Seven minutes and 23 seconds. This is one of the best short videos I have seen on the proposed Pebble Mine. It’s a fantastic tool for those who are not familiar with the issue, and even though I am, I found it riveting. Interviews with local residents at the end are wonderful, and moving. The [...]

~Filmmaker Dennis Zaki & the Mudflats Moose at the top of the world – Barrow, Alaska. next to the famous whale bone arch. Mudflatters may remember our friend and filmmaker Dennis Zaki.  We, and other progressive Alaskan blogs raised money to help send Dennis to the Yukon River village of Emmonak. Dennis flew to Emmonak [...]

Pebble Mine is a Trojan Horse from Renewable Resources Coalition on Vimeo. Here is a great video from Renewable Resources Coalition about the proposed Pebble Mine project that is threatening the largest wild salmon fishery on Earth, and some of Alaska’s most important pristine wilderness. When people think of environmental issues in Alaska, they tend [...]

Yukon Kings in the New York Times The New York Times has taken notice of the fishing woes of the Lower Yukon this year.  Officials with that department and the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, which jointly manage the fishery, say variations in ocean conditions related to climate change or natural cycles are probably the [...]

Gee whiz!  Think the governor has “issues” with a certain Dennis Zaki traveling to Emmonak? Remember, there was a big dust-up when Dennis filmed Palin’s introduction to speaker Michael Reagan when he was in town.  Radio talk show host Eddie Burke and others questioned his credentials.  Well, question no more.  In the rapid-fire series of [...]

By Myron Naneng, President of the Association of Village Council Presidents I traveled to Mt. Village and Emmonak on Saturday, May 30 to listen to concerns raised by the village community members regarding the upcoming summer fishing season and how restrictions are going to be implemented on the chinook salmon, the stable and food for [...]

Ready for some fishy number crunching? The run of chinook (king) salmon up the Yukon river historically numbers about 250,000 fish.  Last year’s run was 180,000.  The year before was 175,000.  It takes a minimum of 170,000 fish to sustain the fishery for subsistence use, and to ensure that there are enough fish to repopulate [...]

For the residents of south central Alaska, hearing the words “Exxon Valdez” causes a visceral reaction in the gut.  The carelessness, recklessness, and ineptitude of one of our supposed partners in economic development that caused the spill of 10-30 million gallons of crude oil  (depending who you believe) was a stab in the heart – [...]