Why does the Service support the no action (no land exchange) alternative?
After completing a rigorous environmental analysis in the Draft EIS, the Service no longer supports the proposed land exchange. Identifying no land exchange as the preferred alternative in the Final EIS reflects the Service mandate to fulfill the purposes of the Refuge by maintaining the biological integrity of the Refuge and to carefully consider the effects of habitat fragmentation and impacts to subsistence resources. There are several reasons the Service initially supported the exchange. Public lands in the National Wildlife Refuge System would have increased significantly. The Refuge would have received lands that contained better wetland and riparian habitats than the lands the Refuge would have traded to Doyon. Doyon representatives had expressed their intent to develop oil and gas resources on their lands with or without the exchange. If development occurs without the exchange, there would be no benefits to the Refuge, and there would be a road and pipeline crossing Refuge land
