My letter reads:

I am excited to hear about the call to make wild salmon a symbol of British Columbia. I just hope it can remain a symbol of our powerful and diverse ecology and not be a reminder of what we have destroyed.Wild salmon populations up and down the West Coast are in trouble. There is a need for radical action to protect their populations, migration routes, food sources and spawning grounds. We need to halt activities that have been shown to have impacts, such as open-net-cage fish farming, and protect areas that still have healthy abundant runs, such as the Taku Watershed.

Wild salmon would indeed be a worthy symbol of this province: ecologically, salmon are integral to rivers, forest ecology, and other terrestrial and marine ecosystems; culturally, they have part of the history and the present of our fabric here, for all generations of BC residents; and economically, they support commercial fisheries, and recreational tourism, as well as supporting subsistence needs for many individuals and communities.

The growing amount of press coverage, the attendance of the Get Out Migration, and active public concern over salmon issues shows how key this species is to our province – and our planet. But still, more action is required, and fast, to protect our dwindling salmon populations. Because of their interconnectedness to so many ecosystems, salmon are impacted by many factors as well: disease, food shortages, climate change, river development, and pollution to name a few. However, instead of sitting back and waiting until we can address all those factors individually, we need to act on ones we know are key right now. One of those of course is open net cage fish farms, which are spreading disease rapidly among wild populations as they swim their migration routes. Another is protecting salmon habitat – spawning, rearing, and feeding grounds. Rivers Without Borders is working to do just that in the Taku Watershed, and keep mine development away from some of the richest salmon rearing habitat in the country – in the Pacific for that matter. 

What is alarming is that even with all this public pressure, the Province of BC is still trying to push through practices and plans that will clearly jeopardize salmon. Please take action to let government officials know that salmon are too important to gamble. Let’s let salmon be a symbol for BC, a symbol of the passionate action of BC’s people to protect this inheritance from the past, this legacy for the future. 

Take action at www.takulegacy.org

For this leg of the migration, people marched into Courtenay and then gathered at Simm’s park to show support for the protection of wild salmon, to share salmon stories from up and down the coast, and to listen to the musical entertainers who lifted the energy and united the participants.

The mood was powerful, filled with a deep concern for salmon, a strong activist spirit, and a notable buoyancy, likely spawned by the strength and empowerment of many people coming together for a common cause. Video blogger Mark Worthing has been following the tour and took some great video footage from the day. Check it out here.

Taking part in this physical expression of shared purpose clearly had a galvanizing effect on people working in different ways all along the coast to protect wild salmon. I know it energized and inspired me, as well as reinforcing to me how rare and how essential watersheds like the Taku truly are. 

To think that in a time with so many impediments for healthy and abundant wild salmon, that a place like the Taku, which provides such rich salmon habitat could be threatened by industrial development, seems like a bad joke, or a story from some earlier time when dire examples of the implications of such a decision weren’t already apparent. It is hard to believe that the same government that is pledging to help restore populations of salmon in the Fraser River is negotiating to compromise salmon habitat in the Taku.

Please make some time to take action. If you can, join the Get Out Migration at one of the remaining rallies, or to walk one of the legs of the route. And send a letter to the Taku land use planning process, or sign ours, to show your support for the protection of the salmon strongholds, and healthy populations we still have. 

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Former Tulsequah mine CEO wants it back

State asks that acid drainage be cleaned up

with pending mine transfer

By Kim Marquis | JUNEAU EMPIRE

Michael Penn / Juneau Empire

Heavy metals run out of the Tulsequah Chief mine opening and down to holding ponds next to the Tulsequah River. Leakage from those ponds can be seen entering the river that flows into the Taku River downstream.

The state of Alaska wants any new owner of the Tulsequah Chief mine to show it can afford to clean up acid mine drainage leaking into the Taku River watershed, as well as have a viable plan with a timetable to do the clean-up.

