But like many of these projects, there are also compelling arguments for building the highway. If the road is built, the area will open up to outside traffic, which would bring much needed resources to the region. Currently, many families in the area are living on subsistence hunting and struggle to make ends meet. Above, alligators fill the canoe of an indigenous family returning from an alligator hunt in the Tipnis. For one week each year, the reserve allows each community to hunt a pre-determined number of the protected species. The communities have formed a cooperative that then sells the skins outside the park.

Noah Friedman-Rudovsky