No doubt people who fly up to Alaska twice a decade to fly fish should decide the future of mining up there. I guess we should only buy raw materials from foreign countries- one's that don't fish. It's no wonder China is eating our lunch.

I don't know a soul in Alaska, but it's a place I've dreamed about fishing all my life.
I sure hope that by the time I and other anglers like me have saved enough money to make the trip there's actually something still there to see.
Alaska is and will continue to be a state placed under enormous pressure by the resource-extraction industry, and that is one industry with big, big pockets.
And let's face it, most Americans - even most anglers - don't have a really well-defined sense of what the big deal is. Alaska is way up there, it's cold, and only rich guys can afford to travel there, anyway.
It's the same argument proponents of ANWR drilling are using. It's a frozen place no one cares about.
The trick is to figure out how to make people care about it. And to make people care about something (say, a region) you first have to impart a sense of pride and ownership in that region, the old Woody Guthrie (God bless his red-dirt Okie soul) notion of "This land is your land."
And to do that you have to tell that region's story, honestly and vividly, and then (through words and pictures) draw the connection between that place and your target audience, even if your target audience lives a couple thousand miles away.
Tim, you're probably familiar with Joel Sartore. He's one of my absolute favorite photographers because that's the approach he takes. I first met him when he was down here in Oklahoma doing work on the lesser prairie chicken and I got to know him because at the time I was doing a lot of writing (and some shooting)on prairie chickens.
He's done some fantastic work on ANWR. Ultimately it may be a futile gesture, especially in regard to drilling, but if nothing else his work will help act as a chronicle of what we've lost.

Bristol Bay may very well be doomed, but at the very least (if the measure doesn't pass) I think it deserves a beautiful requim for those of us who may never get to experience it.

Flytalk 8.22.2008
Sorry but Andrew appears to be the only person that has a clue what he's talking about. Pebble is a long long way from being anything but exploration. We are a resource development state. It is in our constitution and what funds pays for roads, schools and every other government function here in Alaska. This Ballot Measure 4 is the brainchild of a rich Anchorage businessman, Bob Gillam, who has a 10,000 s.f. cabin 30 miles from Pebble. He personally contributed over $500,000 to keep his playground private. He also formed the Renewable Resources Coalition which received $1.6 million from a shady money bundling operation out of Virginia, Americans for Job Security, that won't reveal where they got this money. But golly guess what? Art Hackney is the mouthpiece for the Gillam formed ‘Renewable Resources Coalition’ and is the treasurer for Americans for Job Security. Gillam is also an investor in the company, Anglo American, who is doing the exploration, so he can funnel more of his bucks into AJS, then Hackney just writes himself a check, to the tune of over $240,000. AJS is normally a pro-business, anti-regulation group that fought for things like chopping off the tops of mountains back east to get at the coal; fought against removing dams from the Snake River. That’s how much they give a damn [pardon the pun] about salmon. Oh, and one last thing: Alaska is a breathtakingly beautiful land that all Alaskans treasure. We intend to keep it that way.

Which is why we in Alaska have the most stringent regulatory process in the world. There are many many permits that would be required and each would be examined closely not only by the State of Alaska but by the people of Alaska. And of course Outside environmental groups. I’m sure there are people who sincerely believe that this poorly written ballot measure truly is about clean water, and I respect that. Who doesn’t want clean water? But the fact is, this ballot measure truly could shut down mining in Alaska and that would be a disaster. We are talking over 3500 good paying, steady mining jobs, almost all in rural areas where job opportunities are desperately needed. Without some economic opportunities, the future out there is grim. Further, most people who really understand the issue know the ballot measure leaves enough open to interpretation that it will be tied up in courts for years. So the advertising folks have made a fortune, next the lawyers will make a fortune. The perhaps unintended consequences of this poorly written ballot measure could have a devastating impact on Alaska’s economy.

I am a Sophmore from denver who is writing a research paper on the pebble mine. I would like to know if you could refer me to some web sites that could give me some more info on the pebble mine. thank you