**PRESS RELEASE** HOMER, AK — Cook Inletkeeper condemns the federal government’s draft 11th Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) 5-year plan, which proposes five new oil and gas lease sales in Lower Cook Inlet between 2027 and 2031. The plan proposes oil and gas lease sales across the U.S. Pacific coast, the Gulf of Mexico, and opens every region of...
The Myth and the Reality of Modern Gold Mining in Alaska As new gold projects rise in the Cook Inlet | Tikahtnu watershed, we have to ask: Is it really worth it? Gold still glitters in today’s economy — not just in jewelry or bank vaults, but in the circuitry of our phones and computers. According to the World Gold Council, the average smartphone...
Every spring, millions of birds sweep northward across Alaska’s skies, tracing ancient routes to their Arctic nesting grounds. Along the way, they rely on a handful of critical stopovers—shelterd places rich in food where they can rest and refuel. Lake Clark National Park and its neighbor, Tuxedni Bay, are two of the most important of these pit...
In Cook Inlet’s quieter bays, lucky onlookers occasionally spot a small squadron of white crests break the surface, their breath forming plumes of steam in the air. If your boat engine is off, sometimes you can even hear their songs through the hull—a multifaceted collection of whistles, clicks, moos and chirps so complex that they've earned...
On the western shore of Cook Inlet | Tikahtnu, two massive volcanoes – Illiamna and Redoubt – rise like icy sentinels over some of Alaska’s most vibrant ecosystems. Here, in and around Lake Clark National Park, tidal zones protect some of the last healthy razor clam beds in Cook Inlet, while the shores, wetlands, and forests house 187 different...
I remember the exact moment I fell in love with Cook Inlet | Tikahtnu. It was March 2020, just a week before the pandemic hit, on my first-ever visit to Homer. I was here for a scientific diving class with the University of Alaska Fairbanks. As I rounded the bend into town, the mountains of the Kenai Peninsula rose in a glittering wall over the...
