The Brooks Range is one of Earth’s largest roadless areas. In 2013, the State of Alaska proposed building a 225-mile industrial access road to facilitate the construction of an open-copper pit mine near the village of Ambler. This would be the largest road construction project in Alaska since the development of the Dalton Highway in 1974. The Ambler Road would parallel five subsistence communities, cross 161 rivers and streams (two of them designated Wild and Scenic Rivers) and pass through Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. The Ambler Mining District and proposed road serves as habitat for salmon, whitefish and sheefish as well as a crucial migration corridor for Alaska’s largest caribou herd, the Western Arctic. Eleven Village councils have passed resolutions against the road’s development. In 2016 we traveled 350 miles along road corridor into the Brooks Range to question the meaning of progress and ask what may be lost if the tundra is paved to Ambler. TAKE ACTION: Tell the Department of Interior and the Army Corps of Engineers to revoke the permits for the Ambler Industrial Road | https://bit.ly/3pvqNqN CREDITS Directors | Jayme Dittmar Director of Photography | Tom Attwater Cinematography | Lane Brown, James Q Martin Producers | Sheila Smithson, James Q Martin, Kristin Gates Editor | Tom Attwater, Jayme Dittmar Graphics and Art Direction | Laura Kottlowski Sound Design | Gabe Sweeney GSS Stabilized Aerials | Zatzworks Featured Music | Rabbit – Tanya Tagaq Featuring | Harry Douglas and Kristin Gates Distribution | National Parks Conservation Association In Support | Alpacka Raft, 1908 Giving Brands, Traverse Alaska, WILD Foundation, Patagonia Grants, The Endurance Fund, Geo Family Foundation, Annamet Pet Products, The Elizabeth Wakeman Henderson Charitable Foundation, Western Organization of Resource Councils
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