Alaska Wilderness League

Ask most Americans what they know about the Arctic, and you’ll likely hear something like, “It’s far away.” Or “I’ll probably never get to go there.” Or even “I have no idea where that is.” And they’re mostly right. The Arctic is vast, wild, and remote. Most people will never stand on the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge, never watch the Porcupine Caribou herd migrate across the tundra, never hear the silence of a landscape untouched by roads or cities or noise. 

And yet, what happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic. 

Whether you live in upstate New York or the Deep South, the Midwest or the mountains of Colorado, the coast of California or somewhere in between, the Arctic is connected to you. And right now, the policies being made in the stuffy halls of Congress in D.C. about that distant, breathtaking place are policies that affect every American who cares about public lands, clean water, wildlife, and the wild places that belong to all of us. 

Learn More Why the Arctic? 

It’s a fair question. The Arctic Refuge alone spans more than 19 million acres of wilderness in northeastern Alaska. There are no roads, no trails, and no campgrounds. It’s one of the last truly wild places left on Earth. The coastal plain, a 1.6-million-acre stretch along the Beaufort Sea, is the calving ground of the Porcupine Caribou herd and home to polar bears, musk oxen, wolves, and hundreds of species of migratory birds that travel to all 50 states and six continents. For the Gwich’in people, it’s sacred, they literally call it “the sacred place where life begins.” 

But the Arctic isn’t just a place for those who can reach it. It’s a place that belongs to every American, and what happens there matters to every American. The birds that nest on the coastal plain in summer return to backyards, wetlands, and flyways across the country. The caribou that have sustained the Gwich’in for millennia are part of an ecosystem that influences climate and biodiversity far beyond Alaska’s borders. And the decisions being made about the Arctic, about whether to drill it, protect it, lease it, or preserve it, are being made through policies that touch public lands from Minnesota to Montana to Wyoming and beyond. 

The policies that shape what happens to the Arctic aren’t Alaska policies. They’re American policies, written by Congress, signed by presidents, implemented by federal agencies that manage hundreds of millions of acres of public land from coast to coast. 

A Wave of Policy Changes 

Across the country, there’s been a rapid restructuring of how public lands are managed, who has a say, what gets prioritized, and who benefits. 

On day one of the current Trump administration, an executive order titled “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential” directed federal agencies to reverse protections across Alaska, including the Arctic Refuge, the Western Arctic, and the Tongass National Forest. Interior leadership followed with orders rolling back climate priorities and removing limits on energy development. 

Source: X / Sen. Dan Sullivan

Then came massive budget cuts. A proposed 35% reduction to key land management agencies, including the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management. Thousands of staff positions have been eliminated or left unfilled, including rangers, scientists, and land managers. 

The result is visible on the ground, from closed ranger stations, unmaintained trails, reduced scientific monitoring, to fewer people responsible for overseeing hundreds of millions of acres of public land. 

Public lands without the people to steward them aren’t really protected, they’re just waiting. 

The “One Big Beautiful Bill”  

A sweeping budget package passed in July 2025 reshaped federal land policy across the country, not just in Alaska. 

While proposed land sales in the West were removed after public pushback, the final law still dramatically expanded fossil fuel leasing and reduced environmental protections. 

It mandates quarterly oil and gas lease sales across more than 200 million acres of public land, removing agency discretion to protect sensitive areas. It requires millions of acres in the Western Arctic to be opened for leasing and mandates drilling in the Arctic Refuge coastal plain while limiting public input and judicial review. 

Source: Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee budget reconciliation bill text (as of June 16, 2025); BLM, USFS. Map by The Wilderness Society

It expands coal leasing, increases fees on renewable energy development on public lands, and reduces funding for national parks. 

These decisions don’t just stop in Alaska. They affect Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, California, and beyond, shaping wildlife habitat, water systems, recreation economies, and public access nationwide. 

The CRA: One Tool in a Much Bigger Toolbox 

Outside the halls of Congress, few people are familiar with something called the Congressional Review Act (CRA), but they should because it’s one of the most powerful and consequential tools in American politics, and it’s increasingly being used to dismantle protections for the public lands and waters that belong to all of us. 

The CRA was originally designed to allow Congress to review major federal regulations. Historically, it was used sparingly, only once in its first 20 years. But in recent years, it’s been expanded, weaponized, and stretched far beyond its original intent.  

In 2017, the Trump administration used it to invalidate 17 Obama-era rules. In 2025 alone, 22 CRA repeals were signed into law. And each repeal carries a particularly alarming consequence because once a rule is overturned by the CRA, a future administration is barred from issuing anything “substantially similar” without an act of Congress. A single vote can permanently foreclose future protection, shutting the door not just for today, but for generations. 

