More 11th-Hour Leasing Threatens Alaska Salmon

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management seems hell-bent on removing protections for sensitive drainages in Alaska prior to the change in administrations. On Friday, they announced they are opening about one million acres near some of Alaska’s richest salmon streams to mineral exploration and oil and gas leasing. “Large blocks of land in Southwest Alaska would be opened to development — for the first time in more than 35 years — in the same two river drainages as Pebble, the giant copper and gold prospect. One of the drainages is the Kvichak River, which has the largest sockeye salmon run in the world. The other is the Nushagak River, the state’s second-largest king salmon producer.” Elizabeth Bluemink in the Anchorage Daily News.