The Bristol Bay region of Alaska is a pristine and important place that’s home to the largest wild salmon fishery in the world. The most significant watersheds for salmon are located in the heart of the bay, at the northeastern end of Iliamna Lake. It’s here that the Pedro Bay Corporation, an Alaska Native corporation, has been a longstanding steward of the critical fish and wildlife habitat and traditional cultural resources threatened by the proposed Pebble Mine project.

Alaska Native corporations own almost 7 million acres in Bristol Bay. The Pedro Bay Corporation is one of them and has been carrying out an ambitious plan to protect its lands and waters for future generations while generating revenue for its shareholders. In 2015, the corporation, in partnership with The Conservation Fund and the Bristol Bay Heritage Land Trust, began discussing conservation options within the Iliamna Lake watersheds. Between 2015 and 2022 we worked together to conserve more than 13,880 acres of wild salmon habitat on the lake.

In 2022, the partners expanded these efforts by completing the Pedro Bay Rivers project, which placed conservation easements on over 44,000 acres of critical spawning and rearing habitats for sockeye salmon across three watersheds on Iliamna Lake. These easements were designed to provide revenue to the Pedro Bay Corporation and its Alaska Native shareholders while reducing threats to wild salmon. The land remains owned by the corporation, but the easements will ensure that the watersheds of the Pile River, Iliamna River and Knutson Creek remain conserved to maintain cultural and subsistence activities and the extraordinary returns of sockeye salmon year after year.

A Local Vision With Benefits for the Bristol Bay Region

The conservation easements protect critical habitat for millions of wild salmon and maintain subsistence and recreational uses, traditional activities and cultural resources important to the Pedro Bay Corporation and its Alaska Native shareholders. By selling the conservation easements and generating revenue for the corporation, it was presented with an opportunity to fulfill the goals of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act — to provide long-term financial stability and reliable shareholder benefits.

Bristol Bay is home to the world’s largest wild salmon fishery. In 2022, the fishery run was the largest on record, with 79 million fish. This is a major economic driver in southwest Alaska, accounting for 57% of global sockeye salmon harvests.

The scope of these conservation easements will not only protect this important salmon habitat, but it will also block an industrial-scale road that the Pebble Mine project had hoped to build on the corporation’s land to connect its proposed mine site to Cook Inlet on the Pacific Ocean. The easements prohibit development and execution of any right-of-way agreements needed by the mine to develop the road across Pedro Bay Corporation lands.

The Pedro Bay River project safeguards the most productive and intact spawning and rearing habitats for sockeye salmon within the Iliamna Lake watersheds and protects habitat for many other species, including seals, brown bears, moose and wolves.

Our Role

The Pedro Bay Rivers project builds on previous collaborative efforts to protect over 58,000 acres of vital salmon and wildlife habitat in the Iliamna Lake region. The Conservation Fund, in partnership with the Bristol Bay Heritage Land Trust, secured the $20 million of private funding needed to complete the project, $500,000 of which was directed to the nonprofit Pedro Bay Benefits Corporation to support shareholder education, cultural benefits and scientific research. TCF purchased the conservation easements from Pedro Bay Corporation in December 2022.

This collaborative conservation solution ensures the health and vitality of the globally important Bristol Bay region, provides environmental and economic benefits for people and wildlife, and minimizes the risk of habitat destruction on Pedro Bay Corporation lands.

Overwhelming Support

This significant land protection effort was made possible with generous support from many, including Bristol Bay Native Corporation, the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association, the Wyss Foundation, Patagonia’s Holdfast Collective, the Alaska Venture Fund, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, The Conservation Fund, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, the NorthLight Foundation, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation through Walmart’s Acres for America Program, the Bunting Family Foundation Fund B, MeLampy-Lawrence Charitable Trust, Mark Dexter and Deb Cowley, Richard and Martha Wagner, Robert Shaw, OBI Seafoods, Trident Seafoods, Orvis, Wildtype, Trout Unlimited, numerous foundations and hundreds of individual donors. Collaborative fundraising efforts with The Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund, which includes support from the Brotman Family, Susan Burchill and Anne Pattee, were also critical to this project’s success. See a full list of donors here.

Learn More

• Article: “Alaska Native group protects land coveted by Pebble Mine developers“ (The Washington Post)