Alaska Environment Action On The Need To Protect Alaska Salmon Via New Legislation

Alaska Environment Action has been a champion for protecting the Last Frontier’s vast natural resources, including the controversial Willow Project drilling operation, Roadless Rule mandates to prevent large-scale logging in Tongass National Forest and the Bristol Bay/Pebble Mine saga.

Now, as Congress mulls over the proposed bipartisan Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, Alaska Environment Action talked about how that legislation could help impact Alaska’s salmon watersheds. Here’s more:

The state of Alaska has all five species of salmon on its Alaska Wildlife Action Plan, listed as “species of greatest conservation need.” The plan is a written by state wildlife officials, a blueprint for how to help vulnerable species and prevent them from sliding toward extinction. It lays out what it will take to help the species recover. 

The challenge with Alaska’s plan, as well as the plans for the other forty-nine states, is that these wildlife plans lack the funding needed to truly conserve the species covered. And Alaska’s plan isn’t a small one. More than 600 species are covered, including the Alaskan hare, rock sandpiper, pinto abalone, the sei whale and more than 600 other species. 

That’s why we are working to pass Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, a bipartisan bill in Congress that would give each state new resources to restore habitats, research and track species, control invasive species, reconnect landscapes and more. With $1.3 billion annually divided between the 50 states and another $100,000 for tribal lands, this funding would help Alaska put the action into its wildlife action plan. 

Click this link to send your own message urging Congress to pass the bill.