State officials made the comments in a letter submitted this week to the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office, after being invited to comment on a pending transfer of the mine to a new company.

The new company, Chieftain Metals Inc., incorporated in Canada late last year under Terence Chandler, the former CEO of Redfern Corp., which tried to open the mine but went bankrupt in March 2009.

 BC officials tried to keep the name of the pending new owner secret at the request of bankruptcy receiver Alvarez & Marsal Canada Inc., but Alaska was able to determine the new company’s name, according to the state’s letter.

The lawyer for the receiver declined to comment Tuesday, and Alvarez & Marsal’s Canada office telephone was not answered. Chandler also could not be reached for comment.

The pending transfer has renewed interest among environmentalists, who also submitted a letter outlining concerns over attempts to open the mine, which is located about 40 miles from the mouth of the Taku River along the Tulsequah River in British Columbia. The Tulsequah is a tributary to the Taku, a prized salmon fishery.

In addition to acid mine drainage, there’s concern among Alaskans about how ore would be transported to market from the backcountry location. Redfern tried to build an air cushion barge, also called a hoverbarge, to transport minerals down the river but the experimental nature of the vehicle raised wide concern among river users.

In a letter to BC officials Monday, Rivers Without Borders and Taku River Reds describes a history of "past broken promises" by the mine’s owner and expressed concern over a new company’s potential plan for barging.

"There were documented incidents of groundings of conventional barges and tugs, and the proposal for industrial barging had the very real potential to harm the water quality and fisheries in the Taku," the groups wrote.

In its letter, the state asked BC officials about the status of a wastewater treatment plant that was reportedly removed from the site after Redfern filed for bankruptcy. Past mining activity is causing sulfuric acid to leach heavy metals such as zinc, copper, cadmium and arsenic into the river.

Several state departments have tried to communicate with BC about the acid mine drainage but never received responses, the state wrote.

In addition, Redfern owes Alaska more than $77,850 in unpaid permitting fees for the hoverbarge permitting process. The state also asked about Chieftain’s plan for paying the debt.

• Contact reporter Kim Marquis at 523-2279 or kim.marquis@juneauempire.com.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

 Fishermen receive support for

study on Taku fishery

By Kim Marquis | JUNEAU EMPIRE

Commercial fishermen won a quick victory at the end of the Legislative session to fund a study on the effects of acid mine drainage from the Tulsequah Chief mine. The mine is located on the Taku River watershed and its salmon fishery.

United Southeast Alaska Gillnetters brought a request for $35,000 to $50,000 to Juneau Rep. Beth Kerttula on April 14 in a letter outlining their concerns. The session ended April 19, the day lawmakers passed the capital budget with a $35,000 appropriation for the study.

"There are serious concerns from fishermen that the acid flow is damaging existing salmon habitat and direct effects on adult salmon, eggs, alevin and smolt," Executive Director Chris Knight wrote in the request to Kerttula.

 Knight asked that the state Department of Fish and Game complete the study.

The appropriation has to pass the veto pen of Gov. Sean Parnell, who has another several weeks to make capital budget decisions.

The state is participating in a request to transfer the mine to a new owner, which could restart mining operations.

Regardless of the outcome of the ownership transfer request, Parnell’s administration will continue to press for cleanup and remediation, said Cora Campbell, special assistant to the governor.

"The Taku hosts valuable fisheries on both sides of the border and ongoing contamination should not be allowed to continue," she wrote in an e-mail Tuesday.

• Contact reporter Kim Marquis at 523-2279 or kim.marquis@juneauempire.com.

 Anchorage Daily News

Published: April 27, 2010

Taku River system needs same protection as Bristol Bay

COMPASS: Other points of view

By NANCY LORD

Secretary Salazar, in announcing the Department of the Interior’s new oil and gas development strategy, set aside Bristol Bay, "a national treasure that we must protect for future generations." Those of us who care about salmon and the communities they support were glad to hear this. Now, if those same salmon and communities can also be protected from mining pollution and other threats.

