From USFWS and talking points below.  Phyllis
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has published the draft Environmental
Impact Statement for the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge Proposed Land
Exchange/Road Corridor. We will be accepting public comments through May
18, 2012. The draft EIS evaluates a three-party land exchange that would
add approximately 56,000 acres to the Izembek and Alaska Peninsula
National Wildlife Refuges, designates approximately 43,000 acres of that
as wilderness, transfers 1,600 acres of refuge lands on Sitkinak Island
to the State of Alaska, and transfers an estimated 200-acre, 9-mile
corridor through Izembek Refuge and Izembek Wilderness to the State. The
purpose of this land exchange is to allow a road to be constructed
between the communities of King Cove and Cold Bay. 

Copies of the document summary and compact disks of the full document are
being mailed to all local area boxholders and those on the project
mailing list. Public meetings will be scheduled in Izembek Refuge area
communities and Anchorage during the public review period. For more
information and to download the DEIS, please go to:
http://izembek.fws.gov/eis.htm or contact Stephanie Brady, Project Lead
on the Draft EIS at [log in to unmask] or by phone at 907.306.7448. 

Stephanie Brady
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
907.306.7448

 Support a No Action Alternative that preserves the Izembek National
Wildlife Refuge Wilderness and its world-class natural resources and to
tell decision-makers that it’s in the
public interest to protect this national and international treasure. Take
this opportunity to oppose a road that would destroy forever the
wilderness character of the refuge, remove Wilderness protection, and
permanently compromise this fragilelandscape and designated Wetland of
International Significance and Important Bird Area. The proposed road
would bisect the ecological heart of the Izembek Refuge Wilderness. To
comply with a Congressional mandate, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
prepared for public comment an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on
the proposed road through the refuge’s Congressionally-designated
Wilderness. The road would be an additional enormous cost to taxpayers
and would not meet the stated goal of year-round, reliable transportation
access from King Cove to an airport in Cold Bay, Alaska. This problem was
solved when $37.5 million in federal tax dollars was given to King Cove
for a state-of-the art hovercraft, road improvements and medical facility
upgrades, through Senator Stevens’ 1998 King Cove Health & Safety Act.
The EIS includes a No Action Alternative, which the Friends and many
other organizations support. This approach saves further spending of
American taxpayer dollars and protects the natural environment, while
saving lives. The No Action Alternative supports resuming operation of
the 98-foot hovercraft, which can travel in wave heights up to 10-feet
and in winds over 45 miles per hour. It can carry 50 passengers as well
as an ambulance and freight. The U.S. taxpayer bought King Cove this
vessel in 2008. The $9 million state-of-the-art hovercraft has
transported over 30 individuals in a medical emergency with 100% success.
Your input is critical; please join us in letting the Fish and Wildlife
Service know you support the No Action Alternative.

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