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OPINION: Concern for Ambler mining road

February 3rd 10:35 am | Pete Schaffer Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

On January 12, 2012, I attended a public meeting in Kotzebue hosted by The Alaska Department of Transportation. I went to see what the plan was related to the proposed road to the Ambler Mining District as well as future roads in the NW Arctic Borough. While I am personally not anti-mining, I do have some "People Concerns" that should be a big part of any road plan here in the Arctic. Also, I believe information critical to our cultural survival should be a part of any development discussion.

After the initial presentation by DOT's Ryan Anderson, which described the benefits of a road, such as lowering the cost of living, being able to drive all the way to Alaska's road system through Fairbanks, and so forth, I asked about what impacts we ought to be concerned about, such as who will have access? What about the effects on caribou? Could that development result in towns or service stations along the road route? Could that impact current subsistence uses as well as caribou habitat?

I did get sort of an answer, which was that human impacts would be considered and worked into "The Plan", and that this meeting was to begin to address those kinds of concerns early on.

Mr. Anderson then explained what factors would be considered "Deal Breakers". From there, I got a little bit bent out of shape, especially when I thought that the road access issue was a bit "glossed over". In my opinion, the people attending these meetings were not fully informed of what could happen if such a road was built.

I've served on Kotzebue's Fish and Game Advisory Committee since the late 70's. We have put a lot of effort on user conflicts between local users and sport and commercial hunting activity. Most conflicts center around Transporters and sport and private aircraft access, which operate outside the authority of the Commercial Services Board, the old "Guide Board".

As the Advisory Committee gathers information and inputs our recommendations to the Alaska Board of Game, the information and data presented is usually from the Department of Fish and Game, notably on caribou in particular, from our ADF&G Biologist, Jim Dau. Of course, we also factor in local knowledge of fish and game, as that is our participation in the Board of Game regulatory process.

We have had projects over the years of caribou migrations to and from their summer and wintering grounds. Radio collaring has been very useful to verify local knowledge with science and apply that data to overlays on maps showing what the migration patterns. Of course, future migration patterns are difficult if not impossible to predict, as local knowledge of caribou behavior almost insists that those migrations are affected by human activity, especially by establishing hunting camps directly in the current migration paths in the fall hunting season.

This is an attempt to describe the current levels of hunting conflicts caused by fly-in hunting, mostly by transporters. There are transporters who care about local conflict issues and take care to avoid user conflicts, and there are those who do not give a damn about local use and concerns. Drive -in hunters, if you could imagine a road to the Ambler Mining District, would magnify user problems. Similar problems are already being experienced on the Dalton Highway.

At the Kotzebue DOT meeting, ADF&G's Jim Magdanz told DOT that their studies show that people off the road system harvest almost three times as much subsistence food as those on a road system. Roads would open up the country to hunters from Anchorage and Fairbanks, which will result in shorter hunting seasons and lower bag limits for all hunters, us included.

Maps provided by ADF&G's Jim Dau with overlays of migration data show what could happen if DOT built a road to the Ambler Mining District, and especially future roads to Kotzebue, Red Dog and to the Nome area. Caribou would have to cross these roads, and access to headwaters of navigable waterways by boat would be a big concern to local folks living downstream who depend on fish and game resources. Already, noisy jet boat access with their ability to traverse shallow waters is a growing problem, adding to more traditional outboard boat hunting interruptions.

When public funds are spent on any road, then public access is a given. What alternatives could be considered?

A rail system would be about twice the cost of a "regular road". Trains would be more efficient in that they can haul heavy loads, and are environmentally cleaner, as it would not stir up much dust. Most importantly, though, trains might reduce the potential for a large increase in numbers of people into traditional hunting areas compared to public roads.

Another option would be the construction of the road by private industry funds, where access would be limited. However, it would likely be challenged in State court. A Statewide referendum on road access would favor more populous areas anyway. Just look at what happened on the Dalton Highway.

Hunting regulations as a general rule are very complicated on Alaska's existing road systems. Future meetings on the Ambler access project should include examples of those regulations along with maps and overlays giving a visual perspective to the issue. The ADF&G office has those available here in Kotzebue, as well as being available on-line.

The access issue, I believe, is, in reality, the potential "Deal Breaker." The impacts I try to describe are important enough for alternative considerations -early on- in the road project.

An open-access public road presents real and potential impacts to our traditional Inupiaq cultural integrity. These are indeed major considerations in the future of this region.

 


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