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The transboundary Iskut-Stikine watershed is one of North America’s largest and most intact wild salmon watersheds. The Stikine, meaning ‘The Great River’ in Tlingit language, covers a diverse range of climates and geography from alpine tundra to ancient coastal rainforests. John Muir described part of the Stikine as a “Yosemite 100 miles long”. It is 52,000km2/20,000 square miles, making it larger than Switzerland.It is the traditional territory of the Tahltan First Nation, and supports thriving sport, commercial and subsistence fisheries, guided and subsistence hunting, and a variety of other cultural, recreational and economic activities.
The Stikine River is 640km/400 miles long from its headwaters in BC’s Spatsizi Plateau to its estuary near Wrangell, Alaska. The Iskut River, the largest tributary of the Stikine, flows for 236km/145 miles from Kluachon Lake near Iskut, BC to its confluence with the lower Stikine River near the US/Canada border.
Despite substantial protected areas, the Iskut-Stikine is one of the continent’s most threatened watersheds. Several mining and energy projects are in development while about a dozen companies are negotiating with the Tahltan First Nation for other projects to begin. The scope and pace of development proposed in the Stikine is unprecedented. In 2006, 50% of all mining exploration activity in Northwest BC was taking place on Tahltan territory. Alaska continues planning the transboundary Bradfield Road and an electrical intertie with Canada, both of which would go through important roadless areas and drive resource exploitation to unsustainable levels.
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