Rivers Without Borders
Encyclopedia
Rivers Without Borders, a nonprofit organization fiscally sponsored by the Tides Center
and Tides Canada Initiatives, promotes a watershed-based conservation vision for the Transboundary Watershed Region
of Southeast Alaska and northwest British Columbia
. Rivers Without Borders' mission is to promote and protect the ecological and cultural values of the Transboundary Watershed Region
. Rivers Without Borders has staff in U.S. offices in Juneau, Alaska
, and Washington, as well as contract staff in British Columbia.
'BC. Rivers Without Borders collaborates with First Nations, commercial fishermen, scientists, environmental organizations, government, community leaders, media, and others to advance a conservation vision for the Transboundary Watershed Region
.
watershed in 1995 and extend the model of transboundary collaborative work to the Stikine and other transboundary watersheds. The organization took as its major goals ensuring permanent protection of large, interconnected expanses of wilderness and supporting regional communities in developing alternative economies. Transboundary Watershed Alliance officially became Rivers Without Borders in 2007, and now functions as a distinct organization, while remaining connected to and coordinating with a range of conservation groups, First Nations, and non-traditional allies.
that support abundant wildlife and all five species of Pacific salmon, which are critical to regional economies.
(B.C.), it covers 7250 square miles (18,777.4 km²). More than twice as large as Yellowstone National Park
, it is the largest unprotected and basically undeveloped watershed on the Pacific Coast of North America. The Taku is the top salmon-producing river in Southeast Alaska and routinely ranks in Alaska's top five salmon producing rivers. According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game
, the river sees nearly 2 million wild salmon annually, including up to 100,000 Chinook salmon
(king salmon), 350,000 sockeye salmon
(red salmon) and 400,000 coho salmon
(silver salmon), 50,000 chum salmon
(dog salmon), and 1 million pink salmon
(humpy salmon). Beyond its bounty of salmon, the Taku is home to eight other fish species, including steelhead, bull trout, Dolly Varden char, rainbow trout, lake trout, arctic grayling, whitefish and Southeast Alaska's largest population of cutthroat trout. In addition, hooligans (eulachon
), crab
, shrimp
and halibut
are harvested at or near the river's mouth. That marine wealth supports major sport, commercial and tribal fisheries in Alaska and British Columbia.
A 2004 report estimated "the annual economic impact from all activities on the Taku River to be $26.7 million." Commercial fishing generated about $6 million, sport fishing about $2 million, and commercial air activity generated $18 million with $13 million of that directly related to tourism.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game periodically updates the commercial salmon statistics..
. The Iskut River, the largest tributary of the Stikine, flows for 145 miles/236 km from Kluachon Lake near Iskut, B.C. to its confluence with the lower Stikine River near the US/Canada border.
) salmon in southern Southeast Alaska.
in British Columbia about 40 miles (64.4 km) northeast of Juneau, Alaska, ended early in 2009 when Redfern filed for protection under Canada's Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (Part of Canada’s bankruptcy law). Prior to that, Rivers Without Borders had been conducting a campaign against a Redfern plan to use hoverbarges to haul mine ore to sea on the Alaska side of the border, a transportation scheme that came to be eyed skeptically by Alaska state officials and Taku River residents. The hoverbarge issue was rendered moot by Redfern's financial status.
The mine, however, continues to pose a threat to the Taku River environment. Though the Tulsequah Chief Mine has not operated for decades, it has been leaking toxic acids into the Tulsequah River, a tributary to the Taku River. Since 1989, the Canadian government has monitored the site, issuing several cleanup orders in the interim, but no cleanup has taken place. In a letter sent July 2009, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin urged B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell to cooperate with Alaska to find a way to mitigate the mine leakage and protect the Tulsequah and Taku Rivers.
Rivers Without Borders is now seeking Alaska legislative action to add stiffer environmental protection measures to the American end of the Taku River.
