Blog Without Borders
In The News
More evidence that sea lice threaten wild salmon.
Nola Poirier : Feb 1.2010The Nanaimo Daily News reported today on the growing evidence of sea lice limiting salmon runs.
Walter Cordery reports that "it looks like Alexandra Morton was right and that sea lice associated with fish farms are killing wild salmon." ( …)"Sea lice problems have skyrocketed in the past year to triple their numbers. They are growing resistant to the chemical the Norwegian fish farm industry uses to try to control them. This is disconcerting for British Columbians because Norwegian companies dominate the industry off the B.C. coast, owning more than 90% of the fish farms."
Read the full story.
Biodiversity and Climate Action Strategy Report
Nola Poirier : Jan 29.2010In a report commissioned by 15 environmental organisations, including Forest Ethics, CPAWS, David Suzuki Foundation, and West Coast Environmental Law, senior scientist, Jim Pojar, addresses both loss of biodiversity and a strategy for climate action. He calls on the BC government to maintain "intact forest systems, such that 50% of BC’s land base is managed with conservation as the priority goal. He asserts that doing so will "help prevent the release of greenhouse gases, ensure sufficient intact habitats to support healthy numbers of wild species, and help plants and animals adapt to climate change impacts."
Download the full report from Forest Ethics.
U.S. Taku River users push for protections
Chris Zimmer : Jan 25.2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Citizens seek proposal to designate part of the river a critical habitat
By Kim Marquis | JUNEAU EMPIRE
A group of commercial fishermen joined a river conservation organization and some property owners in a request to the Juneau delegation to pursue higher protections for the river.
"There’s a belief that we were a hair’s breath away from permitting an experimental craft - with no formal use in any other part of the world - and that threat to habitat and rearing of salmon seems unacceptable," United Southeast Alaska Gillnetters Executive Director Chris Knight said.
Knight and others approached Sen. Dennis Egan, D-Juneau, with a proposal to designate part of the river a critical habitat area but came away with a decision to further investigate which type of designation - if any - would best meet river users’ concerns.
The Alaska Legislature can designate Special Use Areas for the protection of fish and wildlife habitat. The Mendenhall River State Game Refuge is a local example.
Meet Taku the Dog.
Nola Poirier : Jan 21.2010The Taku has a new mascot. 
I adopted this fine pooch from the SPCA on the Sunshine Coast of B.C. this fall. He came with the name Casey, but the problem was that he wouldn’t come to the name Casey, no matter how many times I called it – not to mention that I really didn’t like it as a name for him. So in December I started trying out new names to see if it would be possible to call him something else. One day I called out ‘Taku’, and zzzoom, he came straight to me.
So Taku it is. It suits him perfectly. He’s gorgeous, healthy, spirited, and he LOVES water. Now I get to call out ‘Taku-Taku’ all the time. I think it can only be a good thing for that to echo through the hills.
This is a photograph of Taku on the beach in Tofino, BC, where he took me so he could see Clayoquot Sound and get some ideas for how to protect the Taku. Oh, and of course to play on the beach.
The Year of the Salmon
Nola Poirier : Jan 12.2010 
Heralding in the new year is also a time of energizing renewal. And a time for positive change. At RWB, our new year’s resolution is to do everything we can to protect ecological and cultural values in the Taku Watershed. We did our best in 2009, and now we plan to do even more.Watching salmon river stocks plummet in B.C., especially win the once mighty and salmon-rich Fraser River has inspired us to double our efforts to keep this from happening in the Taku River.
But we are small and we need some help speaking out to protect key values in this region. A strong constituency speaking for the Taku’s ecological and cultural value could persuade decision makers to recognize these values on the ground, and protect vast, interconnected regions of the Taku from industrial pressure.
Right now, the most powerful way to take action is to send a letter to the decision makers who are currently negotiating a land use plan in the region that will determine areas and values to protect, as well as areas of proposed industrial use. The Taku has the increasingly rare distinction of being a healthy, productive salmon river. And the rich and diverse watershed is host to a myriad of plants and animals – and people.
Help us deliver them a land use plan that protects habitat, culture, fresh water, and the many many other values of the still mighty and incredibly salmon-rich Taku. Visit takulegacy.org for more information.
The Atlin-Taku is essential for biodiversity.
Nola Poirier : Dec 10.2009CPAWS B.C. Executive Director says, if it remains as it is, the Atlin-Taku could be "one of the world’s great “arks” for biodiversity. Untouched, it could act as a magnet for species during climate change. With high mountains and low valleys and everything in between, its landscape could shelter B.C.’s travelling species and those not wiped out by the warming weather. Large, intact, connected ecosystems or arks, like this Atlin-Taku landscape, are rare."
Read the full story.
Take Action for the Taku!
Nola Poirier : Dec 1.2009|
The future of the Atlin-Taku region in BC’s wild north needs your voice. You have the rare opportunity to speak out and help protect a region roughly the size of Vancouver Island. The Atlin-Taku region in northwestern BC has thrived for millennia under First Nations management and is a largely unroaded jewel. It is home to a vast array of wildlife and ecosystems as well as vital habitat to all five Pacific salmon species. |
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The governments of British Columbia and the Taku River Tlingit First Nation are about to make a decision that will determine the fate of the area. Will the Atlin-Taku continue to be a biological sanctuary for thousands of species? Or will it be fragmented by roads and mines?
Your voice is needed to show that there is broad support for a bold conservation vision in the Atlin-Taku. Click here to take action.
For more information go to:
Gold Glitters in BC’s last intact watershed
admin : Nov 30.2009Read Tom Fletcher’s BC Local News.com story below,
click here to read from source.
Mountain goats outnumber people in the Sloko Range, part of the
Taku River region in the northwest corner of B.C.
- Taku River Tlingit First Nation
By Tom Fletcher, BC Local News.com
Negotiations are underway to set land use rules for B.C.’s last pristine coastal watershed, the remote Taku River valley near the Alaska and Yukon borders.
In talks similar to those that established the so-called Great Bear Rainforest agreement on B.C.’s central and northern coast three years ago, the Taku River Tlingit First Nation is moving beyond court challenges over mining to a plan that would share the resources and tourism potential of their vast traditional territory.
Balancing Act
Nola Poirier : Nov 30.2009For a limited time, access Mark Hume’s story on the Taku River Tlingit First Nation Tlatsini land use plan for the Taku region.
Mine Mess
Chris Zimmer : Nov 19.2009
Environmental watchdog Chris Zimmer wonders if it will be another 50 years before anything is done about pollution from Tulsequah Chief mine draining into the Taku River.
Mine owner Redfern Resources Ltd. faced challenges when it proposed in 2007 running untested hoverbarges down the river to bring the ore to market. The plan met resistance from Juneau residents concerned about the Taku and its fishery.
But with Redfern exploring ways to reopen the mine, located 45 miles northeast of Juneau in British Columbia, there had at least been some hope that pollution running from the mine into the river would finally be cleaned up.
Then Redfern’s parent company, Vancouver-based Redcorp Ventures Ltd., went bankrupt this spring.
With the company in financial shambles, equipment over the past several months was removed from the mine site, essentially eliminating any way to readily deal with acid mine drainage.
CURRENTLY...
". . .When you’re in the land of the grizzly, and when you follow the tracks of the wolf in the watersheds like the Stikine or the Taku, you know you are in a truly wild landscape where human beings have had a very, very modest imprint."
— Wade Davis, National Geographic Society