Anchorage Daily News

WASHINGTON -- A proposed road though the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge still faces a rigorous environmental hurdle, but for the first time, the 800 residents of windswept King Cove have real hope of getting what they've always wanted.

Click to enlarge

Story tools

Comments (0)

E-mail a friend

Print

Share on Facebook

Digg this

Seed Newsvine

Send link via AIM

Follow on Twitter

Font size : A | A | A

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a sweeping public lands bill that will allow planning to begin for a 25-mile road through the wildlife refuge in the remote Alaska Peninsula community.

"I think after all these many years, it's hard to absorb that it got this far," said Della Trumble, who watched the House vote on C-SPAN Wednesday afternoon from King Cove. "The reality is setting in. I'm just so pleased, so pleased for this community. I'm just grateful, there's no other word for it. The community is very happy."

The proposed road, which would cut through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, is just one of hundreds of projects in the 1,218-page legislation. The bill is most notable for its designation of 2 million acres of wilderness in nine states, which won it the wide support of conservation groups. But it also authorizes a land swap that gives the state an easement through the Izembek refuge to build a road from King Cove to the airport in Cold Bay.

In exchange for the easement, the refuge would gain about 61,000 additional acres. The property transfer is dependent on the outcome of a federal environmental approval, and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has the final say on whether the road will be built. If it is built, it must be a gravel, single-lane road with cable barriers on either side to prevent off-road driving. Other than taxis, the road would be restricted to commercial traffic.

Although most conservation groups supported the overall lands bill, many did have concerns about building a road through the Izembek refuge -- and at one point dubbed it the "road to nowhere." They will continue to object to the road during the environmental review, said David Raskin, president of Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges.

King Cove has long sought the road as an alternative route to the airport. Without a road, they must take a short flight across the bay to the airport in Cold Bay. They also have the option of a hovercraft, which local leaders say is expensive to maintain and unreliable in the worst weather conditions.

ADVERTISEMENT