BETHEL, ALASKA — The Mother Kuskokwim Tribal Coalition celebrates the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)’s announcement Tuesday that it is moving forward with protections for 28 million acres of D1 lands across Alaska, including several million acres in the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta region, and asks the Biden Administration to move forward with the coalition’s request to protect all adjacent lands and waters under federal jurisdiction in the Kuskokwim River system.

“Secretary Haaland’s decision today is an important step toward a future full of healthy lands, waters, and people who thrive on wild salmon, waterfowl, other migratory animals, and seasonal plant life,” said Anaan’arar Sophie Swope, Executive Director of Mother Kuskokwim. “Our Yukon-Kuskokwim region’s wetlands are vital to our people’s way of life. We are grateful to Secretary Haaland for these protections and hope for further BLM action to include and reign in the dangerous and destructive Donlin Gold project’s 315-mile pipeline. These actions would ensure future generations’ ability to safely live on the land while carrying our customary and traditional knowledge.”

Many of the D1 lands in the region are the headwaters of river systems. They are important to whitefish, sheefish, salmon, many other fish species, caribou, moose, waterfowl, and other migratory birds — and to people.

The Trump Administration attempted to roll back Alaska’s D1 protections, which have been in place under section 17 (d) 1 of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act for more than 50 years, during the final days of its administration — without even notifying Tribes. The Biden Administration paused that action during its first days in office. During a 2023 comment period, the Bureau of Land Management held 19 hearings around Alaska, including one in Bethel, where testimony was unanimous in support of protections.  State-wide, over half of Alaska’s federally recognized Tribes stood in solidarity to keep all protections in place. Several Native Corporations including Calista also submitted comments in support of no the ‘no action’ alternative which would keep all protections in place.

2.2 million acres of D1 lands closely surround Crooked Creek, the proposed mine site for the Donlin Gold mine, in the Kuskokwim River system. D1 lands also connect important migratory routes for both salmon and caribou, and they are vital to Indigenous and rural food security, with 21,139,400 acres of D1 lands designated as Federal Subsistence Lands.

Learn more about Mother Kuskokwim at https://nodonlingold.org.

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