{"id":18468,"date":"2022-09-15T14:37:06","date_gmt":"2022-09-15T14:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/?p=18468"},"modified":"2022-09-15T14:37:06","modified_gmt":"2022-09-15T14:37:06","slug":"keeping-the-west-su-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/2022\/09\/15\/keeping-the-west-su-wild\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping the West Su Wild"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The West Susitna Industrial Access Road would threaten at least 80 salmon streams in the Susitna River drainage \u2013 one of Alaska\u2019s top Chinook producing watersheds.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A new state-sponsored, 100-mile-long Alaskan industrial road is slated to slice through a salmon-rich wilderness area the size of West Virginia in the Susitna River watershed. The project aims to connect an existing road system with an undeveloped mining district northwest of the greater Anchorage area, where a handful of Australian and Canadian companies hold claims. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now Wild Salmon Center and other Alaskan partners are growing the Defend the West Su coalition to stop the road, which would cross more than 180 currently free-flowing streams\u2014at least 80 of which are known to be salmon-bearing\u2014along with a state game refuge, backcountry hunting areas, fly-fishing streams, and the Iditarod Trail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy risk Alaskans\u2019 hunting, fishing, and recreational opportunities\u2014along with this region\u2019s established tourism economy\u2014so a couple mining companies can have a free road at their expense?”<\/p>Emily Anderson, Wild Salmon Center Alaska Program Director<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis road jeopardizes so much of what Alaskans treasure about the West Su,\u201d says Emily Anderson, WSC\u2019s Alaska Program Director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt just doesn\u2019t make sense,” she says. “Why risk Alaskans\u2019 hunting, fishing, and recreational opportunities\u2014along with this region\u2019s established tourism economy\u2014so a couple mining companies can have a free road at their expense?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A map created by WSC GIS Spatial Analyst Jon Hart to show the impacts to Alaska\u2019s West Susitna watershed from a 100-mile industrial access road\u2014a publicly-funded project for private mining companies that would put at least 80 salmon-bearing streams at risk. More about this campaign at westsuwild.org<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And as an industrial road, Anderson notes, this project comes with additional risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe standards for building these roads are much lower than for public highways,\u201d she says. \u201cThat means to cut costs, developers often opt for the cheapest way to address stream crossings and fish passage\u2014often harming salmon runs and cutting off habitat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s bad news for the Susitna, which supports Alaska\u2019s fourth-largest Chinook run, as well as coho, sockeye, chum, and pink salmon, rainbow trout, Dolly Varden, and Arctic grayling<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The $350 million pricetag for the road is also raising eyebrows across Alaska because the project’s sponsor, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA), has a history of expensive, failed ventures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was the $10 billion plan to build a hydroelectric dam<\/a> on the Susitna River, despite a surplus of energy in the system.  The $300+ million Healy Coal Project<\/a>, idle since its completion in 1999. The $17 billion railroad to Alberta<\/a>. (Click here for a full report on AIDEA’s megaproject performance<\/a> from our partners at SalmonState.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAIDEA has already wasted billions of state funds  just getting the paperwork filed for bad projects,\u201d says Emily Anderson, Wild Salmon Center\u2019s Anchorage-based Alaska Program Director. \u201cSo when we learned that they wanted to build a road to benefit a few foreign mining companies, that just raised huge red flags<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the next two years, AIDEA plans to spend $8 million seeking permits for the road. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Alaska rainbow trout. (PC: Coley Gentzel) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Soon, Anderson says, Alaskans, businesses, Tribes, and the general public will finally have a chance to weigh in on this project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the coming weeks, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will determine whether AIDEA\u2019s initial Clean Water Act permit application is complete, triggering the environmental review process and upcoming opportunities for the public to voice concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWord about this project is getting out among the small businesses, lodges, anglers, hunters, and Tribes who care about the area\u2014and they\u2019re rallying to stop it,\u201d Anderson says. \u201cEveryone agrees that the West Su region is too important to be sacrificed for speculative mining ventures<\/strong>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more here about the campaign to Defend the West Susitna<\/a>, and how you can help take action<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Susitna River crossing. (PC: Tom Plowden, Alamy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hero Image<\/h3>\"\"<\/div><\/div>