Action Alert: The Time to Save Bristol Bay is Here!

“Finally, the break we’ve been looking for is here!” — Perk Perkins, CEO, The Orvis Company

We’ve just learned the EPA plans to assess the Bristol Bay watershed to understand how future large-scale development may affect water quality and Bristol Bay’s salmon fishery. This is a pivotal step toward protecting this pristine region from the proposed Pebble Mine. Frankly, it’s a step that may not have happened if not for partners like TU and The Sportsman’s Alliance for Alaska, and sportsmen and women such as yourselves working non-stop to help protect the area.

Part of the EPA’s process is to get public input. We encourage you to send your input today to let the EPA know the value you place on the wild resources of this magnificent region.

 

Bristol Bay is:
• A 40,000-square mile watershed with nine major rivers
• Home of the world’s largest sockeye salmon run (30-60 million spawning a year)
• Host to one of North America’s leading king salmon and trophy rainbow trout populations
• The center of a $450 million-a-year fishing industry
• One of the last untouched areas on the planet

Pebble Mine would:
• Create an open-pit mine up to two miles wide and 1,700 feet deep
• Dig an underground mine of a similar scale
• Dump up to 10 billion tons of perpetually toxic mine waste in the heart of the Bristol Bay watershed
• Be operated by and profit two foreign companies with a poor environmental record
• Potentially destroy salmon runs, other fishes, habitat, and wildlife of this pristine region

 

SOCKEYE

The world’s largest sockeye salmon population is threatened by the proposed mine.

Photo by Barry and Cathy Beck


Sludge water

Waste water from exploratory drilling runs out of pipe near a headwater tributary.

Photo by Erin McKittrick

Exploration

Exploratory drilling at headwaters. Helicopters fly in and out all day long to bring supplies.

Photo by Erin McKittrick


Rainbow

A rainbow trout taken from the Bristol Bay watershed.

Photo by Tom Evenson


Brown Bears

Without sockeye salmon, the entire Bristol bay ecosystem,
including the famed brown bears, would collapse.

Photo by Allyson Miller


Drainage
Waste water from mining exploration runs directly into the headwaters of a Bristol bay tributary.

Photo by Erin McKittrick

7 thoughts on “Action Alert: The Time to Save Bristol Bay is Here!”

  1. Excellent weblog right here! Also your web site lots up very fast! What host are you using? Can I get your affiliate hyperlink to your host? I desire my website loaded up as fast as yours lol

  2. Your leave comment link (to send message to the EPA) is broken. Not sure if they are still taking comments but this mine needs to be stopped.

  3. This mine is another erosion of our natural resources. Who is profiting and why?
    When will our government say NO to the further chipping away at our planet.
    What will be left for the next generations!

  4. In all of my now 65 years one of the most memorable was the week spent in 2016 at the Sportsman’s Lodge on the Naknek River in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska. I long to be back in such a wilderness experience fishing the river, its tributaries, and the small lakes in the area within a short plane ride.
    Not only is the fishing world-class but the sights of such a unique landscape and all of the wildlife present make this an area which should be preserved for the many generations to come.

    An open pit mine will not be temporary, it will not be “clean”, it will not be a long-term income producer that the area serves currently for many companies, organizations, employees, and most importantly families! The world-wide impact this small area of Alaska generates is, for the planet, one of the most impactful on many fronts of not only pleasure and financial impact, but also as I’ve experienced, one of memory I recall on nearly a daily basis.

    Do the right thing. Do not allow this mining company a short-term success for long-term failure!

  5. We have witnessed EPA’s activities in many areas which have effects contrary to the intended results. Agriculture has felt the burden primarily as those who manage the land have too often been prevented from serving as the best stewards. However, in the Pebble Mine case, I wholeheartedly support EPA’s efforts to protect this pristine, irreplaceable, and priceless part of our world. Once scarred and violated, the area could never be the same.

  6. The Bristol bay region is my home. I need fish to survive. Our bears need it. Our world needs it. We need clean water to drink… which we won’t have if the mine proceeds. I don’t want to be taking a stroll in the wild(that won’t be wild if pebble mine developes) and look up at our mountains and see massive dams. I don’t want to see all the bears and salmon die. And anyone in the world who does is savagely retarded and barbaric. Whether you’re far away or close, fight for Bristol bay, fight for the wild. Without the wild, it’s not worth being alive.

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