Once Redcorp Ventures submits what agencies are seeking, the public comment clock will restart.

Check Alaska Department of Natural Resources’ website for the whole story.

Will Tulsequah Chief be BC’s next operating mine?  Many in BC government would like to send signals to investors that the province is a good place to invest in mining.  Many in the BC public service would like to see the Tulsequah chief file disappear, as it’s been on the table since the 1990’s.  Interestingly, decision-makers in the US will be pivotal with what comes next.  In short, Redcorp requires permits to operate the hoverbarge on the US side of the Taku River.  They propose to transport zinc, copper, gold, lead and silver concentrates 40 miles down-river from the mine to the Pacific coast.  Daily trips would bring diesel and supplies back each time.  The hoverbarge and acompanying tow/push vehicles would have to contend with weather and river challenges almost daily.  Irregular currents, substantial winds and the collision of warm, moist coastal air masses with cold and dry continnental air masses will be difficult to manage.  Many wonder aloud if the hoverbarge will be able to hover and carry what it is supposed to.  Will the vehicles intended to tow and push be able to tow and push? There are questions about whether the vehicles will be powerful and/or maneuverable enough for Taku River usage. 

Redcorp has failed to sell its plan to the people of Alaska - even in brute economic terms.  It puts existing relatively lucrative fisheries in jeopardy, and so Redcorp never had a persuasive ‘jobs for Alaskans’ argument.  Redcorp has made unsubstantiated claims that it can provide Southeast Alaskans with jobs.  Revenues from existing Alaskan fisheries dwarf dollars that might come from a Canadian mine. 

Redcorp has not sold its product to attentive Juneau residents.  As such, the result is yet another roadblock in the ongoing Tulsequah Chief saga. 

RWB Executive Director Will Patric (centre) examines Atlin/Taku geology and mineral potential maps.  BC representatives Paul Wojdak (left) and Wayne Giles (right) lead the maps presentation.

One of the workshop goals was to update stakeholders of progress made by BC government and TRTFN in identifying key values in the planning area since the first workshops were held in June 2008.  A number of maps have been updated thanks in part to input provided from stakeholders.  The maps are essential to understanding the various interests and values spatially.  Some of the maps under scrutiny include stakeholder notations of interest, mineral values and mineral tenures in the planning area and high value caribou and moose habitat.  Discussions around minerals and geology were of particular interest for both stakeholders and representatives of the two governments. 

As discussions evolve around possible protected areas, and special management designations - where limitations would be placed on the kinds of developments that can take place in certain zoned areas - the scope of mining is front and centre.  Where, and how much?  Will other values - culture, heritage, fish, wildlife, clean water - trump mineral values in certain areas?  In the case of the Atlin-Taku there are significant value overlap areas.  In short, areas deemed to be ideal for development by some are located in highly sensitive ecological areas.   A creative approach is required by governments to address areas of conflict between the range of interests.  The mining industry has traditionally enjoyed a rather unfettered access to land.  It will be interesting to see what kinds of limitations will be placed on the sector when the plan is finalized.

Check:  http://landkeepers.ca/ 

Pictured above are Taku River Tlingit First Nation spokesperson Sandra Jack and BC Minister of Agriculture and Lands, Pat Bell.  They’re standing on either side of a poster that signals the end of the land use framework agreement process, and the beginning of a two to three year land use planning and implementation process in the Taku watershed.  Which areas will be set aside for development?  Which areas will be conserved or identified as off-limits to industrial development?  Which areas do the Taku River Tlingit hold dearest in terms of cultural and historical significance?  Some zoning decisions or land designations may end up being fairly straight-forward, whereas others  may take years of negotiation.  Decision-makers involved acknowledge there will be difficulties during the process to come.  Three Taku River First Nation representatives, two provincial representatives, and a member representing the Atlin Advisory Planning Commission (AAPC) will be at the table during this shared decision making process.  The framework has put into place a structure that will have enormous significance for wildlife, fish, land and water in the Taku.

