The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is seeking public comments on a proposed land exchange between the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge (Tetlin Refuge) and The Conservation Fund (TCF). The proposed land exchange would remove one potential barrier to construction of the Alaska Pipeline Project (APP), while providing the National Wildlife Refuge System with a total net gain of lands containing important wildlife habitat and valued at $1.11M.

During the summer of 2011, APP approached the Service about the possibility of a land exchange, one of many steps that would be necessary before building APP’s proposed natural gas pipeline from the North Slope of Alaska to Canada.To comply with long-standing contractual agreements in Canada, any pipeline corridor crossing the border from Alaska would first cross about 2 miles of Tetlin Refuge.

The proposed land exchange would transfer approximately 400 acres of land to TCF from Tetlin Refuge. In exchange, TCF would set up a fund to purchase lands in Tetlin Refuge or other National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska, which would then be donated to the Service and become part of the surrounding refuge. In addition, TCF would transfer, through donation and exchange, about 515 acres to the Neches River National Wildlife Refuge in Texas.

The land exchange was proposed and negotiated as a means of resolving a permitting conflict involving the APP pipeline corridor. Removing the proposed pipeline corridor land from Tetlin Refuge through a land exchange could expedite the process by enabling APP to obtain a pipeline easement through Tetlin Refuge within regulatory deadlines.

Additional details concerning the proposed land exchange can be found online at: https:tetlin.fws.gov

The Service is beginning to prepare an Environmental Assessment to assess potential impacts of the proposed land exchange. You can participate in this process by joining staff from Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge and The Conservation Fund to discuss the proposed land exchange. Public scoping meetings are scheduled for the following times and locations:

• Northway, Alaska: February 21, 2012, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, at the Northway Community Hall
• Tok, Alaska: February 22, 2012, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, at Fast Eddy’s

In order to make sure your concerns are addressed in the Environmental Assessment, the Service must receive your comments before March 5, 2012. We expect to release the Environmental Assessment in March of 2012. If you cannot or chose not to attend one of the scoping meetings, written comments may be submitted via email to: fw7_tetlin_planning@fws.gov or by U.S. mail to: Ryan Mollnow, Refuge Manager, Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge, P.O. Box 779, Tok, AK 99780