Trustees for Alaska

Trustees for Alaska is a non-profit public interest environmental law firm providing legal counsel to protect and sustain Alaska's natural environment. We provide legal counsel to diverse constituencies on the major environmental issues facing Alaska.

Our client list includes local and national conservation groups, Native villages, community and citizen groups, statewide coalitions, hunting and fishing groups, and individual Alaskans. Our services are free of charge, and for most of our Alaskan clients, we provide legal counsel they could not otherwise access or afford.

Established in 1974, Trustees for Alaska has long been and remains the legal backbone of environmental advocacy in Alaska. Our lawyers have been in the vanguard of issues large and small which continue to shape Alaska’s environmental future – oil and gas development, mining, toxic wastes, air and water pollution, public land use, and protection of marine resources. While our successes have set significant legal precedent in environmental law on state and national levels, the primary focus of our work is to benefit Alaska's environment and human communities.

With our expertise not only in Federal statutes and regulations but also in Alaska’s unique legal framework – Alaska is the only state with an entire constitutional article aimed at safeguarding natural resources within its boundaries – we have set legal precedents and won significant victories.

Most recently, we have focused on global warming, which is already devastating Alaska’s environment – particularly its fragile Arctic and subarctic ecosystems – and to which, ironically, Alaska is poised to make an outsized and self-destructive contribution in the form of massive coal developments.

Our work relies on donations from foundations and individuals who care about protecting Alaska’s special places.