2 minute read
The Editor’s Note
Mark Titus captured the natural beauty of the Bristol Bay watershed, including the iconic bears and salmon of Brooks Falls, while filming two documentaries about it. Titus is among many vocal – and, at times, frustrated – opponents of the Pebble Mine, which if ever approved would operate within close proximity of this pristine salmon habitat. (MARK TITUS)
Sometimes, you wonder if confrontation isn’t a requirement to fulfill our weird existence.
Life in 2021 is a walking (and talking) contradiction. One side: Get a vaccine. Another side: Refuse to get the vaccine. On one weekend Americans quietly reflect about a time – Sept. 11, 2001 – when the country was unified as one. On another weekend makeshift protective fences surround the Capitol building – a painful reminder of what happened there on Jan. 6 whenever that terrible day becomes a talking point.
At this rate, I’ve come to expect the confrontational nature of the human spirit. So while I hope the news of Bristol Bay’s latest round of protection mandates from the Environmental Protection Agency (page 16), I know all too well that some just don’t get it.
Whenever I’ve talked to anyone connected to the fight to keep the Pebble Mine out of one of the world’s last major salmon watersheds still going strong, they remind me of what is truly worth fighting for and, more importantly, what’s worth fighting against at all costs.
I recently asked filmmaker Mark Titus, whose films The Breach and The Wild have hammered home the point that Bristol Bay is the kind of special place where mining should be rejected, how even a no-brainer issue like this still can be debated? Granted, it’s money. Point taken. But it still deserves answers.
“Bristol Bay is one of the few places of solace we find in the American conversation. It brought historically combative competing interests like commercial, sport and tribal fishers to the same front line to fight for the preservation of something precious: the last, fully intact wild salmon system in North America,” Titus told me.
“Folks that are stridently opposed to preserving Bristol Bay either don’t know the story, haven’t been there or don’t understand the role wildness and life in the outdoors plays in the American story and our resilience as a people.”
And perhaps that’s the problem we all have in one of the most contentious times of our lives, whether it’s the pandemic, racial injustice, political grandstanding, or whatever else we’re all fighting about. We don’t get it. Some may never get it.
But at least as my frustration grows, there are plenty of Bristol Bay protectors like Titus who do get it. And that gives me a glimmer of hope. -Chris Cocoles
KENAI
1 SOLDOTNA
2
HOMER
KEY
1. Kenai River Suites kenairiversuites.com 2. King Salmondeaux Lodge kingsalmondeauxlodge.com
Located in the Heart of Soldotna, Alaska on the World Famous Kenai River!
*Kenai Riverfront Suites *Full kitchens, 2 bedrooms *Jacuzzi Suite *Private River access for Fishing *Open year round kenairiversuites@gmail.com
www.kenairiversuites.com | (907)262-1992
• Kenai Riverfront Cabins • Bank Fishing • Over 700 ft. of River Frontage