This thought led me to think of another of our salmon rivers and its threats and opportunities. Back in 2004 I had the good fortune to spend eight days rafting down the Taku River, from a drop-off in the mountains of northwest British Columbia to Taku Inlet near Juneau. (I wrote about the experience as a special feature for this paper that year.) I hadn’t known before floating the river what stunning, wild country the Taku traversed, nor that that river is the largest salmon producer in Southeast Alaska, with a monetary value of more than $8 million that year. I was astonished then that a river and watershed of such enormous value were unprotected. Six years later, they still lack deserved protections, and it’s beyond time to do something about that.

 Here’s the deal: The Taku River watershed, roughly the size of Massachusetts, lies mostly in British Columbia but crosses into Alaska northeast of Juneau. Most of its salmon spawn on the Canadian side, but much of the juvenile rearing habitat lies on the Alaska side and, significantly, most of the catch occurs in Alaska’s marine waters.

And here’s what may be the bigger deal: All up and down the West Coast, salmon fisheries have been in major decline, mostly because their river systems have been degraded by dams, logging, agriculture, mining and industrial development. The Taku system is the last, best, most intact home for salmon remaining along the west coast. It doesn’t need rehabilitation. It just needs to be left in its own good health, with free-running, clean and cool water.

There are opportunities, now, to act.

On the Canadian side, a land-use planning process between the provincial government and the Taku River Tlingit First Nation, people with long and deep cultural ties to the region and its resources, is under way. Alaska and the U. S. have not been involved — but certainly could add to the discussions and offer commensurate protections on our side of the border.

"Salmon Strongholds" already identified on the West Coast — in Washington, Oregon, California and British Columbia — are set to protect watersheds valued for wild salmon abundance, productivity and diversity through the use of public-private partnerships that work across political boundaries and land ownerships. The Pacific Salmon Stronghold Conservation Act of 2009, sponsored by West Coast senators including both Sens. Murkowski and Begich and supported by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game among many others — would establish and fund the program federally. Why wait? Alaska has the strongest of the strongholds, certainly in Bristol Bay but also in the Taku. A Salmon Stronghold designation for the Taku would provide a formal vehicle for coordinating with Canadian governments and Native and First Nation tribes on Taku protections.

In this time of rapid environmental change, it’s significant that Taku salmon are known for their genetic diversity, critical for adaptation. Indeed, the whole watershed has been termed a "biodiversity ark" for its potential to adapt to climate change and other stresses.

When I rafted down the Taku six years ago, a major concern was the pending permitting of the multi-metal Tulsequah Chief Mine, just a few miles across the U. S.-Canada border and a source of acid discharge pollution from an earlier operation. Last year, the mining company went bust and left the area — leaving, still, the acid pollution. Now, a new venture is hoping to take over the mineral deposits and environmental permits.

This is a very appropriate time for us in Alaska to take a good look at Taku values and work with our cross-border neighbor to protect an international treasure.

Nancy Lord, Alaska’s writer laureate, formerly fished commercially for salmon. Her latest book is "Rock, Water, Wild: An Alaskan Life."

Stronghold Threatened by Mine

Written by Rafe Mair

A world-renown tourism destination and home to all five species of pacific salmon, multiple species of trout, and 200 plant and animal species, the Taku Watershed is threatened by a plan to
re-open a 50 year-old mine.

Photo by David Nunuk

You will know Rex Weyler as a co-founder of Greenpeace, the author of the definitive history of that organization which started in Vancouver, and author of many books the most recent of which was The Jesus Sayings.

Not long ago I attended a public meeting on the public power issue and heard Rex speak and an eloquent and timely speech it was. It made me uncomfortable, as I’m sure it did others because I could see he was talking to all of us. Simply put, our desire to consume is running ahead of the world’s ability to supply what we want. Rex concentrated on oil, the production of which has peaked – meaning that we consume more than is being discovered – but he went further and described what we now insist upon having, compared to that which satisfied our grandparents. He asks if we’re really happier than they were.

