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
The Northern Center is Hiring: Events and Development Coordinator
The Northern Center is hiring an Events and Development Coordinator. Please help spread the word! Position description: The Events and Development Coordinator assists with the coordination and implementation of all aspects of the Northern Alaska Environmental...
Alaskans have always worked to protect our home
In a predictable series of dog whistles to his political allies, Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan recently claimed that the Biden administration is "attacking" Alaska by pausing the previous administration's extraction projects. Senator Sullivan is hardly unique in making...
Looking back and forward on 100 days and 50 years
April 30th marks President Biden’s first 100 days in office, and it’s undeniable that a lot has changed since he took office. The Executive Orders he signed on his first day slowed or paused the previous administration’s focused march towards exploitation at all...
Upcoming Events
Celebrate the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge at the 25th Annual Run for the Refuge. Once again we are taking the event virtual–participate by running, walking, hiking, biking, or paddling a 5K or 10K route of your own design, or stay tuned for sponsored local routes in Fairbanks. Join our Facebook Event Page to discuss your routes and get inspired. Use #RunForTheRefuge and tag @TheNorthernCenter so we can see your adventures!
The Arctic Refuge comprises 19.3 million acres in northeast Alaska, land that has been stewarded and held sacred by Gwich’in and Iñupiat people for millennia. The coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge is known as Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit, or “the sacred place where life begins,” in Gwich’in. This sacred place provides calving grounds for the Porcupine caribou herd, which in turn provides for the food sovereignty and cultural practice of Indigenous people, who have led efforts to protect the lands, waters, wildlife, and people from harmful industrial extraction.
All registrants, regardless of location, will receive Run for the Refuge t-shirts with our 2021 artwork by Sara Tabbert. Details for race packet pick up and mailing are forthcoming.
We will do our best to mail out tees in advance of the event weekend, but we cannot guarantee this.
$30 for Adults, $15 for 12 & under. Includes a t-shirt. All registrants 12 & under will receive t-shirts.
Run Packets will be mailed for all outside of Fairbanks registrants. For those in Fairbanks, we will arrange a socially distant pick up day, or we can mail your packet.
Is your business interested in sponsoring this event? Click here for sponsorship information!
Get In Touch!
