A company wants to test amphibious rigs on the North Slope tundra

An Anchorage equipment dealer is asking the state for permission to drive amphibious off-road vehicles across the North Slope — and to let customers take them for a spin.

Bailey's Rent-All, which operates as Alaska Specialty Equipment, has applied for a five-year land-use permit to run Swamp Riders on North Slope state land, testing the machines and offering demo drives if it's cleared this summer. A Swamp Rider is an amphibious utility vehicle built to cross muskeg, mud, water, and snow — the kind of low-footprint rig used to reach remote sites without a road or a helicopter.

That's the whole tension in one permit. The tundra is exactly what these machines are made to conquer, and it's also fragile enough that Alaska requires a permit for any off-road travel to protect the soil and vegetation. The five-year permit wouldn't greenlight every trip on its own — individual routes still need separate approval.

Subsistence users, neighboring landholders, and the public can comment through July 21.