The big gamble
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The big gamble

11 Sep, 2025
in News by

by Peg Tileston, founder and longtime board member  

When we founded Trustees for Alaska, we knew the conservation community needed legal help, but we had no idea how incredibly successful we would be. Over the years Trustees has taken cases to all levels of the court system with success, including the state and federal Supreme Courts. 

Peg gears up for a trip in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Photo courtesy of Jules Tileston.

Throughout the years we have worked with villages and conservation organizations, on all kinds of issues, including  oil and gas industrialization, land management, water pollution, mining, and wildlife protection.  

One of the first filings was against the Beirne Initiative that proposed to give away 30 million acres of state land to private interests. We went to court challenging the initiative as unconstitutional. The Alaska Supreme Court ruled exactly that—what a way to start off. 

Protection of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has been on our agenda from the beginning. The prospects for the Refuge have waxed and waned depending on the administration. The current situation is the direst. Many cases, like those concerning the Arctic Refuge, go on for years, such as the push for a road in Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, proposed Pebble mine, and petroleum industrialization in the National Petroleum Reserve and Cook Inlet. 

Trustees’ founders Peg Tileston and Rod Cameron at a 2014 board event in Seattle.

I am so proud of the wonderful staff, board, and supporters that have made Trustees for Alaska the incredibly successful organization we are celebrating today. It is safe to say, our toughest days may be ahead of us. With federal and state administrations bent on tearing apart our governmental structure and a court system that is less and less friendly, we must not falter, we must stand strong.  

Founding Trustees was a gamble that has paid off.  

I urge all of us to be very proud of Trustees and to provide the support it needs to keep Alaska safe from the threats that greed brings to the state from all directions. 

Peg Tileston and Rod Cameron founded Trustees for Alaska in 1974. Peg first served as the chairwoman of the board from 1974 to 1982 and as board member since 2015. She will finish her last term this month. The board and staff of Trustees, and so many of our partners and supporters, share enormous respect for and gratitude to Peg for her commitment to organizations across the state and her relentless tenacity in standing up for the health of Alaska lands, animals and communities.