Salmon and Mining in the Land of Melting Glaciers

Glaciers have long been a defining feature of the Coast Mountains in Alaska and Canada. More than a century ago, a visiting John Muir marveled at the range’s blue-and-white walls of ice, some miles long and hundreds of feet deep.

But today, as the planet warms, that vast world of ice is vanishing. Most of Alaska and British Columbia’s coastal glaciers are melting fast, and their retreat is transforming the landscape: New forests, lakes, and streams are appearing where ice towered above Muir.

These changes have stark implications for two of the region’s most valuable resources: salmon and gold. Glacial retreat is creating thousands of square miles of salmon habitat, but also exposing areas rich with gold and copper. As salmon venture into new spawning grounds, companies are staking mineral claims under shrinking glaciers and proposing new mines.

The rush has prompted conservation groups and commercial fishermen to call for stronger environmental protections, and it has led First Nations to establish their own protected areas to preserve salmon habitat and regulate mining within their traditional territories.

Reporting from both sides of the Alaska-Canada border, journalist Max Graham interviews environmental advocates, mining industry representatives, and Indigenous leaders, and tags along with scientists and fishery managers as they study salmon in gold-rich, formerly glaciated watersheds.