Protect the Chilkat Watershed from Mine Tailings!

April 23rd, 2024

Brown Bear Tracks on the Chilkat River
Shannon Donahue photo

The Chilkat Watershed is home to Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, which supports all 5 species of wild Pacific salmon, black and brown (coastal grizzly) bears, the world’s largest seasonal population of bald eagles, and the communities of Klukwan and Haines.

Constantine/American Pacific Mining and its partner, DOWA, are developing land on the Klehini River just upstream of the Eagle Preserve and the Chilkat Tlingit Village of Klukwan, to evaluate it for storing toxic mine tailings for the proposed Palmer Mine. This will include 6.6 miles of new roads and associated deforestation, 33 new drill pads, and seismic surveys involving blasting about 500 pounds of dynamite in sensitive wildlife habitat.

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources (ADNR) only gave us two weeks to evaluate over 300 pages of technical permit documents, so time is of the essence! We’ve made it easy for you to submit comments to ADNR asking them to reject the 5-year Plan of Operations and Application for Permits to Mine in Alaska, APMA J20245690.

Click here to take action before 5pm Alaska Time, April 24!

Or, click here to download the permit documents and write your own comments.

See our Archives for all past news and our Blog for recent news.