By Annika Hammerschlag AMBLER, Alaska (AP) \u2014 Ice blocks drift past Tristen Pattee\u2019s boat as he scans the banks of Northwest Alaska\u2019s Kobuk River for caribou. His great uncle Ernest steadies a rifle on his lap. It\u2019s the last day of September, and by every measure of history and memory, thousands should have crossed by now. But the tundra is empty, save for the mountains looming on the horizon \u2014 the Gates of the Arctic National Park. Days after Pattee\u2019s unsuccessful hunt, the Trump administration approved construction of the Ambler Access Road\u2014 a 211-mile (340-kilometer) route designed to reach massive copper deposits that would cut through that wilderness, crossing 11 major rivers and thousands of streams where salmon spawn and caribou migrate. The approval, which is facing lawsuits though proponents… <\/p>\n
By Annika Hammerschlag AMBLER, Alaska (AP) \u2014 Ice blocks drift past Tristen Pattee\u2019s boat as he scans the banks of Northwest Alaska\u2019s Kobuk River for caribou. His great uncle Ernest steadies a rifle on his lap. It\u2019s the last day of September, and by every measure of history and memory, thousands should have crossed by now. But the tundra is empty, save for the mountains looming on the horizon \u2014 the Gates of the Arctic National Park. Days after Pattee\u2019s unsuccessful hunt, the Trump administration approved construction of the Ambler Access Road\u2014 a 211-mile (340-kilometer) route designed to reach massive copper deposits that would cut through that wilderness, crossing 11 major rivers and thousands of streams where salmon spawn and caribou migrate. The approval, which is facing lawsuits though proponents... <\/p>\n