Interior conveyed nearly 28,000 acres to NANA at the Ambler corridor's west end, and the president has since approved the road

More than 27,000 acres at the western end of the proposed Ambler Road corridor have left federal management. The land now belongs to NANA Regional Corporation. The Department of the Interior made the transfer under Section 12(c) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, the provision covering a regional corporation's own selections, and announced it on July 16, 2025.

The Bureau of Land Management published the conveyance decision in the Federal Register on May 28, 2025. It describes the land by township and range near Kobuk and Kiana, aggregating 27,787.32 acres, reserves public access easements, and set an appeal deadline of June 27, 2025.

The transfer brings the total conveyed to NANA to more than 713,000 acres. That is 96 percent of the corporation's entitlement. Interior said the conveyance supports Executive Order 14153 and Secretary's Order 3422, "Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential." The announcement contains no comment from NANA and no response from parties opposed to the Ambler project.

Congress enacted ANCSA in 1971, creating regional and village corporations to take title to federal lands. As of July 2026 the Bureau reported 44,247,071 acres conveyed statewide, 96.8 percent of the entitlement.

The land sits at the western end of the Ambler Access Project, a proposed 211-mile industrial access road meant to reach copper-zinc deposits in the Ambler Mining District. The Ambler Road Draft Environmental Impact Statement concluded the road and the mining it would support are expected to reduce subsistence resource abundance and availability. The statement found a disproportionately high and adverse impact on minority and low-income populations.

The Tanana Chiefs Conference, in formal comments on that draft statement, argued the project would threaten Alaska Native communities' ability to continue traditional hunting, fishing and gathering practices.

The Bureau selected the no-action alternative in June 2024 and terminated the road's right-of-way. The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, the state agency behind the project, appealed to the President, who approved its application on Oct. 6, 2025 and directed federal agencies to promptly issue the authorizations. That approval is final under the section of law he used.

NANA's board removed the corporation from the Ambler Access Project in May 2024. AIDEA said then that the route would shift north of NANA land while keeping access to 600,000 acres of state mining claims.