Protect the Imuruk Basin

We the people of the Bering Sea-to-Imuruk Basin Waterway don’t have the financial, political, or legal means to stop a mine that would alter our future food security.

WE NEED PROTECTORS!
WE NEED YOU!

The Situation

The food security resources of Indigenous families in the Alaskan villages of Brevig Mission and Teller are being threatened by a proposed graphite mine in and around the critically unique, biodiverse, and fragile wilderness ecosystems of the Bering Sea-to-Imuruk Basin Waterway.

If the government approves the company’s plan, the massive mine site would operate year-round in unforgiving Arctic conditions that offer scant allowances for human error. This exploitation could foreseeably cause irreversible damage to vital and irreplaceable wild foods.

We need your help!

The Creation and Protection of the Bering Sea-to-Imuruk Basin Waterway

Coming Soon

Hear an Inupiaq creation story and learn the location of a proposed mine in the heart of the Seward Peninsula.

BIG RISKS, BIG CONCERNS

A foreign company has proposed a mine with a 3-mile-by-2-mile footprint in the Imuruk Basin.
The Imuruk Basin contains a wide array of habitats that have been part of the Inupiaq people’s traditional hunting and fishing grounds since the beginning of time.
The people of Brevig Mission and Teller have expressed concern and opposition to this proposed mine. The federal and state governments have largely ignored them.
The proposed mine pit—1.1 miles long and 1,340 feet deep—would be blasted into the side of the Kigluaik Mountains near critical waterfowl habitats. The noise would also disturb populations of reindeer, moose, and caribou.

For thousands of years, Inupiat families have relied on the Bering Sea-to-Imuruk Basin Waterway for hunting, fishing, and gathering berries and greens. These subsistence practices remain essential to their survival.
A Canadian company called Graphite One has proposed a mine near the Imuruk Basin that features a 3-mile-long by 2-mile-wide operational site footprint. Their 1.1-mile-long, 1,340-foot-deep pit would be the largest artificial excavation in Alaska history.
The Bering Sea-to-Imuruk Basin Waterway is vital to five species of salmon. The nearest spawning stream is just 1.5 miles from the proposed mine site.
To protect their main subsistence area, residents of Brevig Mission and Teller have insisted that the company NOT use the Bering Sea-to-Imuruk Basin Waterway for any barging operations.

First Round Up

Jimmy and Brenda Pushruk bring part of the Kakaruk Reindeer Herd to their new corral.

Food Security

Film showing a variety of vital subsistence foods used by the Bering Sea-to-Imuruk Basin people.

Berries

Student produced short film about the importance of berries to the Inupiaq people.

Protect Our Land

Student produced short film showing Sitaisaq community feelings about the proposed mine.

Olanna Reindeer Herd

The Olanna brothers, Leonard and Michael, bring their reindeer to their Grantley Harbor corral.

Love in Nature

Student produced short film discussing the Imuruk Basin’s importance to the people’s lives.

Resources

What’s New

The State of Alaska gave permission to Graphite One to drill more holes in the traditional and cultural spaces despite opposition from all three tribes of the Bering Sea-to-Imuruk Basin Waterway.