Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced a land exchange agreement Thursday with King Cove's Native corporation, making way for the controversial construction of what many consider to be a lifesaving stretch of road.
It's not the first time an agreement like this has been approved for the road, which would connect two eastern Aleutian communities. But according to local leaders, there's one important difference this time around.
"Having the land exchange agreement already signed, and the ownership of the land now a done deal, that's never happened before, so that's big," said longtime King Cove City Administrator Gary Hennigh in a phone interview Thursday afternoon.
King Cove sits near the western tip of the Alaska Peninsula. It's a small fishing community that is only accessible by air or water, weather permitting, and its short gravel airstrip is difficult to fly into.
But with the addition of about 11 miles of road, residents could access a neighboring all-weather airport in Cold Bay. King Cove community leaders have fought for that road for decades, arguing that it would provide lifesaving access to emergency medical care.
The problem, though, is that the road would pass through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. Environmental groups and several Alaska tribes have said that land shouldn't be developed in order to protect wildlife.
In 2018, the Trump Administration approved a land swap, which was later revoked by the Biden administration. But Hennigh said this is the first time the land has actually switched hands.
Alaska's congressional delegation celebrated the agreement at an Alaska Day ceremony Thursday in Washington D.C.
At a press conference after the event, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said the property conveyance, including the patent and the deed to the land, would be recorded Thursday afternoon.
She applauded King Cove's perseverance.
"They are weary," Murkowski said. "They are tired of kind of this 'up and down, and back and forth, and maybe or maybe not.' They want the certainty that's going to come with this very small connector road."
Murkowski said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is swapping 490 acres of federal land for the road. The King Cove Corp. — the local Alaska Native village corporation — will hand over acreage in return.
Some western Alaska tribes have opposed the road, saying it threatens important subsistence species. And federal biologists have acknowledged the road would impact the habitat of Pacific black brant and emperor geese.
Murkowski said she recognizes the significance of those resources and that requirements are in place to ensure the animal populations remain strong.
"Nobody's talking about a multi-lane paved road, moving lots of big trucks back and forth," she said. "It is still an 11-mile, one-lane gravel, non-commercial-use road."
The congressional delegation said in a statement that the swap will ultimately "result in the net expansion of the Izembek refuge, clearly adding to its conservation and subsistence values. Under the agreement, Interior will receive or maintain roughly 14 times more land than it gives up."
Hennigh said there's still a lot to be done, with things like permitting, public commentary periods and funding to secure. After years of seeing progress toward a road fall back, he said he's optimistic but cautious.
"We also are not so naive to think that there won't be some lawsuits along the way," he said.
Hennigh hopes to see construction begin by 2027.
The Alaska Desk's Theo Greenly contributed reporting.
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