An Assessment of Potential Mining Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of Bristol Bay, Alaska PDF Download
Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download An Assessment of Potential Mining Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of Bristol Bay, Alaska PDF full book. Access full book title An Assessment of Potential Mining Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of Bristol Bay, Alaska by U.s. Environment Protection Agency. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: U.s. Environment Protection Agency
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781500641207
Category : Bristol Bay (Alaska)
Languages : en
Pages : 32
Get Book Here
Book Description
The Bristol Bay watershed in southwestern Alaska supports the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world, is home to 25 Federally Recognized Tribal Governments, and contains large mineral resources. The potential for large-scale mining activities in the watershed has raised concerns about the impact of mining on the sustainability of Bristol Bay's world-class fisheries, and the future of Alaska Native tribes in the watershed who have maintained a salmon-based culture and subsistence-based lifestyle for at least 4,000 years. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) launched this assessment to determine the significance of Bristol Bay's ecological resources and evaluate the potential impacts of large-scale mining on these resources. The USEPA will use the results of this assessment to inform the consideration of options consistent with its role under the Clean Water Act. The assessment is intended to provide a scientific and technical foundation for future decision making; the USEPA will not address use of its regulatory authority until the assessment becomes final and has made no judgment about whether and how to use that authority at this time.
Author: U.s. Environment Protection Agency
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781500641207
Category : Bristol Bay (Alaska)
Languages : en
Pages : 32
Get Book Here
Book Description
The Bristol Bay watershed in southwestern Alaska supports the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world, is home to 25 Federally Recognized Tribal Governments, and contains large mineral resources. The potential for large-scale mining activities in the watershed has raised concerns about the impact of mining on the sustainability of Bristol Bay's world-class fisheries, and the future of Alaska Native tribes in the watershed who have maintained a salmon-based culture and subsistence-based lifestyle for at least 4,000 years. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) launched this assessment to determine the significance of Bristol Bay's ecological resources and evaluate the potential impacts of large-scale mining on these resources. The USEPA will use the results of this assessment to inform the consideration of options consistent with its role under the Clean Water Act. The assessment is intended to provide a scientific and technical foundation for future decision making; the USEPA will not address use of its regulatory authority until the assessment becomes final and has made no judgment about whether and how to use that authority at this time.
Author: U S Environmental Protection Agency
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781500697174
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 628
Get Book Here
Book Description
This report evaluates the potential impacts of large-scale mining development on salmon and other fish populations, wildlife, and Alaska Native cultures in the Nushagak River and Kvichak River watersheds of Bristol Bay, Alaska. It is not an assessment of a specific mine proposal for development, nor does it outline decisions made or to be made by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The assessment was conducted as an ecological risk assessment and starts with a review and characterization of the fisheries, wildlife, and Alaska Native cultures of the Bristol Bay watershed, particularly the Nushagak and Kvichak River watersheds. We developed realistic mine scenarios that include an open pit mine producing 0.25, 2.0, and 6.5 billion tons of ore and a 138-km transportation corridor. Based on these mine scenarios, we conclude that mining would, at minimum, cause the loss of spawning and rearing habitat for multiple salmonids (Pacific salmon, rainbow trout, and Dolly Varden). The mine footprint in each of the three scenarios would likely result in the direct loss of 38, 90, and 145 km of streams and 5.0, 12.4 and 19.4 km2 of wetlands, respectively. Water withdrawals for mine operations would significantly diminish habitat quality in an additional 15, 26 and 54 km of streams. Leakage of tailings and waste rock leachates during routine operations would result in instream copper levels sufficient to cause direct effects on salmonids in 29 and 57 km of streams beyond the mine footprint in the 2.0- and 6.5-billion-ton scenarios unless additional mitigation measures were taken. These leakages would not be likely to cause direct effects in streams under the 0.25-billion-ton scenario. Under a reasonable upper bound failure scenario for the wastewater treatment plant, copper concentrations would be sufficient to cause direct effects on salmonid fish in 45, 100, and 100 km of streams, respectively, under each mine scenario. The transportation corridor would cross 53 streams and rivers known or likely to support migrating and/or resident salmonids. At those road crossings, culvert failures could inhibit fish migration and degrade habitat, truck accidents could spill industrial chemicals, and runoff could reduce water quality. Failure of a tailings dam has a very low probability of occurrence, but a spill of 20% of the tailings from a single tailings storage facility would destroy more than 30 stream km, and more streams and rivers would have greatly degraded habitat for decades. A spill of product concentrate slurry along the transportation corridor would result in toxicity to fish in streams between the road and Iliamna Lake. Reductions in the populations of salmon would be expected from these habitat losses and toxic effects, but cannot be quantified. These losses would adversely affect the Alaska Native cultures and the wildlife of the region. The Nushagak River and Kvichak River watersheds contain multiple sites under consideration for large-scale mining. Potential risks of mining development on salmon and other fish populations are likely to increase as a result of the cumulative impacts of multiple mines.
