— Posted by admin on Oct 26th, 2016
2016 Summer Recap and Fall news
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EPC Summer / Fall News and Update
The Navy in the Gulf of Alaska - 2017 and Beyond
The Navy plans to go forward with their live fire military trainings in the Gulf of Alaska. Right now the Navy is putting the finishing touches on their plan to bomb our waters from 2017 - 2021. Currently, bombs are scheduled to start dropping again May 1st, 2017, just days before our fishing seasons opens on the Copper River. May and June are the highest migration times for all marine life in Alaska.
EPC has been moving mountains to spread the word about this and work for change as we cannot image a worse time to bomb and blast our sacred environment. We are increasing public pressure to move the timing of the trainings to fall or winter months and the location farther offshore. We have been communicating directly with the Navy and the Alaska Delegation. Recently, Senator Lisa Murkowski's office wrote a letter to the Secretary of Navy expressing her displeasure and urging the Navy to engage regional communities. Additionally in recent news, world renown journalist Dahr Jamail delves in to explain some of the contaminants left in the Navy's wake.
As May 2017 draws closer EPC will continue sounding the alarm, we need your help!
Ways you can help:
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Cordova Bags It!
Be part of the solution with a bag from EPC! Our Cordova REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE heavy-duty canvas bags are available for $20 each plus shipping. Your generosity helps EPC and using your Cordova EPC bag while shopping helps the environment wherever you go. Since the ban started we have been contacted by other towns in Alaska to help them ban plastic bags. Contact us! We will help your village too.
Order your own bag - Email eyak@redzone.org _____________
Bering River Conservation Initiative: Keep it in the Ground
This is a "high-value" comprehensive conservation opportunity: we can retire 73,000-acres from ever being mined. To quote the USFS this is "...one of the largest wetlands in the world and has been designated as a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network Site of Hemispheric Importance." - August 2016
YOU can help us right now successfully complete this historic opportunity to keep Carbon in the Ground! The campaign requires a public support fund- when the transaction is completed, participants will be part of a precedent setting Investment in Forever along with Jane Goodall, fishermen,
the Community of Cordova, and hundreds more. We need your help now: Contact us (info@redzone.org) and join the Bering River Coalition. ______________
Eyak Culture Camp - 2016
The Eyak Culture camp was held again this August in the ancestral lands of the Eyak people in and around Cordova. Eyak fluent speaker Guillaume Leduey came from France and hosted Eyak language lessons for children and adults. The weekend included going to the Eyak Village at Alaganik, language round robins, games, storytelling and exchanges of information and family lore. Eyaks and interested folks and children came from all over Alaska, the United States and this year we were honored to also host elders from Yakutat and Australia.
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Summer Journalism Students in the Copper River Delta
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2016 Commercial Salmon report: Copper River and Prince William Sound
The 2016 Copper River fishery started with smaller Sockeyes and again a limited number of Chinook salmon. Gillnet fishermen and net menders were busy putting on smaller mesh nets. They were beautiful salmon, and the price per pound, because of the catch numbers, stayed high. When the seining fishery started, the returns were extremely low- worst in 40 years. It's going to be a meager winter for all involved with the commercial fishery this year. The whys? Varied reasons were put forth: the 40 ft. snow-apocalypse four years ago, El Nino, ocean acidification and warmer ocean temperatures? The bottom line is, there's no definitive answer but we will keep collecting data for answers. Review the numbers:
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Around Alaska
Alaska's Biggest Oil Find Ever
Alaska braces for a huge oil exploration find. Caelus Energy stated this month that it
has made a world class oil discovery that if estimates prove true, 3 to 6 billion barrels, could be one of the largest finds ever in the shallow Smith Bay, 50-miles southeast of Barrow. They are contemplating bringing in production facilities including oil and gas processing plants by sea on large barges. The barges would be lowered to the seafloor, just a few feet down, to become more or less permanent. This is a game changer, and not a good one. ______________
Your Voice Makes a Difference: Protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Encourage President Obama to make the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge a National Monument. Help support the human rights of the Gwich'in people, and preserve the wildlife, marine life, the birds, the porcupine caribou herd, subsistence, culture and this last stretch of untouched pristine coastline in Northern Alaska: It's YOUR Refuge -
_______________YOU can help make it so - please participate: Our Arctic Refuge
EPC is Expanding Its Horizons
We are outreaching for new Board and Advisory Board members. Please get in touch
if you love Alaska and would like to be of service. We want to hear from you! Be on the front lines of a unique advocacy organization doing work where climate change is hitting hardest!
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