Last fall, President Trump authorized Alaska’s Ambler Mining Road, which would run from the Dalton Highway near Wiseman to the Ambler Mining district, a distance of about 150 miles. The purpose is to allow for easier extraction and transport of the known mineral wealth in the Ambler district, which is considerable, and which includes some strategic rare earth minerals.
Now, a possible obstacle to that road has been removed. A study done by a Yale-educated biologist, Matthew Cronin, has determined that the great Western Arctic caribou herd (WAH) will not be adversely affected by the planned road.
At around 150,000, WAH is the largest caribou herd in Alaska. This herd spends its summers and calves in the western region of Alaska’s North Slope and migrates as far south as the Yukon River in western Alaska during the winter.
The population of this herd has dropped from a peak of 500,000 caribou in 2003, raising concerns among Alaska Natives in the western regions of the state that depend on the herd for subsistence. Biologists attribute climate change, predation, and human harvest as the primary factors for the shrinking caribou numbers over the past two decades.
The western half of the proposed 211-mile Ambler Road crosses into the WAH migratory area.
The study completed by Cronin, a researcher at the Northwest Biology and Forestry Company, found that the proposed Ambler Road footprint is less than 0.005% of the WAH’s 92.2-million-acre range and crosses an area seldom crossed during migration.
In case you weren’t aware of it, Alaska is a big, big place. There’s room for caribou and a mining road. And the biggest impacts on caribou populations aren’t from human activities, in any case:
Other key findings of the report include:
- The primary migration routes of the WAH have been west and north of the proposed road.
- The Ambler Road and associated mines are located over 150 miles away from the Western Arctic Caribou core calving grounds.
- Caribou have successfully crossed the Dalton Highway and other roads in Alaska and Canada during migrations for many years.
- Predation by bears and wolves, especially on calves, as well as winter weather and icing events, are primary factors impacting the WAH population.
Icing events are particularly dangerous for grazers and browsers, like caribou and moose. Last winter, when south-central Alaska experienced a prolonged period of freezing rain and icing, browse was locked away behind ice, and the roadways and drives that moose depend on to move around were as slick as spit on a doorknob; to my understanding, Alaska Fish & Game is still working on determining the impact on the south-central moose population.
Read More: This Is Big: Trump Approves Key Alaska Mining Road
Drill, Baby, Drill: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Now Open to Drilling
As for caribou, bears, and wolves are a much greater threat than roads. Caribou routinely cross Alaska’s existing highways and byways (not that we have a lot of them) with impunity. But predation by bears and wolves can account for half of any given year’s calves.
So, a possible stumbling block has been addressed. It’s not yet known when construction of the Ambler Road will begin, and it’s not yet known if the general public will be allowed to use the road for recreational purposes. But this is a win, all the same.
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