The transboundary region, located in northwest British Columbia and southeast Alaska, is well-known for its amazing wilderness areas, vibrant First Nations cultures and abundant fish and wildlife. In these wild borderlands, incredible salmon rivers like the Taku, Unuk, Nass and Iskut-Stikine travel through the glacier-clad Coast Mountains on their way to the Pacific.

But there’s trouble in paradise. Several very large mines are proposed on the BC side of the border, putting downstream wild salmon runs at risk.

The proposed Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell (KSM) mine at the headwaters of the Unuk and Nass Rivers would be one of the largest open-pit copper-gold mines in the world, with plans to extract 130,000 tonnes of ore per day for up to 52 years. Another controversial mine project called the Tulsequah Chief threatens the Taku watershed – the number one salmon producing river for southeast Alaska and one of Canada’s biggest salmon systems.

To learn more about this amazing wild area and the threats to the transboundary watersheds, please take a look at our latest educational report: Wild Salmon, Wild Border…For How Long?

We co-published this report with our friends at Rivers Without Borders, a conservation group that is working hard in both BC and Alaska to safeguard the future of these international watersheds. Click here to download the full report.

If governments on both sides of the border – including First Nations governments – work together, I strongly believe that a plan can be achieved to allow for responsible economic development while saving these extraordinary wild salmon rivers. But to get there, we need to appeal to our government representatives and spread the word about the threats to this region in our communities.

So please read this report, and share it with your friends and family. We can also send you hard copies of the publication for you to distribute in your neighbourhood – just email papers@wildernesscommittee.org and let us know how many you need.

Thanks for your support in defending Canada’s wild places and wild salmon!