"Red Gold" by Co-Producer Lauren Oakes

My inbox is flooded every day with emails that go like this: “I saw Red Gold… It made me cry [men, women, children all write this]…What’s going on with Pebble right now and can I help?”

Of course the answer is Yes! Yes! Yes!

On November 14, 2008, Ben and I stood before 500 people at the National Geographic Headquarters in Washington, D.C. to show Red Gold [what an honor]. On the very same day, just a block away from the theater in the Bureau of Land Management building, President’s Bush’s staff put out a Record of Decision for the Bristol Bay Area Management Plan. It opened nearly 2 million acres of federal land surrounding the Pebble Site to mining exploration. 2 million acres. So while citizens continue to battle development of the Pebble mine on Alaskan State land, we now face the worst – Pebble amidst a mining district in the heart of the world’s largest remaining sockeye salmon fishery. When the Obama administration comes into office, our leaders of change will have 30 days to reverse this decision.

State Land. Federal Land. To me, the land classifications are borders drawn for management purposes. But in reality Bristol Bay and its pristine waters, the abundant wild salmon runs, the life this watershed sustains are global resources we cannot replace. We need more people standing up saying “No – not here, not this place. Wrong location. A risk not worth taking.”

Support for gaining permanent legislative protection for the Bristol Bay watershed continues to grow. The Trout Unlimited Alaska program is currently engaged in a number of projects to stop development of the Pebble Mine. We are placing emphasis on necessary science research so we can understand more of the critical water and habitat issues. We are also working with state and federal policymakers to support legislative protection, and we are leading a nationwide campaign to educate and engage salmon consumers on the values of wild salmon conservation and cuisine (www.whywild.org).

We continue to raise state, national, and international support for protecting this world-renowned watershed, a mosaic of unconfined rivers supporting nearly a 1/3 of our wild salmon supply.

Yes! You can help.

Write members of congress today and express you support for protecting the watershed from mining development. Ask the new administration to keep BLM lands in Bristol Bay closed to mining.

Donate. To do more good work to protect Bristol Bay, we need more financial support. www.savebristolbay.org

Host a Red Gold screening. Contact Emily Long: emily@feltsoulmedia.com.

When you’re at the grocery, or at your favorite restaurant… please request wild salmon. You’ll be supporting sustainable, well-managed fisheries and increasing the demand for what Bristol Bay is famous for. Avoid the farmed stuff unless you have a thing for artificially colored dinner.
And then lastly I’d like just like to thank the people who believed in this project, Ben and Travis for asking questions and listening, and then all those who understand there are still some places left on this planet we must protect.

Please go flood the email boxes of your congressman and tell them they have a chance to save one of our last great salmon runs.

-- Lauren Oaks, Co-Producer, Red Gold (Ironweed Films: June 2009: Volume 43)