OPINION: West Susitna Access Road is a bad deal for Alaskans

Has been updated: 16 A few minutes ago release date: 16 A few minutes ago

When you think of Alaska and describe it to friends and relatives visiting from outside, how do you describe it? Most of us describe it as a mostly roadless land of incredible natural beauty; a land with great fishing, hunting and other recreational opportunities; beautiful, undeveloped wilderness that can be explored by boat or small plane for fishing, hunting and ski trips. The area closest to South Central where you can enjoy these activities will be changed forever if Governor Mike Dunleavy’s plan to build a bridge across the Big Susitna River goes forward. When the bridge is completed, it will provide an access road to a huge, foreign-owned open-cut gold mine, where construction of a coal mine is also planned.

I’ve lived in Alaska for just 50 years, and I want to give you two examples of what I’ve experienced. First, there was a good moose hunting area south of Fairbanks where people went to hunt moose in the winter in the 1960s and 1970s. The state sold thousands of acres of that land in a lottery, which became the Delta Barley Project. You can’t hunt there anymore, you can’t trap there, you can’t snow machine there. It’s all private land, and you have to get a permit. No trespassing. The second example is an area west of Goose Bay where my friends and I used to hunt. The state sold thousands of acres of that land in another lottery, which eventually became the MacKenzie Dairy Farm Project. Again, thousands of acres of what was once public land that became private land. We must remember that both the Delta Project and the MacKenzie Project failed in their original agricultural purposes. The West Susitna Access Road plan includes 65,000 acres of farmland. That’s more than 100 square miles of Alaska wilderness under cultivation, not unlike Ohio or Iowa, and again, remember, this is privately owned land.

Most people know that tourism is the second largest private employer after oil and the primary source of income for the entire state. The bridge and road would not only allow for the construction of an open-cut mine and pollute two major salmon tributaries, but would also negatively impact the current jobs and economy in the region. These jobs and economy are not just for the next 20 years. The natural beauty of the region would not be destroyed, nor would mine runoff pollute the watershed. Many businesses, such as Rainy Pass Lodge, the longest operating hunting and recreation lodge in the entire state of Alaska, would lose business along with many current long-term jobs that these organizations support. This region is by far the closest and most affordable destination for a family wilderness getaway. With the road through and most of the land privatized, that opportunity will become a thing of the past throughout the region. This region is no different than the area mentioned above where I hunted, trapped, and snowmachined. We must ask ourselves: what is wrong with fishing Jim Creek or Sunshine Creek, or hunting elk around Big Lake? We all know the answer: it’s all easily accessible by road, and it’s too congested. Another road, another bridge, and another road is not the solution.

I was outraged, as were many others, when Congress passed the Alaska Land Claims Act, sealing off over 100 million acres of federal public lands, much of which was off-limits to gold mining, hunting and other recreational activities that I and my fellow Alaskans have enjoyed for so many years. Looking at what is now being sealed off for developed private lands has changed my perspective on what happened in 1980. What we called D2, now nearly half a century later, looks like a positive step for Alaska and Alaskans. Those lands will at least be crisscrossed by roads and open-cut mines and will no longer be in private hands.

Most people either don’t think Alaska will become like other western states with private land surrounding crowded public lands, or they don’t care because it doesn’t affect them. It affects our grandchildren. As Alaskans, we need to ask ourselves: What kind of state do we want Alaska to be? It’s changing so quickly that I worry many of us are heading in the opposite direction to why we chose to live here in the first place. Don’t get me wrong. Soon, no matter how far you go, you’ll have a path to Russian River or Jim Creek, just with a different name.

Finally, I would like to quote from an article written by Steve Meyer in the Daily News on November 27, 2022: “Public lands are a salvation and an opportunity for those who are not wealthy and simply want to experience the enjoyment of national land that is largely untouched by commerce.”

Chris Wesolowski He has owned land and engaged in recreational activities in the West Susitna area since the 1970s.

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