With just five minutes of your time you can help save the most prolific salmon run on the planet!

Bristol Bay, Alaska is a dream destination for anglers and sportsmen worldwide. The proposed Pebble Mine would be North America's largest open-pit gold-copper-molybdenum mine located in the heart of the Bristol Bay watershed and it would destroy countless square miles of fish and wildlife habitat, not to mention the 14,000 jobs that go with it! 

Go to savebristolbay.org and support EPA's revised draft Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment.  This science-based document will allow the EPA to take steps that will permanently protect the Bristol Bay. 

DO IT NOW!  Comment deadline is May 31. 

Background

The Bristol Bay region of southwest Alaska is home to the most prolific wild salmon fishery on Earth.  Nearly 40 million sockeye salmon return to the rivers and streams of Bristol Bay annually, fueling an ecosystem that includes everything from brown bears, moose, caribou, and bald eagles to trophy rainbow trout (think 30"-plus) and other game fish. This salmon fishery supports a centuries-old Native culture, over 14,000 jobs, is worth $1.5 billion annually, and is the reason anglers dream of fishing in wild, remote Alaska.  There's simply no place like it on the planet!

Now, consider that foreign mining interests want to develop what would be North America's largest open-pit gold-copper-molybdenum mine at the headwaters of Bristol Bay's two most productive salmon watersheds.  The proposed Pebble Mine would result in having to store up to 10.8 billion tons of toxic mine waste FOREVER in a known seismically-active area behind some of the largest earthen dams in the world.  Wrong idea in the wrong place!

The revised draft Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment was released on Friday, April 26.  This science-based document outlines the existing values found in Bristol Bay (ecological, economic, cultural, etc.) and seeks to identify the risks to those values posed by mining proposals in the Nushagak and Kvichak River watersheds.  This revision did a number of things.  It clarified the proposed mine scenario - based upon information submitted by the mining companies themselves.  It considered the cumulative impacts of development beyond simply the proposed Pebble Mine (which is the most well-known proposal), because beyond Pebble there are 1,000 square miles of mining claims lying in wait.

The revision also confirmed just how unique the Bristol Bay region is relative to the significance of the salmon fishery.  And it reached the same conclusion as the first draft: Mining in this region will have significant impacts on Bristol Bay's salmon ecosystem, and the culture, jobs, and economy it supports.

This is where you come in!  Go to savebristolbay.org and submit your comments to the EPA, supporting the revised draft Bristol Bay Watershed assessment.  Having a strong, science-based document will allow the EPA to take steps that will permanently protect the Bristol Bay Watershed from mining impacts.