Bristol Bay in Alaska is NRDC's newest BioGem. The Bay's watershed sits on the eastern-most arm of the Bering Sea, about 200 miles southwest of Anchorage, Alaska.  Its massive salmon runs provide food for grizzlies, wolves, eagles, beluga whales and orcas.  The salmon-rich waters also support commercial, recreational and subsistence fishing.  

Despite Bristol Bay's ecological and economic importance, its health is immediately threatened by the construction of the massive Pebble Mine to access gold, copper and molybdenum.  The building and operation of this hard rock mining project could potentially devastate the entire ecosystem.

NRDC's campaign to protect Bristol Bay is now fully underway.  As we fight the immediate danger posed the Pebble Mine, we must also work to slow down the effects of climate change:

• As early as 1992, scientists writing in the Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences identified the many ways in which climate change threatens salmon populations. Rising stream temperatures will increase salmon mortality, because salmon are dependent on the flow of cool waters for successful spawning and incubation of eggs. If the water is too warm, the young hatch too early and cannot survive. Changes in stream flooding, and the timing and volume of flow discharges are additional challenges to young salmons' survival.

• A staple of salmon diet, zooplankton, is increasingly threatened by ocean acidification. (See NRDC's new movie about the subject, Acid Test.) Without this primary food source, salmon mortality will rise.
• The diminished salmon population would create a ripple effect up the rest of the food chain, impacting the survival of grizzlies, wolves, eagles and whales that depend on salmon for food.
• Without Bristol Bay's abundant salmon populations, the area's fishing industry, which generates over $300 million per year and creates thousands of jobs, will also suffer.

We can do something to save Bristol Bay not only from the Pebble Mine, but also from climate change.  Do something now. We ask that you join NRDC and 350.org in participating in the Day of Climate Action on October 24, 2009.