Photo by Mark Connor

It made me think – since last December, Wendy and I have flown to London and return, then to Auckland for a cruise that got us to Bangkok thence the flight home – nearly 50 hours of helping airlines consume fossil fuels not to mention the cruise ship. Was Rex talking to us?

You’re damned right he was – all of us.

We, all of us, must re-evaluate our priorities. The older of us grew up in the era where there was always another valley to log and another stream to take the place of the one under the new subdivision. There was this need to constantly expand without any concern for the consequences. Rex asks the critical questions that I used to ask when I chaired meetings on Sustainability for Metro Vancouver – where does it all end? Do we just go on expanding, cutting an ever-greater swath through the environment without a care because we just know there must be more nice stuff over yonder mountain?

Perhaps it’s best that we do our plundering of Mother Earth far away where we can’t see it…In a recent article I asked why, if we were going to turn Fish Lake into a toxic dump for a mine, shouldn’t we log Stanley Park, subdivide Little Mountain and develop Burns Bog? What right have we to save our favourite places while destroying areas we can’t see?

We, at The Common Sense Canadian are committed to fighting the Campbell’s private river policy with all our might and main – while devastation is planned over that range of mountains that blocks our view of the Taku River.

Photo by David Nunuk

Out of sight, out of mind?

The Taku River rises in Northern British Columbia and spills into the Pacific near Juneau, Alaska. To get a sense of what this wild river looks like you will see, attached, some wonderful pictures by David Nunuk – courtesy of Nola Poirier who, along with First Nations’ people and local concerned citizens, is working hard to raise concerns about this proposed mine.

The Taku has all five species of migrating salmon plus the Steelhead, (a sea going Rainbow Trout), resident Rainbows, Cutthroat, Dolly Varden, and Bull Trout.

*A science note – at one time the Rainbow and the Cutthroat were classified as true trout along with Atlantic salmon and Brown trout (prefix Salmo) but that was changed some years ago and they are now classified as Oncorhynchus like the five migrating species. The Bull Trout and the Dolly Varden are close relatives, namely Chars (Salvelinus).

Mark Angelo is a renowned river conservationist, paddler, teacher and writer. He served as head of the Fish, Wildlife and Recreation Program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology for many years and is now the Chair of their new Rivers Institute. Also Chair of the Outdoor Recreation Council of BC and founder of BC and World Rivers Day, Mark is broadly viewed as one of North America’s pre-eminent river conservationists. In 2008 The Outdoor Recreation Council found that the Taku was one of the most endangered rivers in BC, owning to this mining proposal.

Photo by David Nunuk
Here’s what Mark had to say in a recent article:”… the Taku is the best international watershed left for salmon, hosting robust populations of the five Pacific salmon species. A multimillion dollar commercial and sport fishing industry depends on the Taku as does a less quantifiable but equally significant First Nations and native American cultural connection of countless generations.”

Mark continues… “also dependent on the Taku is the watershed’s extraordinary biodiversity – grizzly bear, bald eagles, sea lions and forest primeval – dependent on salmon as food and nutrient source. Research has demonstrated that the marine-derived nutrient salmon deliver far into the interior via natal watersheds benefit nearly 200 plant and animal species …”

He goes on, “Encompassing almost 19,000 square kilometers, the Taku watershed remains wild; fully intact, without roads and other development”.

Now the problem. There is a land use plan (LUP) being developed between the Tlingit First Nation and the BC government, BUT the provincial government is determined that mining be allowed – and there is a prospective mine upstream from the salmon rearing sites. Redfern Resources has been proposing for several years to re-open an old zinc-copper-silver-gold mine on the Taku, near Atlin, BC – closed in 1957 by then owner Cominco. Minerals from the Tulsequah Chief Mine would be shipped down river by barge. Roads required to access and build the mine would fragment key habitat and threaten the river with inevitable acid drainage.

