The Bureau of Land Management is taking public feedback on a new management plan for over 13 million acres of federal lands west of Fairbanks and the Dalton Highway.
Central Yukon Resource Management Plan project manager Michelle Ethun said the Dalton Highway area alone encompasses diverse resources and uses.
”There’s a lot of mining that occurs in that area,” Ethun said. “There’s a lot of recreational access that occurs in that area. And it’s a utility corridor.”
Ethun said the western portion of the planning area covers federal property in the Koyukuk River region as well as around numerous villages, which have their own priorities.
The Central Yukon area is the latest of several addressed by BLM in updated management plans.
The agency hopes to have a signed record of decision on the central Yukon area plan by early 2020.
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
