November 09th, 2012

Richard Nelson, Alaska cultural anthropologist and writer

Salmon are Alaska’s long-term investment. They’re like money in the bank.If we take care of the oceans and rivers that produce these fish, they will continue “bringing hundreds of millions of dollars into Alaska’s economy and providing huge amounts of food into Alaska’s communities, literally forever,” said cultural anthropologist and writer Richard Nelson at WhaleFest, a symposium in Sitka that this year focused on emerging issues and new frontiers linking the terrestrial and marine environments.

Nelson quoted Juneau resident Sam Skaggs, an investment manager, as saying, “Alaska’s river systems are like a bank that pays dividends in salmon for all Alaskans. The ecosystem bank was highly refined before humankind ever existed. We cannot improve upon it. In most other places, the principal from this bank has been overdrawn and the bank itself has been seriously damaged. So far, this hasn’t happened in Alaska.”

We couldn’t agree more. That’s why we’re advocating for Congress to enact Tongass 77 legislation, which would grant permanent protection at the watershed scale to 1.9 million acres of prime salmon and trout habitat open for development in Southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.

Listen to an audio clip from Nelson’s remarks on Alaska salmon and do part your to support the Tongass 77.

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