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Save
Bristol Bay!
Please ACT
NOW to Protect the
World's
Richest Salmon Fishery from
Mining!
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Coho salmon pair.
Credit:
USFS
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For thousands of
years, Alaska's
Bristol Bay Watershed has been one of the most productive salmon
ecosystems on Earth. Today, Bristol Bay supports the
world’s greatest commercial salmon fishery, a thriving
subsistence fishery, and world-renowned sport fishing for salmon
and trout.
Despite the
region's importance to salmon and the people who
depend upon them, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wants to
open the Bristol Bay Watershed to mineral entry and development
throughout the enormous 3.6 million acre
region.
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Credit: Alaska
Sportsman's
Lodge
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Say NO to the Bristol Bay
Mining District!
The BLM is
currently accepting public comments on the development of a new
resource management plan for 3.6 million
acres of public land in the Bristol Bay region. One of the
objectives of the plan is to evaluate whether the lands
currently closed to mining should be opened. If the BLM
does not hear from the public that these lands should be kept
closed, the end result could be wide-spread claim-staking and
large-scale mining.
Please TAKE ACTION
before March 5th to
protect the world’s richest salmon
fishery.
Send a letter to
the following
decision maker(s):
AK BLM
Land Use and Environmental Planner Patricia McClenahan
Below is the
sample
letter:
Subject:
Dear [decision
maker name automatically inserted here],
Thank you for
the opportunity to submit comments on the Bay
Area Resource Management Plan. I am writing to urge the BLM to
retain the existing protection against mineral entry for this
important area. Allowing wide-spread mining in the Bristol Bay
watershed would create an enormous mining district devoid of
protections for world-class salmon habitat.
The Bristol Bay
Watershed produces the world's greatest
commercial salmon fishery, a thriving subsistence fishery, and
world renowned sport fisheries for salmon and trout. The Kvichak
River drainage supports the world's largest Sockeye Salmon run.
The Nushagak/Mulchatna River drainages support Alaska's largest
Chinook Salmon run. All five species of Alaska's Pacific Salmon
are found here -- supporting a vital Native subsistence fishery.
Additionally, the Bristol Bay Watershed is an important
hunting area for moose and caribou, and it supports one of only
two populations of freshwater seals in the world. The famous
Carter Spit is a prime destination of more than 120 species of
birds during fall migration.
Opening these lands to
mineral development would harm these extraordinary ecological
resources and place at risk the commercial, sport and
subsistence fishery that is so integral to the area's economy
and lifestyle. These subsistence hunting and fishing grounds are
important to dozens of communities. In fact, at least four
native villages in the area have passed strong anti-mining
resolutions in defense of their land, water, fish, wildlife,
communities and culture. I urge you to heed their requests and
protect their subsistence lands from hardrock
mining.
These lands are important to all Americans, and
should be managed to advance the greatest public good. Please
retain the existing protections against mineral entry. The Bay
Resource Management Plan should focus on identifying and
designating important conservation and subsistence lands in
protective status, and not on allowing the mining industry
unfettered access to these important lands.
Sincerely,
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