Every September, roughly 1.7 million people tune in to Cook Inlet’s wild bear coast, casting their vote for the fattest bear of Fat Bear Week in Katmai National Park. There’s no doubt these furry kin, their abundant habitat, and this annual tradition are cherished. The brown bears of Cook Inlet’s west coast make up one of the densest brown bear...
The West Susitna Access Road is a proposed 100-mile industrial road through the Susitna watershed, designed primarily to open up remote lands for large-scale mining operations by primarily foreign companies. The project is split between AIDEA, which is pursuing roughly 78 miles of the road from the west, and DOT, advancing the first 22 miles from...
The Marine Minerals Administration (MMA), formerly BOEM, is months behind their anticipated schedule - but we still expect the revised version of their new 5-year offshore oil and gas leasing plan to be released this year. When that happens, yearly sales in Cook Inlet will most likely remain in the plan. Though Alaska's Senators Lisa Murkowski...
Though the West side of Cook Inlet is the backyard of the most industrial corners of Alaska, it’s remained a safe haven for wildlife, commercial and subsistence harvest, and ecotourism. All of that could change if the proposed Johnson Tract gold mine is constructed. The photos in this blog are all from this summer and capture the truly valuable...
Last month, the State of Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced its plan to give the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) nearly 20,000 acres of public land near Houston, Alaska, under a "public and charitable use" provision. AIDEA, a state-owned corporation with a terrible record of wasting public funds on...
In yet another decision that puts industry over people, the Trump administration just handed Big Oil another big gift by merging two federal departments that oversee oil and gas activities in federal waters - the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). This move strips away critical...
Canadian-American mining company Contango Silver and Gold has its sights set on developing Cook Inlet Region, Inc.’s (CIRI) private land inholding in the heart of Lake Clark National Park. Their proposed Johnson Tract Mine is a gold project with some zinc, copper, silver, and lead mixed in. Will this short-lived, seven-year mine meaningfully...
The proposed Johnson Tract Mine would industrialize one of the last undeveloped pockets of Cook Inlet | Tikahtnu, spurring an onslaught of traffic from military-sized planes, ore-hauling trucks, and barges through the park daily. We know that this, alongside the acid-generating rock and heavy metals the mine would unearth, will have devastating...
The proposed Johnson Tract Mine is presented as an economic opportunity for Alaska, but the company’s 2025 SEC Initial Assessment makes one thing clear: this is a short-term gold project that rewards outside investors, while providing limited returns for Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI) and posing real environmental risks for the region. A recent...
CIRI shareholders deserve a voice in decisions that could shape their land for generations. The proposed Johnson Tract Gold Mine poses irreversible harm to the abundant, diverse, and intact ecosystem of the Johnson River Valley and Tuxedni Bay - a stunning wildlife corridor nestled next to Mount Iliamna on the west side of Cook Inlet | Tikahtnu....
