Residents of an Alaska Native village met with Interior Secretary Sally Jewell late last month to explain their need for a controversial road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.

King Cove, an Aleut village, sits 30 miles from the nearest air strip in Cold Bay. But the only way to get there is to via boat, a trip that can take up to two hours in choppy weather [Google Maps: No Directions].

A road through the refuge would lessen the travel time and improve health and safety in the village, residents told Jewell. She hasn't indicated when she will make a decision, however.

"It's easy to say no when you see it on writing on paper,” Etta Kuzakin, a council member for the Agdaagux Tribe, told Kaiser Health News. “But it's not easy to say no when you see and you know and you look at the eyes of the people who have been through these tragic situations."

Get the Story:
A Road To Health? Rural Alaska Town Argues For Access (Kaiser Heath News 9/11)

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