Advocates say the Ambler Road and mining projects risk contaminating the Kobuk River watershed and hurting the region’s subsistence species.
Growing up, China Kantner spent half the year on the Kobuk River, at her family’s camp near the village of Ambler.
Kantner is a member of Protect the Kobuk, a group of 700 people, mostly residents of Northwest Alaska. They’re fighting to block development of the Ambler Road — also known as the Ambler Access Project — a proposed 211 mile industrial road that would cut through the Kobuk River’s watershed to access copper and zinc deposits.
On Tuesday, the environmental nonprofit American Rivers released its annual list of 10 “endangered” U.S. rivers — rivers facing immediate threats from climate change, pollution and development. The Kobuk is number eight on the list. “They’d be coming in and destroying this last pristine land, not only in the United States, but in the world,” said Clarence Putyuk Wood-Griepentrog, a lifelong resident of Ambler. “If we need copper, we need zinc, there are mines down States. They’re already on a road system. Go to those guys.”
“Everything’s connected here. Our watershed is our lifeline. If that water gets contaminated we’re all doomed.”
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