Big Win for Alaska Conservation and Indigenous Rights

The federal Bureau of Land Management took a historic step for conservation today when Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced a final decision to restore protections for 28 million acres of land as established by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. 

BLM’s decision will preserve some of the largest and most intact landscapes remaining in the nation by restoring protections for “D-1 lands” created by Section 17(d)(1) of ANCSA. 

In response to today’s news, The Wilderness Society released the following statement from its interim Alaska director, Meda DeWitt: 

“We are grateful to Secretary Haaland and pleased that the Biden and Harris administration is listening to the concerns of Indigenous peoples by making bold moves to protect Alaska Native communities' subsistence areas and strengthen conservation across millions of acres in Alaska.”

Just before President Biden took office in January 2021, former President Trump attempted to lift protections on those lands, which range from just above Glacier Bay National Park in the Southeast to Bristol Bay in the Southwest and north to the Chukchi Sea. Today’s announcement ensures continued protections from industrial development that would have threatened fish and wildlife, and Indigenous lifeways that are dependent on a thriving, connected ecosystem.

In a letter to Secretary Haaland from dozens of Tribal governments, called BLM lands the “breadbasket” for thousands of Indigenous Alaskans. D-1 lands contain world-class fisheries and imperiled wildlife. A decision to lift protection for them would have major negative impacts on Alaska Native communities and cultures, not to mention the overall health of the ecosystem. More than half of the federally recognized Tribes in Alaska have formally called on Haaland to retain protections for the full 28 million acres of land.