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. The original 90-day comment period has been extended to 180 days, with a deadline of June 9. This plan will be used to manage an extensive region of Alaska...
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
Celebrate Earth Day in Fairbanks All Week Long!
Earth Day Poetry & Art Walk: [Self Guided: April 17th-24th] Enjoy poems and artwork on display at Creamer’s Field and along the Chena River downtown. Submit your own work for display by emailing it to PoetryArtWalk2021@gmail.com by April 14th or by dropping it off at the Creamer’s Field Farmhouse Visitor’s center–you’ll see a box in the doorway.
Five Senses Meditation Walk [Self Guided, April 18-24th] Chinook Conservation area trail, Alaska Lands Trust Can you smell the difference between trees? Hear chatter of squirrels and birds? Maybe even taste a snowflake? The Interior Alaska Land Trust is setting up an interpretive trail to celebrate the senses at the Chinook Conservation Park! Come walk it during earth week. A two-mile walking trail loops along the banks of Cripple Creek, restored to its original streambed after 80 years by the Interior Alaska Land Trust. With some luck maybe you’ll even see water flowing under the ice!
Make a Mask for the Species Walk [April 10th-17th] Make a mask of your favorite species! Stop by the Children’s Museum for mask making supplies, or make one of your own at home and send a photo of yourself in your species mask to blackdog@ptialaska.net by Sunday April 15th and be featured on Channel 11 News.
April 16-25 Watch Kiss The Ground Free online, register to watch the film Kiss the Ground a new film how about how regenerating the world’s soils has the potential to rapidly stabilize Earth’s climate, restore lost ecosystems, and create abundant food supplies. This film explains why transitioning to regenerative agriculture could be key in rehabilitating the planet, while simultaneously invigorating a new sense of hope and inspiration in viewers. Register to Watch Kiss the Ground here.
April 21 Sacred Ground: A Message of Hope After viewing Kiss the Ground Get inspired to take action in your locale to care for the earth and support food justice! Join Interfaith Power and Light for “Sacred Ground: A Message of Hope”, a webinar conversation with the award-winning filmmaker of Kiss the Ground, Josh Tickell, and Veronica Kyle, the Statewide Outreach Director of IPL affiliate Faith in Place. Veronica has been instrumental in supporting several successful “congregational supported agriculture” farms in the Chicago area serving food insecure neighborhoods. April 21, 10am AK time.
April 22nd Howl at Noon! Howl and Raise a Ruckus for the Earth!!!! To celebrate Earth Day 2021, Post a sign in your neighborhood or call your friends and neighbors to get outside your house and howl for the Earth, make noise and raise a ruckus in gratitude for this amazing planet we call home!
Saturday April 24, 12noon-3pm Earth Day Celebration; Activities for Families Seed Planting and More! Outside At the Folk School at Pioneer Park Co- sponsored by Calypso Farms and The Fairbanks Folk School
Brought to you by the Fairbanks Community Earth Day Committee
Have an activity or event to add to this list? Contact Caitlin Lenahan at events@northern.org
Get In Touch!
