In December, shortly before the holidays and the start of the government shutdown, SEACC and several of our allies filed objections on the proposed Record of Decision and Final Environmental Impact Statement issued by the Forest Service for the Prince of Wales Landscape Level Analysis Project (POWLLAP).  One objection focused on the agency’s failure to consider and respond to the concerns raised over spraying herbicides on invasive plants. The other targeted the harmful environmental and economic impacts from the proposed decision to log roughly 24,000 acres of old-growth forest and build roughly 150 miles of road. The proposed development will impact salmon habitat, wildlife, and the people who depend on these valuable resources over the next 15 years.  

The Stikine River and the nearby city of Wrangell are facing a renewed threat. The proposed Galore Creek Mine, across the border in British Columbia and in the Stikine River Watershed, has been stalled since 2008 but recently got a jolt back to life. As of July 2018, the proposed mine, similar in size to the proposed KSM and Pebble Mines, has received additional investment from the Newmont Mining Corporation. Should the project be developed, it would be an open-pit, acid-generating mine with the potential to contaminate water and threaten downstream communities and fish habitat.  Newmont has already proved dedicated to jumpstarting the mine, building access roads and bridges into the claims which are estimated as some of the largest gold, silver, and copper deposits in the world. The mining claims cover 290,000 acres and the mine is expected to last 20 years. During this time it would discharge treated wastewater into the Iskut River with untreated, potentially acidic water likely to leach into Galore Creek, both of which are part of the Stikine River Watershed.