The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council is a homegrown conservation group of Southeast Alaskans fiercely fighting to protect their home – the Tongass National Forest and the waters of the Inside Passage.
The SEACC works to protect Southeast Alaska’s wild lands and clean water – thereby sustaining an intact ecosystem, abundant fish and wildlife populations, and unique Southeast Alaskan ways of life.
Here is their story.
Alaska is on the front lines of climate change, warming twice as fast as the rest of the country. The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council combats hostile threats to the environment daily – one major threat being the construction and operation of the proposed Palmer Mine, at the headwaters of the Chilkat River. If constructed, this mine would be located just upstream of the Chilkat Indian Village of Klukwan and the community of Haines and could jeopardize the health and well-being of the salmon and all who depend on them. The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council has been working tirelessly to keep the Palmer Mine out of the salmon stream. They created their No Palmer Mine! campaign on Bonfire to help fund their Palmer Project work.
“Southeast Alaska Conservation Council (SEACC) has been advocating for the Tongass and the waters of the Inside Passage since 1970. We acknowledge the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people who have been stewards of the forests and waters of this land since time immemorial and continue to do so today, and on whose land we each do our work and live our lives.
The partnership between Canadian mineral exploration company, Constantine Metal Resources, and Japanese smelter company, DOWA Metals & Mining, is trying to develop a dangerous sulfide mine called the Palmer Project at the headwaters of the pristine Chilkat River Watershed in Southeast Alaska — 13 miles upstream from the Chilkat Indian Village of Klukwan and 35 miles from the community of Haines.
They want to inject their wastewater into the ground near tributaries of the Klehini River and the Tier 3-nominated Chilkat River. Known as Jilkaat Heeni in Tlingit, or Storage Container for Salmon, the Chilkat supports the world’s largest seasonal bald eagle gathering and Southeast Alaska’s top wild coho salmon run. Countless community members depend on the Chilkat’s abundant wild salmon for subsistence, economics, and our ways of life.
The costs of this mine — which seeks to profit from Alaska’s mineral resources at the expense of our fish, wildlife, water quality, and cultures — far outweigh and outlast any potential short-term benefits.
So we say: Keep your dirty mine out of our salmon streams. No Palmer Mine!”
The SEACC’s Bonfire campaign is an additional way for them to reach a wider audience to raise funds and spread awareness about conservation issues affecting Southeast Alaska.
Click here for more information on how to take action against the Palmer Mine.
