Spanning the temperate rainforests of Southeast Alaska to north of the Arctic Circle, Alaska’s D-1 lands are among the largest intact landscapes left in the country, representing millions of acres of protected public lands. Safeguarding these lands from harmful development is essential for preserving important habitat that supports hundreds of local fishing, outfitting, and tourism jobs, providing unparalleled outdoor recreation access, and supporting a thriving state economy.
generated annually by outdoor recreation in Alaska
in Alaska’s outdoor recreation industry are at risk
Throughout Alaska, connected lands support thousands of small, local, and family-owned businesses. These operations help visitors experience unmatched outdoor recreation excursions. Ensuring full protections for 28 million acres of Alaska’s wildlands is essential to grow and maintain this important industry.
Opening up Alaska’s D-1 lands to harmful industrial development would wreak havoc on millions of acres of important habitat, endangering some of our nation’s most iconic wildlife
caribou
bald eagle
waterfowl
sockeye salmon
of unexploited Alaska public land is one of our nation’s greatest recreation treasures
D-1 Lands house legendary recreation experiences that would be at risk, including the trout and salmon mecca of Bristol Bay, famed caribou herds of the Western Arctic, and the world’s largest bald eagle concentration in the Chilkat River Valley wilderness. Should recreational opportunities be diminished, economic impacts would reverberate through rural communities across the state.
For millennia, D-1 lands have sustained Alaskans. Today, they fuel thriving economies—commercial fishing, guided hunting, outdoor recreation, and tourism. Industrial extraction on these lands would have irreversible impacts on wildlife, communities, and recreation. Removing protections would destroy caribou migration routes, bald eagle sanctuaries, and critical wild salmon habitat. Alaska’s wildlands—and our future—are on the line.