Author: United States. Environmental Protection Agency. Region X
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bristol Bay (Alaska)
Languages : en
Pages :
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bristol Bay (Alaska)
Languages : en
Pages :
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author: U S Environmental Protection Agency
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781500696894
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 430
Get Book Here
Book Description
The objective of this report is to characterize the baseline levels of economic activity and related ecosystem services values for the Bristol Bay wild salmon ecosystem. The overarching purpose of this report is to provide baseline economic information to the Environmental Protection Agency in order to inform review of mining proposals in the Nushugak and Kvichak drainages. Both regional economic significance and social net economic accounting frameworks are described in this report. This study reviews and summarizes existing economic research on the key sectors in this area and reports findings based on original survey data on expenditures and net benefits. This report combines efforts on the part of Bioeconomics, Inc. and the University of Alaska Institute of Social and Economic Research. John Duffield and Chris Neher compiled the report and authored the executive summary, Sections 1, 2, and 5. Gunnar Knapp wrote Section 3 (commercial fisheries), and Tobias Schworer, Ginny Fey and Scott Goldsmith wrote Section 4. The major components of the total value of the Bristol Bay area watersheds include subsistence use, commercial fishing, sport fishing and other recreation, and the preservation values (or indirect values) held by users and the U.S. resident population. The overall objectives of this study is to estimate the share of the total regional economy (expenditures, income, and jobs) that is dependent on these essentially pristine wild salmon ecosystems and to provide a preliminary but relatively comprehensive estimate of the total economic value (from an applied welfare economics perspective) that relies on a healthy ecosystem.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bristol Bay Watershed (Alaska)
Languages : en
Pages :
Get Book Here
Book Description
The purpose of the assessment is to provide a characterization of the biological and mineral resources of the Bristol Bay watershed, increase understanding of the potential impacts of large-scale mining on the region's fish resources, and inform future governmental decisions related to protecting and maintaining the physical, chemical and biological integrity of the watershed. The primary focus is the quality, quantity, and genetic diversity of salmonid fishes. As a scientific assessment, it does not discuss or recommend policy, legal or regulatory decisions, nor does it outline or analyze options for future decisions.
