In October the Trump administration overruled the Bureau of Land Management to greenlight the Ambler Road, a proposed 211-mile corridor that would cut through the wilderness south of the Brooks Range and connect the Dalton Highway to mining deposits.
At least four separate mines have been suggested, but there is currently no cap on how much development could happen along Ambler.
That push to build the controversial 211-mile private industrial corridor through one of the last great intact wildernesses of the world, most folks agree, won’t do the area’s fish and game any favors. To experience what’s at stake, I flew into the Brooks Range this summer to fish at ground zero for the proposed road. Here’s what I found there, and what’s at stake.