Congress Rejects Road Plan for Huge Copper River Delta

National Wildlife, Feb-March, 1999

Thanks to intense lobbying by NWF and a coalition of six other environmental and Alaska Native organizations, Congress has refused to sanction a 30-mile road across Alaska's Copper River Delta, the largest wetlands complex on the Pacific Coast of North America.

The lawmakers defeated four bills and riders introduced by Alaska's congressional delegation that would have allowed a Native corporation to build a road without submitting the plan for environmental review or public comment. The road would have enabled the Native corporation to harvest timber on its lands in the delta, which is part of the Chugach National Forest and also one of the most important waterfowl habitats in the Western Hemisphere.

NWF and other coalition members generated grass-roots opposition to the road plan and convinced several prominent Alaska Native leaders and commercial fishing organizations to join the fight.

"Although this is a sweet victory, it is just the first step in our campaign to permanently protect the Copper River Delta," says Tony Turrini, director of NWF's Alaska office. NWF is now trying to convince the Native corporation that it would be more profitable to sell a conservation easement, perhaps to a specially created land trust, than to harvest timber. An easement would prohibit destructive activities such as logging while preserving the area for traditional uses such as hunting and fishing. NWF also is asking the U.S. Forest Service to declare the delta a wilderness area.