The Alaska Board of Game is accepting comments on Proposal 4, a proposed regulation that would close a two-mile-wide corridor along the proposed Ambler Road to hunting and trapping.
NAEC’s position is clear: the Board of Game should take no action on Proposal 4.
The proposed Ambler Road remains deeply controversial. It would cut through the southern Brooks Range, cross rivers, wetlands, fish habitat, wildlife habitat, and lands that have sustained Indigenous communities and rural residents for generations. It is still the subject of major public concern, legal uncertainty, and unanswered questions about impacts to fish, wildlife, caribou, subsistence, cultural resources, and intact ecosystems.
Proposal 4 does not resolve any of those concerns. Instead, it asks the Board of Game to make a premature regulatory decision for a road that has not been built, may still change, and would not be open to the public.
What Proposal 4 Would Do
Proposal 4 would amend state hunting and trapping regulations to close the area within one mile on each side of the proposed Ambler Road in Game Management Units 23 and 24. That means a two-mile-wide corridor, stretching along the proposed 211-mile road route, would be closed to hunting and trapping.
The proposal states that the Ambler Road would be for commercial purposes only, would be private, and would be controlled by a locked gate staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It also states that hunters and trappers would not be prevented from crossing the corridor or road to reach areas open to hunting and trapping.
That raises an obvious question: if the road would already be private, gated, and unavailable for public use, why is the Board of Game being asked to close hundreds of square miles to hunting and trapping now?
This Is Premature
The Board of Game should not create a new hunting and trapping closure for a road that does not yet exist.
The Ambler Road’s final route, construction timeline, access arrangements, spur roads, and long-term management details remain uncertain. During the Fairbanks Advisory Committee discussion on Proposal 4, members raised concerns that the proposal puts the “cart before the horse.” They noted that there is still active litigation, that the road alignment could change, and that the proposal does not adequately address existing trails, navigable waters, local access, private lands, or future spur roads.
Those concerns matter.
Regulations should respond to real, clearly defined management needs. They should not be adopted in advance of a hypothetical problem, especially when the proposal could restrict local and public use before the road even exists.
Proposal 4 Does Not Address the Real Risks of the Ambler Road
The Ambler Road poses serious risks to fish, wildlife, wetlands, rivers, caribou, subsistence resources, and community access. But Proposal 4 does not address those impacts.
It does not protect fish habitat from road crossings, culverts, erosion, sedimentation, or changes to waterways. It does not address the effects of industrial traffic, noise, dust, gravel extraction, or disturbance to wildlife movement. It does not answer questions about how the road would affect caribou, moose, furbearers, migratory birds, salmon, sheefish, whitefish, or the broader ecosystem.
Instead, Proposal 4 focuses narrowly on closing hunting and trapping along the corridor.
That is not an adequate response to the scale of the Ambler Road’s risks.
If agencies and decision-makers are serious about protecting fish, wildlife, habitat, and subsistence resources, they should be looking at the full impacts of the road—not asking the Board of Game to adopt a premature closure that does little to address the project’s underlying harms.
Local and Community Concerns Must Come First
The proposed Ambler Road would pass through lands and waters connected to rural communities, Indigenous stewardship, subsistence use, and long-standing relationships with fish, wildlife, and habitat.
Any decision about access, hunting, trapping, or use along this corridor must begin with affected communities. Proposal 4 was brought forward as a state regulatory proposal, but the people most directly affected by the road and any corridor restrictions deserve meaningful consultation and a clear opportunity to shape any future management approach.
That includes discussion of local trails, traditional use areas, navigable waterways, traplines, access routes, private and Native lands, and any potential spur roads or project-related access.
The Board of Game should not act before these questions have been answered.
A Private Industrial Road Should Not Drive Premature Public Restrictions
Proposal 4 states that the Ambler Road would be a private commercial road with controlled access. If that is the case, workers, contractors, and authorized road users can be managed through project-specific rules, employment policies, permit conditions, and access agreements.
A new hunting and trapping closure is not necessary at this stage.
Project developers and agencies can prohibit hunting, trapping, and fishing by employees and contractors using the road. They can enforce no-tolerance policies for unauthorized use. They can control access at the gate. They can address safety issues if and when specific issues arise.
Those tools already exist or can be built into project authorizations. Closing a two-mile-wide corridor now is not the right approach.
The Board of Game Should Take No Action
NAEC urges the Alaska Board of Game to take no action on Proposal 4.
This proposal is premature, incomplete, and does not address the real environmental and subsistence concerns raised by the Ambler Road. It would create a broad hunting and trapping closure before the road is built, before final access and management questions are resolved, and before affected communities have had the full and meaningful process they deserve.
The Board of Game should not use Proposal 4 to normalize or advance the Ambler Road. It should not adopt unnecessary restrictions tied to a private industrial project while larger questions about the road’s impacts remain unresolved.
Take Action
Submit comments to the Alaska Board of Game and tell them to take no action on Proposal 4.
On-time comments are due by 8:00 a.m. Thursday, July 16, 2026. Comments submitted by that deadline will be compiled and distributed to the Board before the meeting. Comments may still be accepted and considered until the end of the meeting.
What to say:
- Take no action on Proposal 4.
- Proposal 4 is premature because the Ambler Road has not been built and key route, access, litigation, and management questions remain unresolved.
- The proposed road would already be private, gated, and closed to public travel, so a broad hunting and trapping closure is unnecessary at this stage.
- The proposal does not address the real risks of the Ambler Road to fish, wildlife, habitat, wetlands, rivers, subsistence resources, and affected communities.
- Any future management decisions must be shaped through meaningful consultation with affected Tribes, rural communities, local users, and people with long-standing relationships to the lands and waters along the corridor.
Submit comments here:
https://boardofgame.adfg.alaska.gov
Meeting: Alaska Board of Game Special Meeting on Muskox, Archery, and Ambler Road
Dates: July 22–23, 2026
Location: Westmark Fairbanks Hotel & Conference Center, Fairbanks
Tell the Board of Game: take no action on Proposal 4.