Now, since 2025, it’s been used to overturn land management plans across Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota.  

It took years of public input, environmental review, and collaboration to build these protections. It takes one vote to erase them, and another act of Congress to restore them. 

From the Arctic to Your Backyard 

If you thought some of these policies, like the CRA, were just an Alaska problem, think again. 

In January 2026, the House passed a CRA resolution to overturn a 20-year mining ban protecting the headwaters of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota. In April 2026, the Senate followed, voting to open more than 225,000 acres of the Superior National Forest to sulfide-ore copper mining, even though the U.S. Forest Service had concluded such mining would cause irreversible harm to the ecosystem. 

Canoeing the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Northern Minnesota. (Brad Zweerink / Earthjustice)

The Boundary Waters is a 1.1-million-acre designated Wilderness Area, one of the most visited wilderness destinations in the country, with roughly 250,000 visitors each year. The 20-year mining ban at its headwaters was put in place in 2023 after years of extensive public input. That process, that democratic, science-based process, was undone in a matter of months by a simple majority vote using a tool that was never intended for this purpose. 

The same playbook. The same tool. The same consequences. Whether it’s the Arctic Refuge’s coastal plain in Alaska or the birch forests of northern Minnesota, policies are being used to dismantle public land protections across the country, one resolution at a time. 

The Stakes for Every American 

Public lands belong to every American. Every acre of the Arctic Refuge, every mile of the Boundary Waters, every stretch of BLM land in Wyoming or Montana or central Alaska, these places are held in trust for all of us. And the decisions being made about them right now are decisions about who gets to use those places, and for what, and whether future generations will have them at all. 

When policies are used to overturn a resource management plan in Buffalo, Wyoming, it affects the ranchers and hunting outfitters and outdoor recreation businesses who depend on balanced, responsible management. When it’s used to repeal a leasing plan in the Arctic Refuge, it cuts the Gwich’in people out of their own future and opens sacred calving grounds to industrial drilling. When it’s used to erase a mining ban at the Boundary Waters, it threatens the clean water that communities across northern Minnesota rely on and sets a precedent that every protected landscape in America is vulnerable. 

What’s happening is a coordinated shift in how public lands are defined, managed, and valued. Executive orders. Budget cuts. Large-scale leasing mandates. Legislative overrides of long-standing protections. Together, they form a pattern, faster approvals for extraction, fewer protections, reduced public participation, and diminished agency capacity.  

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
Photo Credit: BLM / Tarpley

And the Arctic is often the front line because it’s remote, symbolic, and easy to overlook.

But it reflects a larger question: Who are public lands for? 

Everything is Connected 

So, sure, you may never set foot in the Arctic. You may never paddle the Boundary Waters or drive through the open range of the Powder River Basin. But the birds that nest in these places pass through your sky, in your backyard. The water that flows through these watersheds feeds rivers and ecosystems that stretch across the continent. The policies that strip them of protection are the same policies, written by the same hands, using the same tools, that could one day come for the public lands near you. 

From upstate New York to the Deep South. From the Midwest to the Rockies to the Pacific Coast. The Arctic isn’t a faraway problem. It’s the frontline of a much larger fight, a fight about who gets to make decisions about public lands, how fast and with how little accountability, and whether the voice of Americans who say “protect these places” still means anything in D.C. 

We believe the Arctic belongs to all of us, and so does the responsibility to defend it. Because everything is connected. And the decisions being made today will determine what kind of country, and what kind of wild places we leave behind. 

Will you go beyond your backyard?

  By donating and/or signing, you will join Alaska Wilderness League’s Activist Network and receive communications from both Alaska Wilderness League and affiliate Alaska Wilderness League Action. We will keep you informed with the latest alerts and progress reports.

 

With Alaska once again in the administration’s crosshairs, we’ve heard a big question from supporters across the country: How are we fighting back? 

The answer is: in every way we can. From the halls of Congress to communities across the country, we’re building a movement to defend the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This blog focuses on one of our most powerful tools to get there—the Arctic Refuge Protection Act—and why it matters right now. 

A Once-in-a-Generation Opportunity 

The Arctic Refuge Protection Act introduced by Senator Markey (D-MA) and Representatives Huffman (D-CA) and Fitzpatrick (R-PA), offers something we’ve never needed more: a lasting solution.  

