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| No. 20 |
THREATS TO THE
ADMIRALTY ISLAND NATIONAL MONUMENT |
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Admiralty Island in Alaska
has been proposed for protection since the time of Teddy Roosevelt, who
proposed the entire island as a brown bear reserve. Admiralty
Island is the only island in the Alexander Archipelago that has not
been significantly impacted and changed as a result of massive clearcut
logging. The history to protect the unique ecosystems of the
island go back to the 1920's. Conservationists in Southeast
Alaska have been working since 1950 to protect the island. |
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| The island has the largest
concentrations of nesting American bald eagles in the world.
Large populations of brown bears (grizzlies), all five species of
Pacific Salmon, Sitka black tailed deer, humpback whales, are part of
the diverse ecosystems. |
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| Admiralty Island is
currently threatened by clearcut logging by the Shee Atika Native
Corporation, an urban based Native corporation in Sitka. Congress
allotted land to Shee Atika during the Admiralty Island natives in the
village of Angoon and opposition from the Southeast conservation
organizations. |
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| Mining is another threat
to the island's integrity. Two large multinational corporations
have mineral deposits they are exploring on the west side near the Shee
Atika allocation, Noranda (Canadian), Martin Marietta (U.S.), and
Mitsubishi (Japanese) form the consortium which wants to develop gold,
lead, silver, zinc deposits at Greens Creek. The other is
Anaconda Mining which is also exploring on the west side.
Critical subsistence hunting and fishing grounds as well as wildlife
habitat will be affected by these developments. |
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| The Federation of
Western Outdoor
Clubs supports the efforts of Southeast Alaska Conservation Council to
retain the integrity of the island by appealing the Noranda claim
validity (currently being appealed by the U.S. Forest Service), and
supporting denial of permits to allow a log dump to be built in Cube
Cove for the storage and transport of Shee Atika logs. |
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