Friends Group · Anchorage, AK
Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges
Lead plaintiff in the November 2025 federal suit challenging the land exchange signed to put a road through the Izembek Wilderness
Founded 2005
Stand · Find your defenders
Who’s defending Izembek?
6 groups have it in their care
Wildlife refuge in Alaska, 315,000 acres, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, designated in 1960.
The defenders
The groups doing the most work here
6 groups are on the record for Izembek, each tied to it by a source our editors read, in the order they carry the weight. Give directly; nothing routes through us.
Leading the fight
On the ground
Advocacy · Washington, DC
Alaska Wilderness League
Plaintiff in the Izembek land exchange litigation, represented by Trustees for Alaska
21 staff + 850 volunteers70¢ to the workFounded 1993
Advocacy · Washington, DC
Defenders of Wildlife
Has fought every round of Izembek road litigation since 2013 and filed its own suit over the 2025 exchange
165 staff + 80 volunteers71¢ to the workFounded 1947
Legal · Missoula, MT
Wilderness Watch
Plaintiff fighting the land swap that would carve a 13-mile road through congressionally designated Izembek Wilderness
13 staff + 10 volunteers92¢ to the workFounded 1989
Also in the fight
Advocacy · Washington, DC
National Wildlife Refuge Association
Plaintiff arguing the Izembek swap sets a precedent that threatens the entire refuge system
11 staff + 20 volunteers61¢ to the workFounded 1975
Advocacy · Oakland, CA
Sierra Club
Plaintiff in the November 2025 suit over the Izembek land exchange
10,895 volunteers81¢ to the workFounded 1892
14 more work nearby but are not tied to Izembek on the record
On the ground in Alaska
Alaska GeographicThey work only in AlaskaFriends GroupKachemak Heritage Land TrustThey work only in AlaskaLand TrustKenai Watershed ForumThey work only in AlaskaFriends GroupGwich'in Steering CommitteeThey work only in AlaskaTribalDenali Education CenterThey work only in AlaskaFriends GroupSoutheast Alaska Conservation CouncilThey work only in AlaskaCoalition
More ways in
Alaska Community Action on ToxicsThey work only in AlaskaAdvocacyBrooks Range CouncilThey work only in AlaskaGrassrootsNative MovementThey work only in AlaskaGrassrootsNorthern Alaska Environmental CenterThey work only in AlaskaAdvocacyTanana Chiefs ConferenceThey work only in AlaskaTribalTrustees for AlaskaThey work only in AlaskaLegalAlaska Wildlife AllianceThey work only in AlaskaWildlifeNOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School)Working this regionStewardship
The situation
What’s happening to Izembek
The world’s largest eelgrass bed, staging ground for the entire Pacific black brant population and a critical stopover for migratory species from six continents. The administration is determined to bulldoze a road through designated wilderness for the sake of a shortcut. It would set a precedent for violating wilderness protections anywhere in America.
- 1960Established as wildlife refuge
- 1980Wilderness designation under ANILCADefenders of Wildlife
- 2018Land exchange for road approved
- 2020Court vacates road approval
Road through designated wilderness
Source: Center for Biological Diversity
No public comment window is open on Izembek right now. A call script is ready on the Public Lands Action Network, and the groups above are how the fight gets funded and argued in the meantime.
Your move
How to stand for Izembek
GiveGive to Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges
Straight to their own donation page. Your dollar never passes through us.
Their donation page ↗SpeakCall your representativesA ready call script on Izembek, plus any comment window as it opens.
Public Lands Action NetworkFollowWatch the mapEvery threatened place in the country, tracked, with who stands for each.
Threatened Lands MapBuild my lineup around Izembek: the leading group here opens it, and the other seats fill from this record.
Izembek has defenders. It needs more.
The work is theirs. The backing is yours.