In June 2010, Rivers Without Borders launched the Taku Wild Salmon Stronghold campaign with a presentation to the board of the Salmon Stronghold Partnership in Portland, Oregon
, asserting that the Taku watershed would be a natural and ideal addition to the Strongholds thus far designated in California
, Oregon
, Washington, and southern B.C. The 4500000 acres (18,210.9 km²) watershed hosts robust populations of all five Pacific salmon
species, is the top salmon producer for southeast Alaska
, and is one of Canada’s most steady and significant salmon systems. For these reasons, Rivers Without Borders’ Wild Salmon Stronghold campaign has worked to secure the Taku as North America’s first International Wild Salmon Stronghold. Formal recognition would ensure that the Taku’s salmon values are properly prioritized and that indigenous, federal, provincial, and state government biologists and managers, as well as stakeholders, are coordinated in management, monitoring, and safeguarding fisheries resources.
Rivers Without Borders and the Rivers Institute at the British Columbia Institute of Technology
prepared A Taku Salmon Stronghold report to assess the Taku’s suitability to join the North American Salmon Stronghold partnership: A Taku Salmon Stronghold: Initial Assessment of an Exceptional International Watershed.
Tides Center
Tides Center is a non-profit organization in the United States which provides fiscal sponsorship for progressive groups. Tides Center is classified a 501 tax-exempt organization by the IRS...
and Tides Canada Initiatives, promotes a watershed-based conservation vision for the Transboundary Watershed Region
Transboundary Watershed Region
The Transboundary Watershed Region is a region of northwest British Columbia and southeast Alaska that includes the Tatshenshini-Alsek, Chilkat, Chilkoot, Skagway, Taiya, Taku, Iskut-Stikine, Unuk, and Whiting watersheds...
of Southeast Alaska and northwest British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. Rivers Without Borders' mission is to promote and protect the ecological and cultural values of the Transboundary Watershed Region
Transboundary Watershed Region
The Transboundary Watershed Region is a region of northwest British Columbia and southeast Alaska that includes the Tatshenshini-Alsek, Chilkat, Chilkoot, Skagway, Taiya, Taku, Iskut-Stikine, Unuk, and Whiting watersheds...
. Rivers Without Borders has staff in U.S. offices in Juneau, Alaska
Juneau, Alaska
The City and Borough of Juneau is a unified municipality located on the Gastineau Channel in the panhandle of the U.S. state of Alaska. It has been the capital of Alaska since 1906, when the government of the then-District of Alaska was moved from Sitka as dictated by the U.S. Congress in 1900...
, and Washington, as well as contract staff in British Columbia.
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
'BC. Rivers Without Borders collaborates with First Nations, commercial fishermen, scientists, environmental organizations, government, community leaders, media, and others to advance a conservation vision for the Transboundary Watershed Region
Transboundary Watershed Region
The Transboundary Watershed Region is a region of northwest British Columbia and southeast Alaska that includes the Tatshenshini-Alsek, Chilkat, Chilkoot, Skagway, Taiya, Taku, Iskut-Stikine, Unuk, and Whiting watersheds...
.
History
Rivers Without Borders launched in 1999 as a coalition of 22 member groups that called themselves the "Transboundary Watershed Alliance." The effort was intended to continue coordinated work that had begun in the Taku RiverTaku River
The Taku River is a river running from British Columbia, Canada, to the northwestern coast of North America, at Juneau, Alaska. Its mouth coincides with the Alaska-British Columbia border...
watershed in 1995 and extend the model of transboundary collaborative work to the Stikine and other transboundary watersheds. The organization took as its major goals ensuring permanent protection of large, interconnected expanses of wilderness and supporting regional communities in developing alternative economies. Transboundary Watershed Alliance officially became Rivers Without Borders in 2007, and now functions as a distinct organization, while remaining connected to and coordinating with a range of conservation groups, First Nations, and non-traditional allies.
