Taku River - Habitat Protection Efforts

Habitat Protection Efforts

Past mining activity and the potential for future mining on the Canadian side of the border led the State of Alaska to take recent habitat protection steps. In January 2009, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Coastal and Ocean Management approved a request from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to designated the entire U.S. portion of the Taku River as "important habitat," a designation that put the stretch of river within the purview of protective provisions in Alaska law that require those applying for certain river use permits "avoid, minimize, or mitigate significant adverse impacts to the special productivity of the habitat." In February, the director of the division rescinded the designation for a portion of the U.S. river below the Canadian border. The important habitat designation remains in place, however, for a 16-mile (26 km) section beginning at the river's mouth near Juneau, Alaska. Several organizations are working to win further habitat conservation protections for the river, including Rivers Without Borders and the Alaska Marine Conservation Council.