Despite the current trend of positive news regarding salmon habitat in the Pacific Northwest, which includes dam removal and associated habitat restoration efforts, a recent study suggests that global warming will pose a very significant threat to salmon populations that migrate through the waters of that region. According to the study, the continuing trend of rising global temperatures will lead to an rise in water temperatures that will render an increasing amount of habitat dangerous to migrating salmon.

As salmon migrate, they must avoid thermal pockets in streams and rivers where the water temperature is outside their range of tolerance. For most salmon, this is around 70 degrees. Above that threshold, conditions become dangerous and potentially fatal. The results of the study, led by University of Washington professor Nathan Manuta, indicate that -- in the next decade alone -- water temperatures in several Pacific NW waters will rise 1-2 degrees. While this rise may seem modest, the study indicates that this increase in temperature will push a considerable amount of habitat currently in the upper reaches of salmon tolerance into a zone of potentially fatal conditions. This is especially true for waters of the lower Columbia and Snake rivers.

Since the active exploration of the proposed Pebble Mine area in Bristol Bay, Alaska began in 2002, the potential impacts and other issues surrounding the proposed mining project have been on the forefronts of minds across the country and across the globe. Discovered in 1986, the Pebble Mine area of Bristol Bay is home to one of the largest deposits of copper, gold, and molybdenum in the world. Bristol Bay also happens to be home to what is considered to be the largest wild salmon fishery in the world. Opponents to the proposed Pebble Mine project have warned for years about the potential disastrous consequences of the project, but the issue is likely to come to a head this year as the owner and driving force behind the exploratory project, Northern Dynasty, intends to file permit applications this year.

Northern Dynasty has already filed for water-use permits from the Upper Talarik Creek and the Koktuli River, in the amount of 35 billion gallons per year (about 4 times the annual water usage of the city of Anchorage). More permit applications are expected once Northern Dynasty completes its 91 million dollar pre-feasibility study some time this year. Proponents of the mining project argue that the revenue opportunities for the state of Alaska and the 1000-2000 jobs that the project is expected to create are too valuable to ignore. Northern Dynasty and its supporters also point out that the poor environmental record of mining operations similar to the proposed Pebble Mine project are the result of a lack of technology, a barrier which has since been removed.