About Redzone

Who We Are

There was an oil spill - you've heard about it- called the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and from that time on (March 24, 1989) my home became a redzone. It still is, a Redzone. The pristine nature of Prince William Sound was forever changed that day. There's been a dangerous and terrifying urgency in our hearts ever since to never allow anything like that to happen again. Here, or anywhere.

Our planet and all of our spirits deserve better than to bespoil an incredible place like this. And the corruption and devastation that followed the oil spill was unbelievable.

So we named this site Redzone, because Prince William Sound has undergone many threats since the oil spill from many directions. And still does. But catastrophy must be denied, and a dedicated movement, in heart, in action, in manifesting a seventh generation vision, is what we seek.

We are the Eyak Preservation Council (EPC). We are a grassroots consortium of dedicated local Natives, fishers and world citizens who became activists when the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill changed our life in Prince William Sound, forever. Some of us are original tribal Eyak, Aleut and Tlingit members, and are now also Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA, 1971) corporate shareholders We are also people from all walks who want to connect with others to actively participate in saving wild places and wild people.

As ancestral and current stewards, we are holding down our thin green line of temperate rainforest along the Gulf of Alaska in Prince William Sound, Copper River and the Copper River Delta.
There are successes here we can all rejoice in. There are no chain saws in Prince William Sound today. In 1998, 150,000 acres of old growth forest in Prince William Sound was preserved. Now, the Eyak and Tatitlek corporations' ANCSA (forested) landbase in the Sound is preserved, forever. But, it was at a heavy price for the Native people.

We appreciate all inquiries, help and support in this work. Please Join With Us in our continuous journey to defend and promote the inherent right of the existence of wild places, wild animals, native peoples and subsistence lifestyles.

About the Eyak Nation

The Eyak Nation was the last Native American tribe to be re-recognized by European Americans in 1930. Our Eyak Chief Marie Smith Jones, 80 years old, is the last full-blooded native speaker of our Eyak language. The Eyak ancestral homeland runs along the Gulf of Alaska from Prince William Sound, near the fishing village of Cordova, east across the Copper River Delta and beyond; a green strip of mountainous rainforest and wetlands between the ocean and the glacial ice.

About our Home at the Copper River Delta, Alaska

The rich Copper River Delta is located in a remote area of south central Alaska and drains the many waterways of significant parts of the Alaska, Wrangell and Chugach mountain ranges into the Gulf of Alaska. For much of its length, the Copper River forms the western boundary of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, the largest National Park in the United States. The St. Elias mountains, located east of the Copper River, are the tallest coastal mountains in the world and are capped by the greatest mantle of glacial ice outside of the polar ice caps and Greenland.

Our Copper River Delta is America's Premier wetlands. Along with Prince William Sound, it sits at the northern end of the 2,500 mile-long coastal temperate rainforest that begins with the redwoods of California. Visually stunning, the Delta is ringed by majestic mountains of rainforest and glacial ice. Its pristine wild nature provides for an explosive multitude of wild animals, fish and flora.

The Delta is considered the most important habitat in the Western Hemisphere, possibly in the world, for shorebirds. Every year millions of shorebirds and waterfowl of the Pacific flyway migrate through or nest on the Delta. It is home to the largest concentrations in the world of sea otters, beaver, nesting trumpeter swans, and virtually the entire population of dusky Canada geese, along with moose, wolves, brown bear and a host of marine mammals. Wild Copper River Salmon are perhaps the most highly prized salmon in the world, and a mainstay of the local commercial and subsistence economy. The headwaters of the Copper River Delta are in the highest coastal mountains in the world, and the river carries the melted glacial waters down to the fertile delta. This Eyak homeland is partly within the Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, and the Chugach National Forest. So extraordinary is the natural abundance of the Delta that it is the only part of the entire National Forest system that is mandated first and foremost for the conservation of fish and wildlife and their habitat. Read Dune's February 1998 Oral Testimony to the House Committee on Resources...

Over half of the 5,000 people who live in the Copper River Basin reside in the seaport of Cordova, which is the only community within the entire Delta region. Our community is about 12% Native. Cordova is the largest Native community in both the Copper River Basin and Prince William Sound bioregion, with over 90% of all Cordova residents continuing to live a healthy subsistence lifestyle ­harvesting and sharing sustainable and renewable natural resources.

Copper River Delta

Copyright © 2001, Eyak Preservation Council. All rights reserved

A Brief History

On March 24th, 1989 the Exxon Valdez oil tanker spilled millions of gallons of crude into the pristine waters and onto the shores, devastating the Prince William Sound ("Sound"), ecosystem. The Exxon oil spill spurred us into action. To find out more: Read the brief background on the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

The Copper River and the Delta are currently threatened by road and trail building for the purpose of oil, gas, coal, timber extraction and industrial tourism. The surrounding Rainforests are suffering from massive clearcuts. Over 50,000 acres in the Sound have been clearcut since the oil spill.

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