What you should know as threats continue to loom over Northern Alaska

by | Aug 27, 2025

A detailed map of Ambler Road Alternative A, Recently conveyed NANA lands, PLO 5150/5180 Proposed Revocation Area, Central Yukon RMP Boundary, AK state selected or topfiled, D1 lands, and lands managed by Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, State, and Native Corporation.

Northern Alaska is currently facing two intersecting threats: the loss of federal priority subsistence protections and the overturning of public lands to the state without due public process.

This is an unprecedented move from Alaska’s congressional delegation and is being emboldened by the Trump administration’s continued attacks on public lands across the nation. These two issues could have dire implications for subsistence usage and set a dangerous example for transferring public lands without public process. 

This situation is, like many others this year, complex and rapidly changing—with Congress back in session the first week of September, things could change with little notice. For now, read on to get to know what is at stake, and be ready to ask Congress to reject this blatant effort to promote extractive industries. 

What’s going on?

The Bureau of Land Management is preparing to turn over federal lands they manage along the Dalton Highway to the state of Alaska, with no public process. This area of land (located within the red outline on the map above) includes the eastern end of the proposed Ambler Road corridor, a 211-mile industrial access road. 

It has been made clear that the state of Alaska wants these lands to reduce permitting barriers and environmental oversight in their push for development of the Ambler Road. More than 80% of public comments shared during the 2023 comment period proved that Alaskans overwhelmingly do not support this project. 

If the state of Alaska becomes the owners of these lands, BLM (as the supervising federal agency) would no longer have permitting authority for development projects—it was the 2024 BLM Record of Decision that stopped the Ambler Road from being built, citing harm to ecosystems, the Western Arctic caribou herd, and subsistence access as just a few reasons.

Up until this point, the push to overturn these lands to the state was blocked by the Department of the Interior Public Land Orders (PLO) 5150 and 5180, and D1 land withdrawals made under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA).

At the same time that the BLM is planning to convey these lands to the state, Alaska Representative Nick Begich and Senator Dan Sullivan have each introduced legislation to overturn the 2024 Central Yukon Resource Management Plan (CYRMP). The CYRMP is the blueprint for management of more than 13 million acres whose boundaries touch Gates of the Arctic National Park, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, the Yukon River, the Dalton Highway corridor, and Denali National Park and Preserve. It’s a vast region that provides habitat for moose, caribou, sheep, and salmon, all of which are depended upon by more than 30 Alaska Native villages and rural communities for food and cultural traditions.

Resource management plans are intended for the public and agencies to decide how an area will be utilized (i.e. habitat management, recreation, subsistence, mining, etc.) After 13 years of robust scientific review and public engagement, the CYRMP was finalized last year and it’s what kept the PLO 5150 and 5180 lands in question under federal management. It designated more than 3 million acres of Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, meant to protect declining wildlife populations, and established areas for traditional and subsistence uses as well as areas specifically managed for recreation. 

“We are in uncharted territory here,” Maryland Representative Sarah Elfreth said during a House Rules Committee hearing on H.J.R. 106 (Rep. Begich’s bill). “Congress has never used the Congressional Review Act to overturn a resource management plan or any other similar land use plan in our history.”

Current efforts to turn these lands over to the state of Alaska and to revoke the CYRMP using the Congressional Review Act—which would prevent a similar plan from being adopted in the future—are a dire threat. 

“It handcuffs not just this Congress, but every future Congress from addressing and stewarding these natural resources on behalf of taxpayers,” Rep. Elfreth testified. “Not only that, it completely overrides input from our constituents who have meaningfully and diligently engaged in the public processes that are central to RMP development.”

In addition to potentially reopening the door to construction of the Ambler Road, Alaskans would lose federal priority protections for rural subsistence and these lands would be open to mineral extraction and oil development. Loss of subsistence priority is particularly problematic as Alaska Native communities rely on the surrounding lands and waters to harvest the vast majority of the food they consume.

So, what comes next?

The House and Senate will reconvene after the August recess, though we can’t be sure how quickly they might address the Congressional Review Act legislation from Rep. Begich and Sen. Sullivan and Sen. Lisa Murkowski. While we can’t predict the timing of votes and new legislation, we know that the likelihood for more actions against Alaska remains prevalent.

BLM will not provide any public comment opportunities for their decision on rescinding PLO 5150 and 5180—we encourage folks to send questions and comments to: 

House Natural Resources Committee:

  • Rep. Nick Begich (AK): (907) 251-4560 (Fairbanks), (202) 225-5765 (Washington, D.C.)
  • Rep. Bruce Westerman (AR), Chairman: (202) 225-3772
  • Rep. Rob Wittman (VA), Vice Chairman: (202) 225-4261
  • Rep. Jared Huffman (CA), Ranking Member: (202) 225-5161
  • Rep. Sarah Elfreth (MD), Member: (202) 225-4016
  • Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (NM), Member: (202) 225-6190

Additional Representatives:

  • Rep. Jim Costa (CA): (202) 225-3341
  • Rep. Henry Cuellar (TX): (202) 225-1640
  • Rep. Don Davis (NC): (202) 225-3101
  • Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (TX): (202) 225-2531
  • Rep. Jared Golden (ME) (202) 225-6306
  • Rep. Adam Gray (CA): (202) 225-1947
  • Rep. Julie Johnson (TX): (202) 225-2231
  • Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (MI): (202) 225-3611
  • Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA): (202) 225-3536
  • Rep. Marc Veasey (TX): (202) 225-9897

We will continue to monitor this situation closely and help break down this information as best we can, including actions you can take to mitigate the worst impacts of these damaging efforts to exploit more of Alaska’s lands and waters. If you have questions, please reach out to katie@northern.org and sean@northern.org.

Read more about the CYRMP in this press release from the Bering Sea Interior Tribal Commission and check out the graphic below for definitions of key terms used throughout this piece.

A graphic with four important definitions including: Congressional Review Act: Tool Congress can utilize to overturn certain federal agency actions through joint resolution of disapproval. Also prevents agencies from taking similar actions in the future. / Resource Management Plan: Serves as a blueprint for land management activities such as recreation, hunting, subsistence, and mineral production. / Public Land Orders: Issued by the Secretary of the Interior to implement, modify, extend, or revoke land withdrawals. / Rural subsistence priority: Federal law ensuring priority harvest of fish and wildlife goes to rural Alaskans for subsistence. Also ensures traditional knowledge in subsistence management.