Two million acres of Northern Alaska homelands that sustain subsistence lifeways and support vital wildlife migrations are at risk.
Northern Alaska Environmental Center has joined a coalition of conservation organizations in filing a federal lawsuit to challenge the revocation of long-standing protections for more than two million acres of Northern Alaska homelands.
These lands stretch from the Yukon River to the Brooks Range, forming a critical ecological corridor between Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. For more than fifty years, this region has been protected under Public Land Orders 5150 and 5180, which helped ensure federal oversight of lands surrounding the Dalton Highway and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline corridor.
The decision to revoke these protections opens the door for the State of Alaska to select and manage these lands, potentially allowing mining claims, industrial development, and projects such as the proposed Ambler mining road to move forward with fewer federal safeguards.
Why This Matters
This landscape is not empty tundra. It is one of the most intact ecosystems remaining in North America and part of the living homelands that Alaska Native communities depend on for subsistence and cultural continuity.
The corridor supports:
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Major wildlife migrations, including the Western Arctic Caribou Herd
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Salmon-bearing rivers that sustain fish, wildlife, and communities
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Important habitat for grizzly bears, wolves, Dall sheep, and migratory birds
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Subsistence hunting and fishing that Alaska Native communities rely on for food security and cultural lifeways
For decades, federal protections helped ensure that decisions about development in this region considered ecological integrity, subsistence use, and the long-term health of Arctic ecosystems.
Revoking those protections threatens to unravel that balance.
As NAEC Board President Krystal Lapp explained:
“These public land orders should never have been revoked without a thorough environmental review, public accountability, and meaningful consultation with the communities most directly affected. These two million acres support wildlife migrations, subsistence hunting and fishing, and intact Arctic ecosystems. Eliminating these protections opens the door to mining claims and industrial development in one of the most ecologically significant landscapes in North America.”
Violations of Federal Law
The lawsuit argues that the federal government failed to follow multiple laws intended to protect lands, waters, wildlife, and the communities who depend on them.
The complaint alleges violations of:
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National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
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Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA)
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Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA)
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Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA)
Critically, the decision was made without public comment and without hearings in affected Alaska communities, despite the significant impacts it could have on subsistence users and Arctic ecosystems. The case has been filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage and is represented by the nonprofit law firm Trustees for Alaska.
What Comes Next
This lawsuit is about more than a single administrative decision. It is about protecting the safeguards that ensure decisions about Northern Alaska’s homelands are made transparently, lawfully, and with respect for the communities who depend on these lands and waters.
For more than fifty years, the Northern Alaska Environmental Center has worked to protect the lands, waters, wildlife, and communities of Interior and Northern Alaska. Challenging unlawful attempts to strip protections from these landscapes is a critical part of that mission.
We will continue to keep our members and partners updated as the case moves forward.
Read the full press release:
https://trustees.org/wpcontent/uploads/2026/03/2026LawsuitChallengesTrumpsMassivePublicLandsGiveawayAlaska.pdf