Because we share the Taku watershed with our Alaskan neighbours, the issue is of concern across the border as well. Redfern Resources recently went into receivership amid questions about project costs – but we now know by way of Alaskan authorities (not our own provincial government, mind you), that plans are in the works to transfer the claim and project proposal to another company. As long as there’s value to the resource, this river will be at risk – which is why the public must come to its defense.

Photo by David Nunuk

One must also ask: if you’re going to have a mining operation and all that entails, what’s the point of an LUP? No one is suggesting that masses of people will be moving into the area, so surely an LUP protects existing values against existing perils – and you can’t protect the values of the Taku if there’s a mine. That simple.

Moreover, once you do have the mine, that’s the thin edge of the wedge. More development will come and the river will, like so many others, be sacrificed for the use of mankind.

Let’s go back to Rex Weyler. He makes the point that mankind will keep on consuming until there’s nothing left to consume. Two examples: That’s what happened on the east coast cod fishery as fishermen were clamoring for the right to fish when there weren’t any fish left; that’s also what happened on Easter Island where the inhabitants destroyed their abundant flora in order to make those big statues and kept on making statues even when the end of the flora was in sight.

Is this what our fate is! Are there no stop signs? Is nowhere sacred except the tiny bits of the outdoors near large centres of population? Stanley Park is sacred but the Taku is not because city folk can see the park but not the river? Do we believe, contrary to all the evidence, that we can both mine the ore and have fish and wildlife too?


Or have we perhaps decided that we must have “progress” and that that trumps the environment? Is British Columbia the new Easter Island where we will go on building monuments to our stupidity and to hell with the consequences?

Perhaps it will be the Taku that answers that question.

Wouldn’t it be great – if unlikely – if we said NO!

To learn more and take action, go to http://www.takulegacy.org

A sale is pending on an old mine leaking polluted water into the Taku River watershed.
The unnamed company intends to purchase the Tulsequah Chief Mine in British Columbia, according to a memo distributed by the BC Environmental Assessment Office.

Former mine owner Redfern Corp. went bankrupt in March of 2009, after its plans to build an experimental hoverbarge to cart ore down the river met resistance from Juneau’s commercial
fishermen and other river users.

The Taku is a prized salmon habitat. Redfern’s bankruptcy receiver did not immediately return a call Friday requesting more information about the buyer. The company asked for the transfer to occur "as soon as possible," citing seasonal access issues and "barging of equipment to the site." That could mean a new owner intends to start barging materials to the mine this year, Rivers Without Borders Spokesman Chris Zimmer said. "My worry is we’ll be back to the same situation we were in before," he said.

Redfern’s barging plans met strong resistance in Juneau after being introduced in 2007. Meetings about the hoverbarge it was building to operate on the river were attended by hundreds. The barge was never finished. A new company would still need to acquire a permit from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game for barge operations to the mine, which is difficult to access.

The river presents challenging navigation along the approximately 40 miles inland to the mine. The Taku River Tlingit First Nation opposes a road across its land, and a Redfern study in 2006 showed the cost to build a road would render the project unfeasible. BC officials asked members of a project work group to comment on the new request to transfer certificates, setting an April 26 deadline. The group includes Alaskan officials from several state departments. None could be reached for comment late Friday.

The mine was originally operated in the 1950s by Cominco, now Teck Cominco Ltd., which sold it to Redcorp. Canadian inspectors have known since 1990 that the mine is leaking sulfuric acid into the Tulsequah River, down the Taku River and into Southeast Alaska. Sulfuric acid is a toxic chemical that forms when compounds in the rock are exposed to air and water. It happens naturally, but in much greater quantities when construction activities disturb and grind rock.

Alaskan efforts to get the BC government to force a clean-up of the site have been largely ignored. A letter, signed in July 2009 by then-Gov. Sarah Palin, asked BC officials to force Redfern to retain water treatment equipment at the site. The letter was never answered. The equipment and everything else of apparent value was removed, according to people who live and work on the river.