This bipartisan bill would repeal the destructive oil and gas leasing program mandated by the 2017 Tax Act and permanently protect the Refuge’s 1.5-million-acre coastal plain as Wilderness.  

At a time when short-term political decisions threaten long-term ecological futures, this bill charts a path rooted in respect, responsibility, and permanence.  

Why This Bill Matters on Capitol Hill 

Not only does the Refuge Protection Act provide the best opportunity to create lasting change, but it is a crucial tool to build support and empower our champions on the Hill. 

Every new co-sponsor is a public commitment to protecting one of the last truly wild places in America. It gives Members of Congress a clear way to stand with their constituents, with Indigenous communities, and with future generations.  

And in a deeply divided political moment, this bill provides a powerful opportunity to demonstrate that protecting the Arctic Refuge is a shared value and not a partisan issue. Growing this bipartisan support sends a clear message across administrations and party lines that the Arctic Refuge is not a bargaining chip for industrial extraction. It is a shared heritage that is worth protecting. 

 People Power Makes This Possible 

Our team is pushing our decision-makers on the Hill every single day, but we also know that the people fundamentally power this work. We’ve seen the impact when advocates step forward to share why the Arctic matters to them. Gwich’in leaders have traveled thousands of miles to speak about their deep, enduring connection to the land and the caribou. Their voices have opened hearts, shifted perspectives, and built lasting relationships with decision-makers

We’ve also partnered with organizations like Love Is King and Hip Hop Caucus to bring new voices into the conversation—veterans, young leaders, and community advocates who have experienced the Refuge firsthand and carry its story with them. 

And just as importantly, we’ve seen how powerful it is when constituents—people like you—speak up. Whether you live in Portland, Oregon or Portland, Maine (or anywhere in between), your voice reminds Congress that the Arctic Refuge belongs to all of us.  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Date: April 29, 2026 
Contact: Tim Woody | twoody@tws.org

Conservation Leaders Urge Oil Giants to Stay Out of Arctic Refuge Lease Sale

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA — Leaders of 13 conservation organizations have sent a letter to 11 oil company executives, strongly urging them not to bid on tracts in the sensitive coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge during an upcoming oil and gas lease sale.

The federal Bureau of Land Management recently announced that the next oil and gas lease sale in the Arctic Refuge has been scheduled for June 5. Two previous lease sales in the Refuge have been massive failures. The Refuge was opened to oil and gas leasing by passage of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act with promises from pro-drilling members of Congress that lease sales would generate billions in revenue. The reality is that those lease sales raised a tiny fraction of that amount, likely foreshadowing the fiscal outcome of future lease sales, as well.

The letter (attached), sent to ConocoPhillips, Shell, Exxon, and Chevron, among others, reminds these business executives of the professional risks of bidding on leases in the Arctic Refuge and the strong public opposition to development in this environmentally sensitive area.

“Even at a time when the daily news cycle is frenetic and crowded, activity affecting this region would not occur quietly,” the letter states. “The Arctic Refuge stands as a crown jewel in our nation’s beloved public lands system. The public overwhelmingly supports protecting it, making any action there especially visible and consequential …

“Engagement in Arctic Refuge leasing is not a routine business decision, especially now, as the stakes are even higher than before. The current policy environment, marked by unpredictability and ever-evolving approaches to process and oversight, adds further uncertainty for long-term investment. In the Arctic Refuge, these dynamics are compounded by the region’s remoteness, lack of infrastructure, environmental sensitivity, and dramatic warming, all of which increase the complexity, cost, and risk associated with development.”

This letter follows a request from the Gwich’in Steering Committee sent to oil companies on April 28, formally requesting a meeting to discuss the opposition of the Gwich’in Nation to oil and gas exploration and activities in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

At 19.3 million acres, the Arctic Refuge is America’s largest wildlife refuge and provides habitat for caribou, polar bear and migrating birds from across the globe, and a diverse range of wilderness lands. House Bill 3067, the Arctic Refuge Protection Act, which has more than 100 co-sponsors, would remove leasing from the 1.6-million-acre Refuge coastal plain and permanently protect it.

Read the Full Letter

###

Photo credit: Keri Oberly © 2018

In the United States, public lands have often been treated like they exist for one main purpose: extraction. The actions of this administration treat them as if it’s public, it’s “available.”

Although that idea isn’t always said directly or out loud, it shows up clearly in how decisions get made, especially in national forests, where roadbuilding is usually the first step toward things like mining, large-scale logging, and other forms of industrial extraction that permanently reshape the landscape.

