Board of Game moves Ambler Road hunting closure up to a Nov. 20 web conference

The Alaska Board of Game on Tuesday scheduled a Nov. 20 web conference to consider closing areas along the proposed Ambler Road in Game Management Units 23 and 24 to hunting and trapping. In July, the board voted 5-2 to table the closure to its January meeting in Kotzebue.

The board's notice does not say why it scheduled the separate meeting. The board will take written comments until 8 am Nov. 16 but no testimony at the meeting, and it may adopt the rules, change them or take no action without further notice.

The notice says only that hunting and trapping rules "in the vicinity of the Ambler Road right of way" would change. Proposal 4, which Alaska News reported in June, is more specific. The Department of Fish and Game wrote it and supports it. It would close hunting and trapping within a mile of each side of the 211-mile road, a corridor of about 420 square miles. Hunters and trappers could cross it but not take wildlife inside it. The proposal describes the road as private, "for commercial purposes only" and controlled by a locked gate staffed 24 hours a day. The department wrote that it has "no biological concern for any species" from the road and that the proposal would help with planning.

Mining company Ambler Metals LLC, Doyon, Limited and NANA Regional Corporation wrote in support, citing safety, according to the board record. NANA, whose land the road would cross for about 24.6 miles, also asked the board to consider a narrower corridor to limit the effect on hunters and trappers from Kobuk, Shungnak and Ambler.

The Fairbanks and Matanuska Valley fish and game advisory committees opposed the closure, 13-0 and 11-1, as did the Alaska Outdoor Council. Two conservation groups, the Northern Alaska Environmental Center and the Wildlife Conservation Society, also asked the board not to adopt it. Tanana Chiefs Conference, which opposes the road, asked for a wider closure, five miles on each side.

The road has not been built. Seven conservation groups appealed the state's easement for the road to Anchorage Superior Court on Sept. 30.