While a new owner assumes responsibilities for clean-up, renewed efforts to extract ore would likely fund the expensive process. Redfern estimated its environmental responsibilities to cost more than $6 million, according to court records.

• Contact reporter Kim Marquis at 523-2279 or kim.marquis@juneauempire.com.

 Read the full opinion piece in the Vancouver Sun. 

Or,  download it here.

Media quotes and other information from Canadian federal agency sources indicate that Redfern faces a couple of major deadlines this spring regarding their bankruptcy, the future of the Tulsequah Chief site and cleanup of ongoing acid mine drainage at the mine site. 

However, with no buyers coming forward, the future is quite uncertain.  Clearly, Redfern is (and has been) unable to accomplish any useful cleanup of the mine site.  With no new buyer in site, will the Canadian federal government step in and clean up the mess?  And, it’s not just the toxic acid mine drainage that is a problem.  Bridges and culverts were not properly constructed and could lead to erosion and sediment problems.  Redfern has basically abandoned the mine site and the site is already starting to fall apart. 

And, even if the site is cleaned up, what will happen to the mineral title?  The Taku River/Tulsequah River confluence, the heart of the Taku watershed, is simply no place for mining given the lack of access, salmon and spawning and rearing habitat and the acid-bearing nature of the geology. 

It would save time and money on all sides (and quite a bit of prime salmon habitat) if the Tulsequah Chief were simply cleaned up and retired. 

 Photos: Chris Zimmer
(top)  Tulsequah Chief Mine: acid mine drainage. June, 2009.
(bottom) Bridge and culvert issues at the abandoned mine site. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                March 24, 2010

Contact: Nola Poirier, BC, 604 487 0818, nolapoirier@gmail.com

 The Taku’s placement as a ‘River to watch’ on the Outdoor Recreation Council of BC’s annual Endangered Rivers List is a distinction that many people in both BC and Alaska hope will never amount to anything.

The nearly two million hectare Taku watershed straddles the border between northwestern BC and Southeast Alaska. It is vast, intact and abundant wilderness region. The Taku River at the watershed’s heart is the third largest salmon producer in BC, hosting all five species of wild Pacific salmon in an intact wilderness watershed uncontaminated by sea lice, and not fragmented by roads and other industrial development.

“In terms of what is at stake, for BC, for the local Taku River Tlingit First Nation, for Pacific salmon populations; the Taku would be high on any list. The fact that we are fortunate enough to still have an opportunity to protect the ecological and cultural values in this region, gives us the position of a ‘river to watch’” said Nola Poirier with Rivers Without Borders.

Until recently, a BC based junior mining company, Redfern Resources, was working to reopen the Tulsequah Chief mine, one of the company’s two sites in the watershed (both abandoned since the 1950’s). Redfern had essentially gained approval for the mine before they went bankrupt in 2009.  Mining in this region would result in roads that would fragment key habitat, and acid mine drainage that would pollute key downstream salmon rearing sites.

The threat of mining upstream from the watershed’s most valuable salmon habitat persists. In the land use planning (LUP) process that has been underway between the BC government and the Taku River Tlingit First Nation (TRTFN), BC has been determined to keep this part of the watershed open for mining.

 “There is a real and present danger, but that’s not the only possible outcome. As much as the land use planning process has the power to devastate the river’s sensitive ecology, the LUP could instead be an opportunity to safeguard it,” said Poirier.

“If people were aware of what’s at stake in the Taku, that we have an opportunity not to repeat the mistakes we made in the Fraser River, mistakes that have so devastated salmon populations; I’m sure BC would be pressured to do everything they could to protect salmon values in the Taku. Actually, I hope the Taku remains river to watch – a river where we get it right.”

For more information:      

www.riverswithoutborders.org
 www.takulegacy.org
Endangered Rivers Backgrounder.