Tippets: Kings of Alaska’s Frontier, Elk River Restoration, NOAA and the Endangered Species Act

May 24, 2018 By: Erin Block

  • Alaska’s Yukon River is home to the longest salmon run in the world. However, in recent years the numbers of salmon has been on the decline. Adam Weymouth traveled four months along the Yukon, following the salmon’s journey.  “The king is embedded in every level of the ecosystem, an ecology that is connected not just to the animals and plants, but to the politics and culture and to spiritual beliefs.” The Guardian.
  • The Elk River has a lengthy history with the timber industry and clear cutting has severely impacted native fish. This video shows efforts by CalTrout to restore this once-productive watershed.
  • A bill has been approved by the US House of Representatives’ Natural Resources Committee that would give the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s job of protecting wild salmon, steelhead trout and other anadromous fish over to the Department of Interior. Opponents say that with the Fish and Wildlife Service severely underfunded, “adding several dozen steelhead and sturgeon species to the agency’s responsibility would be disastrous for these iconic marine animals and crippling to recovery efforts for other endangered species,” said Brett Hartl, director of government affairs for the Center for Biological Diversity. Via Undercurrent News.