Interior Rescinds Protections in the Western Arctic

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Date: November 13, 2025 
Contact: Anja Semanco | 724-967-2777 | anja@alaskawild.org 

In response to today’s Department of the Interior announcement rescinding the 2024 Bureau of Land Management rule governing Special Areas in the Western Arctic, Monica Scherer, senior director of campaigns at Alaska Wilderness League, released the following statement: 

“Today’s actions make one thing painfully clear: this administration never had any intention of listening to the American people,” said Monica Scherer, senior director of campaigns at Alaska Wilderness League. “The comment period this summer was a farce from the start—hundreds of thousands of people urged the administration to protect the Western Arctic’s Special Areas, and those voices were ignored wholesale. By dismantling these protections, Interior isn’t ‘restoring common sense,’ it’s sidelining science and traditional knowledge, silencing communities, and putting irreplaceable lands and wildlife at risk. Alaska deserves better than a predetermined outcome dressed up as public process.” 

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