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Cook
Inletkeeper
Watershed
Watch Program
BACKGROUND
Cook
Inlet
faces heavy pressures from population growth and increased
land-use development, such as logging and mining. More than 60%
of Alaska’s population lives and works within the Cook Inlet
watershed, and a population explosion of 600% over the past
thirty years is paving over wetlands, degrading water quality
and destroying salmon habitat. For example, plans to build the
Knik Arm bridge across Cook Inlet continue to move forward, and
the Port of Anchorage wants to fill 135 acres of salmon and
beluga whale habitat for Port expansion.
To compound the problem, Alaskan politicians are
eliminating funds and weakening laws to protect our salmon,
coastal and water resources. The Murkowski Administration has
eviscerated the state’s coastal management program, rolled back
rules protecting salmon streams from pesticides, removed
citizens from important oil and gas decisions, and permitted
mixing zones in Alaska’s prized salmon streams.
INLETKEEPER
STRATEGIES
Cook
Inletkeeper’s Watershed Watch Program envisions sustainable
human development which protects salmon streams, wetlands and
other sensitive wildlife habitat areas from pollution and
habitat destruction.
The goals of
Watershed Watch are to:
1) help citizens engage government and industry personnel to
resolve local and regional environmental concerns;
2) hold government and industry accountable to enforcing and
following environmental laws; and
3) ensure that environmental laws are held to high standards
that protect clean water, habitat and social justices.
Inletkeeper
relies on its “eyes and ears” network of concerned citizens to
report incidents of pollution and habitat destruction to
Inletkeeper’s toll free hotline, and Inletkeeper helps citizens
document incidents, take samples, and ensure proper agency
response. Inletkeeper also organizes citizens to comment on
development proposals and advocate for and defend environmental
policies.
FUTURE WORK
Because these environmental issues are occurring in the middle
of Alaska’s most populated region – where hundreds of thousands
of Alaskans work and recreate each year - Cook Inlet offers the
best opportunity to highlight problems - and recommend solutions
- for some of the thorniest issues surrounding water quality and
habitat conservation. Cook Inletkeeper will continue to focus
on a wide range of habitat issues including the proposed Port of
Anchorage expansion, mixing zones, Pebble Mine, Knik Arm Bridge,
and the rapid decline and possible extinction of Cook Inlet’s
unique beluga whale.
Inletkeeper’s Myth of Rigorous Permitting Presentation
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