Trump Nears Deal for Road Through Alaskan Wildlife Refuge 
Maxine Joselow / The New York Times

(September 22, 2025) — “Proponents say the road would connect a remote town with an airport used for medical evacuations. Opponents say it would cause irreparable harm to wildlife and Alaska Native tribes.”

“The Trump administration is poised to approve a deal that would allow a contentious road to be built through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, a vast wild area in southwestern Alaska, according to internal Interior Department documents reviewed by The New York Times.

The agreement, which is not yet final, is the latest twist in a decades-long fight over the road that has reverberated across Alaska and the nation’s capital. The first Trump administration approved a similar deal in 2019, but the Biden administration canceled it in 2023, saying Trump officials failed to consider the effects of road construction on wildlife and Alaska Native communities.

The deal calls for the Interior Department to transfer 490 acres of land within the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge to King Cove Corporation, a tribal organization that wants to build the road, according to the documents.

In exchange, King Cove Corporation would give the government thousands of acres of its own land, some of which would be added to the refuge, the documents show.”

Maxine Joselow reports for the New York Times.