That pattern is exactly what the Roadless Rule was designed to help fix. It protects some of the last large, intact national forests from new road construction and large-scale development.

Today, that protection is again being targeted by the Trump administration, with efforts underway to roll it back nationwide. If that happens, tens of millions of acres of national forests could be opened to new roads and industrial use. Many of these areas are among the least fragmented forests left in the country.

It’s also no coincidence that this is unfolding alongside a broader restructuring at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Forest Service itself, where staffing, capacity, and decision-making authority have been under sustained pressure and internal change. Weakening the Roadless Rule at the same time the agency responsible for managing these lands is being reshaped compounds risk across the entire system, reducing both the guardrails on the landscape and the institutional capacity meant to defend it.

Alaska Wilderness League is no stranger to this fight. For years, we’ve worked alongside Tribal governments, local communities, and conservation partners to resist repeated attempts to open forests to clear-cutting and new roads, especially in places like the Tongass and Chugach. Because what’s at stake is whether these ecosystems remain intact long enough to function at all, supporting climate stability, salmon runs, and the communities that depend on them.

Photo: Alaska Wilderness League

And to understand why this fight keeps coming back, you have to understand what roads actually do to a forest in the first place.

The Roadless Rule

As Dr. Seuss’s Lorax once said, “It’s not about what it is, it’s about what it can become,” and a road in a forest can change everything.

By the end of the 20th century, national forests already contained more than 380,000 miles of roads. That network fundamentally reshaped how these ecosystems function. It disrupted wildlife habitat, cutting ecosystems into smaller and more isolated patches. It altered salmon systems through sedimentation, stream channel changes, and blocked access to spawning grounds. It changed how water moves through entire watersheds in ways that continue long after roads are no longer actively used.

Figure: Selva N., Hoffmann M.T., Kati V., Kreft S., Ibisch P.L. (in press). Emerging topics in Road Ecology. Roadless areas. In: M. D’Amico, R. Barrientos, F. Ascensão (Eds). Road Ecology: Synthesis and Perspectives. Springer. Still in press.

The Roadless Rule is one of the most significant conservation actions taken for national forests in modern U.S. history. In 2001, after years of scientific analysis, public comment, and environmental review, the U.S. government finalized the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which protects 58.5 million acres of National Forest land, about a third of the entire Forest Service system. The rule prohibits most new road construction in those areas and significantly limits large-scale timber harvests in these landscapes, recognizing that once fragmentation begins, it rarely ever stops.

Take Action The Tongass and Chugach National Forests

Nowhere is that pressure more visible than in Alaska.

The Tongass National Forest is the largest temperate rainforest in the world, covering about 17 million acres in Southeast Alaska. It contains old-growth forests, salmon-bearing rivers, and coastal ecosystems that support extraordinary biodiversity. Within it, the Roadless Rule protects more than 9 million undeveloped acres, over half the forest, keeping these landscapes intact and connected, rather than divided by industrial access. These areas are critical for salmon habitat, subsistence use, and not to mention stores 8-10 percent of carbon in the U.S.

Tongass National Forest (Photo: Alaska Wilderness League)

The Chugach National Forest spans about 5.4 million acres in southcentral Alaska and includes glaciers, fjords, and river systems shaped by ice and meltwater. Its roadless areas protect headwaters that feed salmon-producing watersheds flowing into Prince William Sound and the Copper River Delta. What happens upstream here determines the health of entire coastal ecosystems downstream.

Chugach National Forest (Photo: AWL Staff / Mladen Mates)

Together, these roadless areas are functioning systems that support fisheries, climate resilience, and watershed stability. And because they remain unfragmented, they still have the capacity to adapt. That capacity disappears the moment a road gets built. Which is why these places have been a target for decades.

A Long History

The Roadless Rule has never been politically stable. Since its creation, it has been repeatedly challenged in court, revised through administrative action, and targeted for exemptions or repeal. In the early 2000s, it was replaced with a state-by-state petition system that was later struck down in federal court, restoring nationwide protections. Each attempt has followed the same arc: weaken the rule, open the door, then face legal and public pushback that forces it back into place.

In 2020, the Trump administration removed Roadless protections from the Tongass explicitly and exclusively, opening millions of acres of old-growth forest to potential roadbuilding and timber harvest. In 2023, that decision was reversed by the Biden administration under a new federal review process, restoring protections once again.

And outside of Alaska, the same vulnerability exists. Roadless areas stretch across Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, California, and other states, often serving as the last remaining large, unbroken forest landscapes in regions already heavily developed.

Which brings us to the largest attempt yet to unwind these protections at scale.

