By Caroline Brouwer, Vice President for Advocacy
Welcome to 2025! We are just days away from the end of the Biden Administration and the start of the second Trump Administration. We are expecting a number of changes in the new Administration, including a new Secretary of the Interior. President-elect Trump has nominated current North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum for that position. Governor Burgum has a decent record on wildlife conservation, and in particular seems to be a Theodore Roosevelt-type of conservationist. Friends are hopeful that he will lead the Interior Department (and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) with an eye towards land protection and species preservation, and conserving both prey and predator species. He will, however, sit on the National Security Council as the White House’s “energy czar” which will focus his efforts on domestic energy production.
In other news, the second Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil and gas lease sale that was held last week as required by the 2017 Tax Act resulted in ZERO bids on refuge lands. Friends are thrilled that years of advocacy and work by a huge community of conservation partners, particularly the Gwich’in who rely on food sources from the coastal plain, has resulted in a vocal and explicit renunciation of oil development in the 1002 area. This lease sale was the second and final sale as required by the law. The first in 2021 resulted in the cancellation or reversal of all leases.
We are still fighting the road through the Izembek Refuge. In a draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement released in November, the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed trading away lands within the Izembek Refuge and designated Wilderness in order to accommodate a road through the heart of the refuge. You still have a chance to weigh in because the comment deadline was extended to February 13th. More information can be found here. You can submit your comments here prior to the deadline. You can look on the comment page to see other comments that have been left. USFWS has already received over 52,000 comments! Please add your voice! We do ask that you submit a unique comment because all comments that are exactly the same are lumped together as one singular comment even if they come from different people. Visit our Friends web page for sample talking points. The Service offers advice on how to leave a good comment here. Thank you for doing your part to protect the Izembek Refuge!