Author: U S Environmental Protection Agency
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781500697051
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Get Book Here
Book Description
Millions of Pacific salmon return from feeding in the open ocean each year and swarm through Bristol Bay en route to their natal spawning streams. Nine major river systems comprise the spawning grounds for Bristol Bay salmon (Figure 1), and schools navigate toward the mouths of their respective rivers as they pass through the Bay. Each summer, thousands of commercial fishermen use drift and set gill nets to capture millions of returning fish, making Bristol Bay the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world. Salmon that escape the fishery distribute throughout the Bay's watersheds and spawn in hundreds of discreet populations. Sport anglers target those salmon, especially sockeye, Chinook and coho, as they migrate through the river systems toward their spawning grounds. Also prized are abundant populations of rainbow trout and other sport fish, including Dolly Varden and Arctic grayling, which attain trophy size by gorging on energy-rich salmon eggs, flesh from salmon carcasses, and invertebrates dislodged by spawning salmon. The abundance of large game fish, along with the wilderness setting, makes the Bristol Bay region a world-class destination for sport anglers. Alongside recreationists, aboriginal people, guided by an age-old culture, harvest their share of migrating salmon and other fish species, which provide a primary source of sustenance. In this report we reviewed the biology, ecology, and management of the fishes of the Bristol Bay watersheds, emphasizing those species of the greatest cultural and economic importance - sockeye salmon, Chinook salmon, and rainbow trout. Rather than to imply that other fishes are not important, this focus reflected the disproportionate amount of research on these species (especially sockeye salmon) and was necessary to keep the amount of material manageable. In contrast, there is relatively little information available for the region's freshwater species, despite the importance of some in subsistence and sport fisheries. Our objectives were to describe the commercial and sport fishery resources of the region and to discuss the importance of Bristol Bay salmon populations in the context of the greater North Pacific Ocean. The literature reviewed consisted primarily of agency reports and peer-reviewed scientific papers, although unpublished data and personal communications were used where no pertinent published literature existed and popular sources were consulted to characterize the more subjective attributes of the sport fisheries. Our geographic focus was the Kvichak River watershed (including the Alagnak River) and the Nushagak River watershed (including the Wood River). Since the Kvichak and Nushagak sockeye salmon populations are components of the Bristol Bay-wide stock complex, however, we typically discuss their abundance trends at both the Bristol Bay scale and at the scale of the individual river systems. The economics of Bristol Bay's fisheries and the role of fish in the region's aboriginal cultures are each covered in separate sections of the Bristol Bay Watershed Analysis.
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (2011). Subcommittee on Oversight
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Environmental impact analysis
Languages : en
Pages : 426
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author: Fiona Cundy
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biotic communities
Languages : en
Pages : 35
Get Book Here
Book Description
Bristol Bay, Alaska is one of the last ecosystems left on earth that haqs gone unaltered by human impacts. Bristol Bay watershed supports the largest wild sockeye salmon runs on the planet with nearly 42 million salmon migrating to the watersheds headwaters every year. The proposed Pebble Mine, containing gold, copper, and molybdenum has threatened the health of this watershed. This project asks what effects the proposed Pebble Mine will have on water quality and quantity, and more specifically, how the withdrawal of groundwater and surface water will alter the regions most pristine anadromous salmonid spawning grounds. Though comprehensive studies have been done, the groundwater of this region remains a comples topic. This research formulates unanswered questions related to groundwater that need to be answered before mining advances. Due to the unknown properties of the region's groundwater and hydrologic regime, mining poses significant risk to water quality, quantity, and aquatic species of the Bristol Bay watershed.
Author: Carol Ann Woody
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781604271034
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Get Book Here
Book Description
Bristol Bay, Alaska, supports a wide diversity of globally significant natural resources--from the world's most valuable wild salmon fishery to one of the world's largest untapped copper deposits. With contributions from leading scientific experts, this comprehensive, one-of-a-kind book is essential to understanding what is known regarding the extraordinary array of natural resources found within the Bristol Bay ecosystem. This reference will aid policy makers, resource managers, scientists, stakeholders, students, and the public in the discussion, debate, and decision making surrounding the future of this world treasure. Key Features --First-ever comprehensive book on the natural resources of Bristol Bay and its watershed --Wonderfully organized book that takes the reader on a wide-ranging journey through this remarkable region of the world with 26 chapters written by expert scientists in their respective fields --Contains appendices on marine invertebrates as well as freshwater macroinvertebrates and diatom communities --Provides cutting-edge information on salmon diversity and genetics and seldom seen information on the fresh water seal populations --Features over 200 full color illustrations and photos and more than 50 research tables, with many chapters including summaries and future recommended research by the scientist authors --WAV features material on the North Aleutian Basin oil and gas potential--available from the Web Added Value Download Resource Center at jrosspub.com
