Pebble Mine, Bristol Bay Watershed, Southwest Alaska

Trout Unlimited is working to stop development of the Pebble Mine, safeguard adjacent salmon and trout habitat on federal lands from irresponsible mining development, and create a legal framework of permanent protection in the Bristol Bay region for its irreplaceable fisheries and pristine waters by joining forces with a wide array of allies at the local, national, and international level.

The Bristol Bay watershed in Southwest Alaska is the world's largest commercial sockeye salmon fishery. Moreover, with rainbow trout averaging 20 inches and weighing up to 15 pounds or more, the internationally renowned salmon and trout runs attract anglers from around the world. The waters in this region have long been an integral part of the state's economy and have provided sustainable jobs, subsistence uses, and other benefits to Alaskans for generations.

Canadian mining corporation Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and Anglo American PLC, the world's second largest mining corporation, want to develop what would be the largest open pit gold-copper mine in North America in the headwaters of two of the most critical wild salmon producing drainages in the world, the Nushagak and Kvichak. The proposed Pebble Mine would develop a low-grade, sulfuric-acid generating, gold-copper-molybdenum sulfide deposit using open-pit and other methods. It also would require nearly 10 square miles of toxic tailing impoundments held behind dams as long as 4.3 miles and 740 feet high - three times larger than Three Gorges Dam, the current largest in the world. At the same time, the Bureau of Land Management wants to open a million adjacent acres to hard-rock mining in this pristine watershed, coursed by rivers, streams, creeks, rivulets, and lakes. The proposed Pebble Mine and Bristol Bay Mining District may pose the greatest single threat facing Alaska's salmon-bearing rivers and the communities and fisheries who depend upon them.

Please visit http://www.savebristolbay.org [1] for more information about Trout Unlimited's Bristol Bay Campaign. For more information about the Pebble Mine Project, visit www.ndmpebblemine.com [2].

RED GOLD, a 45 minute documentary, unveils the beauty and bounty of the Bristol Bay watershed and the many stories of commercial, sport, and native fishermen banding together in the face of mining development.To learn more about the film please visit http://www.redgoldfilm.com/ [3].