About the Region
Taku Watershed
Imagine a place with where all five species of wild Pacific hatch, mature, and then return to spawn in fresh, unfettered waterways. A place so vast and diverse large mammals like wolves, grizzly and black bears, wolverine, and lynx live out their natural predator-prey cycles without roads to fragment their habitat. A place with globally significant populations of moose, mountain goats, sheep, and woodland caribou, as well as migratory birds, including the Trumpeter swan.
Then imagine, in this age of climate threats, declining salmon populations, and loss of unfragmented habitat, gambling the wealth of this watershed away, for the small quantity of mineral resources buried on the river’s edge.
THREATS
In the 1940’s and 1950’s, there were three small mine sites on the Tulsequah tributary of the Taku River: Polaris Taku (now called New Polaris), Tulsequah Chief, and Big Bull. These sites were all accessed by barge up the Taku River. In recent years, all three sites have been promoted for reopening, with the Tulsequah Chief having been most advanced in this process until March 2009, when the project proponent, Redfern Resources, went bankrupt.
All three potential mine sites are within a couple of kilometers of each other and pose similar threats. The key concerns include: impacts from access by road or barge toxic acid mine drainage contaminating the river and sensitive surrounding areas, and the certainty that any one project would pave the way for further industrial development. The mine sites are all located just a few kilometers upstream from the richest salmon rearing habitat in the entire watershed.
One potential access route for the Tulsequah Chief project is to construct a 160km/100 mile road into the heart of the watershed. Such a road would not only be immediately devastating to caribou and salmon, it would also be a wedge to open the area to further devastation.
In January 2007 Redfern announced another access option they were pursuing, driving air cushion barges up the Taku River. Like the road, barging would also enhance the potential for developing other projects. And barging also has its own slate of potential ecological impacts, particularly on migrating salmon and their habitat.
There is one other potential access route into the Taku. A small, non-public road in the south of the watershed was built to access the now defunct Golden Bear Mine. This is the only existing road in the Taku. The mine has since closed, but the road is now being used for mineral exploration and could be used to support further industrial access.
The Province of B.C. is currently in the final stages of a land use planning process with the Taku River Tlingit First Nation (TRTFN). This process will determine the areas for protection and those for potential industrial development. Industrial development in the Tulsequah and lower Taku would undermine key salmon habitat and other conservation values in this incredible and increasingly important region.
RWB and our partners are working to support land use planning outcomes that put ecological and cultural values before private profits. That are created with long term vision and thinking, not motivated by short-term monetary gain. Please help us call on BC for genuine environmental thinking in the Taku Watershed.
To take action, go to www.takulegacy.org.
With your help, something different can happen here.