The Current Rollback Effort

In 2025, the USDA began the process of removing the Roadless Rule nationwide. If finalized, it would eliminate protections for 58.5 million acres of national forest and allow new road construction in areas that have been protected for more than two decades.

The public comment period for this proposal was 21 days, a grossly short amount of time for something that would change our national forests forever. Despite that, over half a million public comments were submitted opposing the rollback.

If the rule is eliminated, it would remove the legal restriction on road construction in currently roadless areas, effectively turning “protected by policy” into “open season for industrial development.” In practice, that unlocks industrial logging, mining access, and long-term fragmentation of landscapes.

In Alaska, that means it would reopen roadless portions of the Tongass and Chugach, including old-growth forests and remote watershed headwaters that have remained intact for decades. And in other parts of the U.S., it would apply to inventoried roadless areas that currently function as some of the least disturbed forest ecosystems left.

The Roadless Area Conservation Act (RACA)

In response to these rollbacks is a piece of legislation called the Roadless Area Conservation Act (RACA).

Reintroduced in 2025, RACA would codify Roadless Rule protections into law, ending the cycle of administrative reversal that has defined this issue for more than 20+ years. Instead of protections shifting every time leadership changes, it would lock them into statute, placing the baseline of protection beyond the reach of executive reinterpretation.

If passed, the Act would:

• Make protections permanent for roadless areas
• Prohibit new road construction in these areas, with limited exceptions
• Reduce the risk of future rollbacks tied to political change
• Provide long-term stability for forests, wildlife, and watershed health

Since its reintroduction, Alaska Wilderness League has helped build bipartisan momentum behind the bill, working across constituencies to make clear this is not a regional issue or a partisan one. It’s about whether intact public lands remain intact.

What’s Next

Roadless areas include some of the largest remaining connected forest landscapes in the entire National Forest system. These are places where ecosystems still function, where wildlife can live freely without disruption, salmon systems still run from headwaters to ocean, and forests still store carbon and regulate water the way they have for centuries.

The window for shaping the outcome of the Roadless Rule rescission is not closed. A draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) and proposed rule will result in another public comment period sometime in Spring 2026.

This isn’t just a fight for the Tongass or Chugach. It’s a fight for every roadless forest in the National Forest system, for every Tribal nation whose treaty rights depend on healthy ecosystems and federal stewardship being upheld, and for every community whose economies and identities are tied to functioning watersheds and intact wildlands.

Our National Forests are not a renewable resource in any meaningful human timeframe. What’s lost here is lost for generations, if that. And what’s dismantled now will take far longer to rebuild than it took to remove.

We’ve done this before, and we will keep showing up, through every rollback attempt and every effort to chip away at what’s already been secured.

Take Action

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Date: April 17, 2026 
Contact: Andy Moderow | 907-360-3622 | andy@alaskawild.org 

Trump Administration Moves Forward with Arctic Refuge Lease Sale, Ignoring Public Opposition and Threatening Indigenous Communities

Washington, D.C. — Today, the Trump administration announced plans to hold a new oil and gas lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, advancing efforts to industrialize one of the nation’s most iconic and ecologically significant landscapes.

The coastal plain of the Refuge is often called the biological heart of the Arctic Refuge. On top of critical polar bear habitat, it is the calving grounds of the Porcupine Caribou herd, which the Gwich’in people rely on for their culture, food security, and way of life.

Despite this, and despite consistent polling showing that a strong majority of Americans oppose drilling in the Arctic Refuge, the administration is moving forward with a plan that prioritizes oil industry interests over people, wildlife, and long-term economic stability.

“For decades, the American people have recognized that the Arctic Refuge is not an industrial zone for oil development, and this sale simply runs counter to common sense,” said Andy Moderow, senior director of policy at Alaska Wilderness League. “Any oil and gas company that is even thinking about buying these leases should know that, if they do, they will be sending a clear message to the American people—that no place in Alaska is too sacred to drill in a quest for corporate profits. We urge companies to take a pass on the Arctic Refuge lease sale, and we look forward to rightfully restoring protections for this landscape in the years to come.”

Previous lease sales in the Refuge have struggled to attract interest, underscoring the growing financial and reputational risks associated with Arctic drilling. Major banks and insurers have distanced themselves from such projects, and energy markets continue to shift toward cleaner alternatives.

Alaska Wilderness League will continue to stand with the Gwich’in people and partners across the country to oppose drilling in the Arctic Refuge and protect America’s public lands and waters for future generations.

###

Photo: Florian Schulz / www.florianschulz.org