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

When you think of Alaska and describe it to visiting friends and relatives from outside, how do you do that? Most of us describe it as a mostly roadless land of unbelievable natural beauty. A land of fantastic fishing, hunting, and other recreational opportunities. A beautiful undeveloped wilderness to explore by boat or small plane for a fishing, hunting, or skiing trip. The closest area to Southcentral where we may enjoy these activities is about to change forever if Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s plan to put a bridge over the Big Susitna River is allowed to proceed. Once the bridge is completed, an access road will be built for a huge, foreign-owned, open pit gold mine, along with a proposed coal mine.

I would like to share what I’ve experienced in the five short decades that I’ve been in Alaska with the following two examples. First, there was an area of good moose hunting south of Fairbanks where residents would go to harvest their winter moose in the 1960s and 1970s. Through a lottery, the state sold thousands of acres of that land that became the Delta Barley Project. You can no longer hunt, or trap, or snowmachine there. Not without asking permission, as it is now all private land. No trespassing. A second example is an area where friends and I used to hunt, west of Goose Bay. Through another lottery, the state sold thousands of acres of that land, which eventually became the MacKenzie Dairy Farm Project. Again, thousands of acres of once-public, now private land. Let us not forget the failures of both the Delta and MacKenzie Projects for their original agricultural purposes. Part of the plan for the West Susitna Access Road includes 65,000 acres of agricultural land. That is more than 100 square miles of Alaska’s wild lands put under plow, no different than Ohio or Iowa — and again, don’t forget, private land.

Most everyone knows that tourism is second after oil for private-sector jobs and a major income generator for our entire state. A bridge and road will not only let an open-pit mine be established and pollute two major salmon tributaries, it will also have a negative effect on current jobs and economies in this area. These jobs and economies are not just for the next 20 years. They do not destroy the natural beauty of the area, nor do they pollute the watersheds with mine runoff. Many businesses, like Rainy Pass Lodge, which is the longest operating hunting and recreational lodge in the entire state of Alaska, will suffer loss of business along with the many current long-term jobs these entities support. This area is by far the closest and most reasonably priced destination to take your family out to enjoy a wilderness trip. That opportunity will be a thing of the past for this entire area as soon as the road is pushed through and a large portion of that land is put into private status. This area will be no different than the areas I mentioned above where I used to hunt, trap and snowmachine. We need to ask ourselves: What is wrong with fishing at Jim Creek, or Sunshine Creek, or hunting moose in the Big Lake area? We all know the answer. They are too crowded because all have easy access by road. Another road, another bridge, and another road is not the answer.

I was as upset, as were many others in the state, when Congress passed the Alaska National Interest Lands Claim Act and locked up more than 100 million acres of federal public land. A lot of it was now off limits to gold mining, hunting and other recreational activities that myself and fellow Alaskans had been enjoying for many years. Now as I look at what is being locked up in developed, private lands, my perspective on what happened in 1980 has changed. What we referred to as D2, now almost half a century later, is looking like a positive action for Alaska and Alaskans. Those lands will at least be kept from being crisscrossed by roads and open-pit mines and transferred into private hands.

Most people either don’t see us becoming the same as most western states, private land surrounding pockets of crowed public land, or don’t care because it isn’t going to affect them. It will affect our grandchildren. We as Alaskans need to ask ourselves: What kind of state do we want Alaska to become? It is changing fast, and I’m worried it’s going in the opposite direction that is the reason so many of us chose to live here in the first place. Don’t be mistaken. Soon, no matter how far you go, there will be a road to a Russian River or a Jim Creek, just with a different name.

I am going to finish with a quote taken from an article written by Steve Meyer in the Daily News, dated Nov. 27, 2022. “Public land is the salvation and the opportunity for folks who aren’t wealthy, who simply want the experience of enjoying country that remains essentially untouched by commerce.”

Chris Wesolowski has property and has recreated in the West Susitna area since the 1970s.

The views expressed here are the writer’s and are not necessarily endorsed by the Anchorage Daily News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here.