Alaskans Descend on D.C. To Defend the Copper River Delta September 23, 1998

Alaskan Native American and Chugach Alaska Corporation shareholder Dune Lankard, Doctor of Marine Toxicology Dr. Riki Ott and Copper River Wilderness guide David Grimes, among others, are in Washington D.C. to stand against the Chugach Road rider, just one of the eleven anti-environmental riders put forth by the Alaskan Congressional Delegation. This rider would grant Chugach Alaska Corporation (CAC), a native for-profit corporation, a perpetual 29-mile, 250 foot-wide road easement across the pristine Copper River Delta in America's second largest National Forest, the Chugach National Forest.

	The rider would hamper sufficient environmental review efforts

The visiting Alaskans are meeting with members of Congress; talking about the wilderness, economic, subsistence, and spiritual values of the Delta, and pressuring the Clinton Administration to veto the Appropriations Bill, which contains the rider.

"A serious concern we have with this rider is the fact that it would relieve both the Forest Service and CAC of responsibility in Anchorage office of The National Wildlife Federation. "This road would cross over 200 streams and seriously jeopardizes the world class Copper River commercial salmon industry and subsistence lifestyle of the indigenous people of the region," he says. Turrini also adds that this would be one of the largest wetlands projects undertaken anywhere in the country.

Dune Lankard, a CAC shareholder and Director of the Eyak Preservation Council, maintains that the rider silences the ability of CAC shareholders and the American public to voice their opinions on this issue. "This back door attack does not allow us, as shareholders, to explore all the options for our land in this region. We call on Congress to strike this rider. There are other longterm alternatives which may be more financially beneficial to shareholders and at the same time protect the wild Copper River Delta for continued subsistence and commercial fishing use," said Lankard.

At 700,000 acres, the Copper River Delta located near Prince William Sound, just South of the fishing community of Cordova, is one of the largest and most important wetland habitats in the Western Hemisphere and arguably the world. Copper River Salmon have developed a reputation as the best salmon found anywhere in the world, and fishing is the lifeblood of almost the entire community of Cordova.

	The Copper River Delta is supposed to be managed primarily for fish

In June, Cordovan commercial fisher, Steve Vican, along with Chugach Alaska Corporation shareholder, Rion Schmidt, and four more activists, chained themselves in protest to the first bridge of the planned 200 stream crossings to be constructed.

The Copper River Delta is also the staging area for a spectacular spring migration, when in May, over 16 million shorebirds stop along the Delta to rest and refuel. Scott Anaya, organizer with The Alaska Center for the Environment, points out "the Copper River Delta is the only place in the entire Forest Service land base that is supposed to be managed primarily for fish and wildlife, and this project is clearly not in line with that mandate. This rider is not productive, and other conservation alternatives need to be explored - alternatives that would be a win for CAC, and a win for the Delta," he added.

The Alaskans are also part of a collection of groups - called the Copper River Coalition - opposed to the Chugach Road rider. This Coalition is comprised of the Alaska Center for the Environment, The Alaska Rainforest Campaign, The Coastal Coalition, The Eyak Rainforest Preservation Fund, The National Wildlife Federation, The Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, Trustees for Alaska and numerous citizens of Cordova.

For More Information:
Eyak Preservation Council
PO Box 460
Cordova, AK 99574
Phone: 907-424-5890
Fax: 907-424-5891
Email: eyak@redzone.org
URL: http://www.redzone.org

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