Northern Alaska Environmental Center
Promoting conservation of the environment and sustainable resource stewardship in Interior and Arctic Alaska through education and advocacy
The Northern Alaska Environmental Center
The Northern Alaska Environmental Center is an Alaska-based conservation organization dedicated to protecting the land, waters and wildlife of Interior and Arctic Alaska for current and future generations to use and enjoy. We understand the unique challenges of living in Alaska and seek to balance natural resource development with conserving what makes Alaska special.
The Northern Center is committed to defending special places in Northern and Interior Alaska from irresponsible extraction activities, and promoting local initiatives to protect the health and way of life of people living in Fairbanks and Interior Alaska.
We acknowledge that we work throughout the unceded territories of the Indigenous Peoples of Alaska; that our office is located on the traditional territories of the Lower Tanana Dené Athabascan Peoples. We honor the ancestral and ongoing land and water stewardship and place-based knowledge of the peoples of these territories.
Our Guiding Principles
- Believes that a healthy environment is a prerequisite for a sustainable economy.
- Bases conservation decisions on sound science and ethics.
- Uses our stakeholders’ energy, expertise and enthusiasm to strengthen the organization.
- Seeks opportunities to collaborate with federal, state and local government agencies, and with other organizations to enhance our effectiveness.
- Supports the establishment, protection and appropriate stewardship of designated Wilderness areas, as well other less-restrictive management that protects sustainable uses of non-Wilderness wild lands.
- Values healthy and intact ecosystems where habitat fragmentation is minimized and wildlands are respected.
- Favors stewardship over intensive management of natural resources, in order to meet the needs of the present generation without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
- Encourages the implementation of clean energy technologies and management practices that minimize air, water and noise pollution and impacts on habitat.
- Supports public processes—including use of legal, legislative, and administrative systems—in natural resource use decisions.
- Expects to comment on issues in our areas of expertise and interest.
- Puts our greatest effort into issues whose results are irreversible or long lasting.
- Employs clear, honest communication and constructive dialogue.
Northern Alaska Environmental Center Programs
Latest News
Lasting protection for the next 60 years, and beyond
Now that 2021 is well underway, we’re starting to see the shape of the changing landscape that’s emerged since Inauguration Day - as well as what remains consistent regardless of political shifts. While a lot of work lays ahead, it might be described less like pushing...
Take Action: Comment Period Now Open on BLM’s Draft Resource Management Plan for 13 Million Acres of Alaska’s Central Yukon Area
On December 11th, the BLM opened a 90-day comment period on its Central Yukon Draft Resource Management Plan, ending March 11. This plan will be used to manage an extensive region of Alaska for the next 20 years, and now we have a chance to weigh in. Virtual public...
Action Alert: Protect Polar Bears from Seismic Testing
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on December 8, 2020, published a proposed Marine Mammal Protection Act Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA), opening a 30-day public review and comment period. If finalized, the IHA would allow the incidental harassment, meaning...
Upcoming Events
March Forth: Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Headed
Join the Northern Center for an update of where various conservation issues stand at this time in Alaska. After a tumultuous four years, what can we celebrate, and what can we prepare to take action on in 2021? Join our program staff for updates, and our new Executive Director Scott Fogarty will say hello and welcome us into the year ahead. Register for this zoom webinar here.
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