SEITC Archives - Alaska Native News
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SitNews: Tribes, Southeast Alaskans, and British Columbians respond to lack of commitment to protect salmon rivers from Transboundary Bilateral Working Group
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Southeast Alaskans Respond to Report Posted & Edited By MARY KAUFFMAN - According to British Columbia and Alaska s Bilateral Working Group, the four-year effort between B.C. and Alaska to examine water quality in the Stikine, Taku, and Unuk transboundary watersheds brought together government agencies, Indigenous Nations, industry, and the public to ensure the environmental, cultural, and economic values of these rivers are protected. This program has been an extraordinary partnership of many dedicated and knowledgeable people, and is a great example of what can be achieved when we work together, said George Heyman, B.C. s Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. Water and wildlife don t recognize borders, and so it s up to all of us to protect our critical and priceless watersheds regardless of jurisdiction.
For five years, Alaskan Indigenous tribes and conservation groups have pushed for government involvement over worries of 12 proposed B.C. mines in northwest B.C. near salmon-bearing rivers that cross into the Alaskan panhandle. As proof of inadequate regulatory oversight, they point to the 2014 breached tailings pond at the Mount Polly Mine in southern B.C. that released billions of litres of industrial waste into lakes and waterways. “Historically, 80 per cent of southeast Alaska king salmon [chinook] have come from the transboundary Taku, Stikine and Unuk Rivers and yet, by this spring, all three rivers’ king salmon populations will likely be listed as stocks of concern, and B.C. is rushing through more than a dozen [very large] projects just over the Alaska border in those same river systems,” said Jill Weitz, director of Salmon Beyond Borders.