See BC’s Ministry of Agriculture and Lands news release. 

At the signing ceremony Minister Bell praised TRTFN leadership and particularly the TRTFN spokesperson. "We are here today thanks in large part to Sandra Jack’s leadership, and her willingness to work collaboratively with the province," said Bell.  He predicted that the co-management planning process in the Taku would likely be a model for the rest of BC.  It would also put the "New Relationship" between BC and First Nations into practice in this land use planning context.

The Taku is a region of high biodiversity, sublime landscapes, and little development.  Hopefully a vision that goes beyond sustainable development (taking into account the rich wildlife of the region and the unparalleled salmon runs of the Taku River) will be drawn up by BC, TRTFN and the AAPC.

Sadly, Rivers Without Borders can no longer claim to have Cupid on its staff roster. Nola Poirier moved on to other good work this January, and we miss her and the creativity and compassion she infected us all with. This Valentine’s Day the Canadian government is again poised to make a decision regarding the wild heart of the Taku. While Nola and her alter-ego Cupid won’t be sending poetic epistles off to the Canadian Prime Minister today, we know that she still holds the Taku and the other transboundary rivers in her heart.

We hope that all of you will be thinking of the Taku today and in the coming weeks and months as well. British Columbia, Alaska and Canadian federal agencies will be making a decision regarding the use of huge hoverbarges hauled or pushed up and down the Taku by experimental and untested "amphitrac" amphibious vehicles in the coming weeks and months. The hoverbarges would haul tons of mineral concentrate down river and return with loads of diesel fuel and toxic chemical reagents. More information on the ongoing environmental assessment and permitting processes and how you can get involved can be found elsewhere on the Rivers Without Borders site.

Sun through Yukon River ice fog - view from office at 10 am, Jan 28 

RWB would like to pay tribute to all staff members at YCS who were such amazing organizational roommates over the last few years.  If cohabitation could always be this way, then wouldn’t life be much simpler, easier?  Georgia Greetham! Lewis Rifkind! Karen Baltgailis! Sue Kemmett! 

Perhaps it was partly my July arrival at RWB that prompted this shift into a slightly larger space… Things got a bit tight in the basement of the YCS blue house.  Karin Sparks so graciously allowed me to occupy a small desk in the corner of her basement office.  Although I liked the desk very much, I ended up occupying different terminals in the YCS ‘upstairs’ offices, on days there were vacant work spaces.  Depending on one’s perspective, my presence in the building was inconsistent or absent.  I don’t like to be easily situated anyway!

David MacKinnon may be surprised by the sheer brightness of the bright new locale.  He still hasn’t seen his new office, freshly painted white, and flooded with direct sunlight.  He’s been out of town for a while now but we expect him in today.  He may need to be eased into the new space, which bears no resemblance to the dark bunker-like space he was operating out of for many years.  He may also have some difficulty restraining himself from gazing at the lovely Grey Mountain from his executive director’s chair! RWB staff are preparing for his eventual appearance and have put into place mitigating strategies to smooth-over his adjustment…

As for Karin, who works half-time at RWB, she will need to walk about 50 feet down the hall from her other half time job.  Convenience.  Proximity.  This new office will be warm and she will not require a space heater to be running most of the year under her desk as she did in the old RWB office.  There will be a ceremonial smashing of this heater!  Wait, I mean, we will donate the space heater to a community free-store…

While the many months of winter and the accompanying dark can test ones resolve not to burden the climate with a trip to the tropics somewhere around February, we can certainly count our blessings living in a place where human activities have not made the same mark on the land that they have further south. As we move into 2008, our resolution here at Rivers Without Borders is to keep it that way. Why repeat the errors made and harm done in other places? The transboundary region is a very special place and we work every day to ensure that it is recognized as such and gets managed to maintain its unique values.

May 2008 be a great year for Grizzly bears, wild salmon, caribou, wolves, moose, mountain goats, thin horn sheep, black bears, eulachon, bald eagles, and every other species that loves this part of the world … including you and yours!