The Biden administration backed the idea Wednesday of a land exchange that could lead to construction of a long-contested gravel road across Alaska’s Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.
The proposal, outlined in a draft supplemental environmental impact statement released by the Fish and Wildlife Service late Wednesday, endorses exchanging 490 acres within the wildlife refuge to King Cove Corp., an Alaska Native corporation, which would use the land for a road corridor. In exchange, the corporation would hand over 31,198 acres that would be added to the Izembek site.
The proposal is meant as a compromise between those opposed to a road in the refuge — an important stopping place for many migratory birds — and residents in and around the nearby small town of King Cove. They have argued for decades that a roughly 10-mile road through the refuge is needed during harsh winter months to get them to an all-weather airport in Cold Bay, from which sick or injured people can be flown to hospitals hundreds of miles away.
Currently, King Cove residents must either ride a small airplane or take a boat across choppy waters to reach Cold Bay during winter months. Weather conditions often prohibit both of those options, and Coast Guard helicopters are called in to transport patients in emergencies.
