By TCC Emerging Leaders Council
We are the Emerging Leader Youth Advisory Council of the Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC) — twelve Indigenous young leaders, ages 18 to 24, representing the next generation’s voice for the 42 Tribes of Interior Alaska. Together, we stand in unified opposition to the Ambler Road Project — a development that threatens our ancestral lands, traditional ways of life, and the future we are determined to protect.
Our ancestors fought to preserve our homes, our lands, and our ways of being. Now it is our turn to continue that fight. We refuse to stand by while industrial development pushes deeper into our homelands, ignoring our voices and the long-term consequences for our people and the environment that sustains us.
We are already rich — rich in our land, our waters, our animals, our culture, our language, and our way of life. These are the sources of our true wealth, and we will not trade them for short-term jobs that disconnect us from who we are.
The Ambler Road would cut through critical habitat, changing the migratory routes of the caribou and disturbing the moose populations that sustain our people. It would bring man camps into rural areas, threatening community safety and cultural integrity. We are already seeing the imbalance in access to our traditional foods — in the Yukon–Tanana region that is highly accessible by roads, 754 moose were harvested last year, and only 27 were taken by local people living in our villages. This reflects a deep and growing inequity that projects like Ambler Road will only make worse.
As the next generation of Indigenous leaders, we stand with the Tanana Chiefs Conference Full Board of Directors in opposition to the Ambler Road. We call on all Tribes, leaders, and allies to stand with us — to protect the land, water, and animals that have sustained our people since time immemorial.
And to our decision-makers, corporations, and the federal government: our youth are watching. They are counting on you to do what is right — to choose protection over profit, and to honor your responsibility to future generations.
The time to act is now.
The land needs us.
And we are prepared to protect it.