The Taku watershed, shared between British Columbia and Southeast Alaska and home to the Taku River Tlingit, is again threatened after BC's December reapproval of Redfern Resources' Tulsequah Chief project.

The project is opposed by BC and Alaska First Nations, environmentalists, many local residents, and the Southeast Alaska fishing community. Redfern intends to construct a 150 km road into the roadless Taku to re-open an abandoned mine near where the Taku flows into Alaska. First approved in 1998, the Taku River Tlingit had the approval overturned in BC Supreme Court and the case is now before the Canadian Supreme Court. The project threatens the Taku's healthy wild salmon, the Atlin caribou herd, and other species. The Union of BC Indian Chiefs called BC's decision "nothing short of a declaration of war on aboriginal people." Redfern still requires approval through the Canadian Environmental Assessment process.

Canada submitted more than 100 outstanding concerns to Redfern in June 2002 and has received no response to date.

The Transboundary Watershed Alliance web site is www.riverswithoutborders.org.

Contact:

David MacKinnon, Canadian Field Coordinator
Transboundary Watershed Alliance
302 Hawkins Street, Whitehorse, Yukon Y1A 3T3
tel. 867-668-5098, fax: 867-668-6637
e-mail: [email protected]