River Systems of Focus
Rivers Without Borders focuses on seven watershed systems within the Transboundary Watershed RegionTransboundary Watershed Region
The Transboundary Watershed Region is a region of northwest British Columbia and southeast Alaska that includes the Tatshenshini-Alsek, Chilkat, Chilkoot, Skagway, Taiya, Taku, Iskut-Stikine, Unuk, and Whiting watersheds...
that support abundant wildlife and all five species of Pacific salmon, which are critical to regional economies.
The Taku River Watershed
A pristine river basin in Southeast Alaska and northwest British ColumbiaBritish Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
(B.C.), it covers 7250 square miles (18,777.4 km²). More than twice as large as Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...
, it is the largest unprotected and basically undeveloped watershed on the Pacific Coast of North America. The Taku is the top salmon-producing river in Southeast Alaska and routinely ranks in Alaska's top five salmon producing rivers. According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is a department within the government of Alaska. The Department of Fish and Game manages Alaska's fish, game, and aquatic plant resources.-History:...
, the river sees nearly 2 million wild salmon annually, including up to 100,000 Chinook salmon
Chinook salmon
The Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, is the largest species in the pacific salmon family. Other commonly used names for the species include King salmon, Quinnat salmon, Spring salmon and Tyee salmon...
(king salmon), 350,000 sockeye salmon
Sockeye salmon
Sockeye salmon , also called red salmon or blueback salmon in the USA, is an anadromous species of salmon found in the Northern Pacific Ocean and rivers discharging into it...
(red salmon) and 400,000 coho salmon
Coho salmon
The Coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch, is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". It is the state animal of Chiba, Japan.-Description:...
(silver salmon), 50,000 chum salmon
Chum salmon
The chum salmon, Oncorhynchus keta, is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family. It is a Pacific salmon, and may also be known as dog salmon or Keta salmon, and is often marketed under the name Silverbrite salmon...
(dog salmon), and 1 million pink salmon
Pink salmon
Pink salmon or humpback salmon, Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family. It is the smallest and most abundant of the Pacific salmon.- Appearance :...
(humpy salmon). Beyond its bounty of salmon, the Taku is home to eight other fish species, including steelhead, bull trout, Dolly Varden char, rainbow trout, lake trout, arctic grayling, whitefish and Southeast Alaska's largest population of cutthroat trout. In addition, hooligans (eulachon
Eulachon
The eulachon, also oolichan, hooligan, ooligan, or candlefish, is a small anadromous ocean fish, Thaleichthys pacificus, a smelt found along the Pacific coast of North America from northern California to Alaska....
), crab
Crab
True crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax...
, shrimp
Shrimp
Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...
and halibut
Halibut
Halibut is a flatfish, genus Hippoglossus, from the family of the right-eye flounders . Other flatfish are also called halibut. The name is derived from haly and butt , for its popularity on Catholic holy days...
are harvested at or near the river's mouth. That marine wealth supports major sport, commercial and tribal fisheries in Alaska and British Columbia.
A 2004 report estimated "the annual economic impact from all activities on the Taku River to be $26.7 million." Commercial fishing generated about $6 million, sport fishing about $2 million, and commercial air activity generated $18 million with $13 million of that directly related to tourism.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game periodically updates the commercial salmon statistics..
The Iskut River-Stikine River Watershed
One of North America's largest and most intact wild salmon watersheds, the Stikine River is 400 miles/640 km long from its headwaters in B.C.’s Spatsizi Plateau to its estuary near Wrangell, AlaskaWrangell, Alaska
Wrangell is a city and borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. At the 2000 census the population was 2,308.Its Tlingit name is Ḵaachx̱aana.áakʼw . The Tlingit people residing in the Wrangell area, who were there centuries before Europeans, call themselves the Shtaxʼhéen Ḵwáan after the nearby Stikine...
