A big red reason not to dig a mine in Alaska’s fat bear country

Like the sun promises to rise each morning, hordes of crimson salmon — numbering in the tens of millions — faithfully return to Alaska’s Bristol Bay each summer.

This land of untrammeled rivers, streams, and lakes is home to the richest run of sockeye salmon on Earth. And largely for that reason, it’s also the realm of Alaska’s gloriously fat bears, who gobble the hefty 4,500 calorie fish — sometimes a dozen each hour — throughout the fleeting summer.  

Yet, the Trump administration may allow a Canadian mining company to dig a gold and copper mine one mile wide and 1,970 feet deep into the heart of the Bristol Bay watershed, called the Pebble Mine. Previously, the Obama Administration effectively killed the mining plans, citing “significant and unacceptable adverse effects” to the biologically and economically valuable ecosystem, but the Trump administration has reversed course, and is officially reconsidering the quarry. It’s a move harshly questioned by Bristol Bay locals, scientists, and law experts alike. “How does helping this underfunded Canadian company make America great again?” Read more…

More about Bears, Alaska, Bear Cam, Science, and Animals

Source: https://mashable.com/article/fat-bears-salmon-mine/
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Mark Kaufman

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