Range. The worst thing they could do is put a road through here. Ever since the project has been getting pushed harder, I wondered if every trip was going to be my last year floating the Kobuk.

_{Photo credit: Tom Phillips}

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