. The Iskut River, the largest tributary of the Stikine, flows for 145 miles/236 km from Kluachon Lake near Iskut, B.C. to its confluence with the lower Stikine River near the US/Canada border.
The Unuk River Watershed
The Unuk is 80 miles/130 km) long and drains some 1500 square miles/3885 square km. It supports the largest runs of king (ChinookChinook salmon
The Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, is the largest species in the pacific salmon family. Other commonly used names for the species include King salmon, Quinnat salmon, Spring salmon and Tyee salmon...
) salmon in southern Southeast Alaska.
The Whiting River Watershed
The wildest and most remote watershed in the BC-Alaska transboundary region, the Whiting measures 50 miles/80 km long and lies between the Iskut-Stikine and Taku watersheds. The Canadian drainage area of the Whiting is 915 square miles/2,375 square km.Rivers Without Borders Taku River Protection Efforts
A effort by a Canadian company, Redfern Resources Ltd., to reopen the Tulsequah Chief Mine located on the Tulsequah RiverTulsequah River
The Tulsequah River, formerly the Talsekwe River, is a tributary of the Taku River in northwestern British Columbia, located south of the Atlin District and inland from Juneau, Alaska...
in British Columbia about 40 miles (64.4 km) northeast of Juneau, Alaska, ended early in 2009 when Redfern filed for protection under Canada's Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (Part of Canada’s bankruptcy law). Prior to that, Rivers Without Borders had been conducting a campaign against a Redfern plan to use hoverbarges to haul mine ore to sea on the Alaska side of the border, a transportation scheme that came to be eyed skeptically by Alaska state officials and Taku River residents. The hoverbarge issue was rendered moot by Redfern's financial status.
The mine, however, continues to pose a threat to the Taku River environment. Though the Tulsequah Chief Mine has not operated for decades, it has been leaking toxic acids into the Tulsequah River, a tributary to the Taku River. Since 1989, the Canadian government has monitored the site, issuing several cleanup orders in the interim, but no cleanup has taken place. In a letter sent July 2009, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin urged B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell to cooperate with Alaska to find a way to mitigate the mine leakage and protect the Tulsequah and Taku Rivers.
Rivers Without Borders is now seeking Alaska legislative action to add stiffer environmental protection measures to the American end of the Taku River.
In June 2010, Rivers Without Borders launched the Taku Wild Salmon Stronghold campaign with a presentation to the board of the Salmon Stronghold Partnership in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, asserting that the Taku watershed would be a natural and ideal addition to the Strongholds thus far designated in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, Washington, and southern B.C. The 4500000 acres (18,210.9 km²) watershed hosts robust populations of all five Pacific salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
species, is the top salmon producer for southeast Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, and is one of Canada’s most steady and significant salmon systems. For these reasons, Rivers Without Borders’ Wild Salmon Stronghold campaign has worked to secure the Taku as North America’s first International Wild Salmon Stronghold. Formal recognition would ensure that the Taku’s salmon values are properly prioritized and that indigenous, federal, provincial, and state government biologists and managers, as well as stakeholders, are coordinated in management, monitoring, and safeguarding fisheries resources.
Rivers Without Borders and the Rivers Institute at the British Columbia Institute of Technology
British Columbia Institute of Technology
The British Columbia Institute of Technology , is a public, coeducational, academic institution of higher education in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. The polytechnic has five campuses located in the Metro Vancouver region, with the main campus in Burnaby...
prepared A Taku Salmon Stronghold report to assess the Taku’s suitability to join the North American Salmon Stronghold partnership: A Taku Salmon Stronghold: Initial Assessment of an Exceptional International Watershed.
News
- Juneau Empire, (July 12, 2009) story: "Palin urges Canadians to address mine's acid drainage"
- Globe Mail, (July 28, 2009) column: Palin's parting words to B.C.: "Don't spill baby, don't spill"
- Yukon News, (July 31, 2009, story: "Redcorp's bankruptcy threatens salmon-rich Taku"