Nushagak River photos
by Erin McKittrick
other Pebble Mine region photos

These photos are from the Nushagak River segment of my month-long, 450+ mile Trek through the Pebble Mine watersheds

The Pebble Mine project is a controversial proposal by Northern Dynasty Minerals to build one of the largest gold and copper mines in the world, in southwest Alaska, near Lake Iliamna. Northern Dynasty has not yet applied for permits, but their current proposal involves both a large open pit and an underground mine, as well as removal of the water from the headwaters of Upper Talarik Creek and the Koktuli River ( important fish habitats). The site sits at the headwaters of two major Bristol Bay drainages ( Nushagak and Kvichak), and potentially poses a large threat to the region's salmon. This proposal has become a major political issue in Alaska, pitting pro-mining forces against local native villages and commercial and sport fishermen.

Pictures and other files are provided free for download for non-profit use only. Please credit the photographer (Erin McKittrick). For commercial use, please contact me at mckittre at gmail dot com. My photographs of the Pebble Mine area have been published in Alaska and Fly Fisherman magazines, the Bristol Bay Times, as well as by the Renewable Resources Coalition, the Wilderness Society, the Alaska Conservation Foundation, and other environmental groupss.

Click here for Word file with captions, and Upper Nushagak Map and Lower Nushagak Map jpg files showing picture locations.

1778 - Confluence of the Nushagak and Mulchatna Rivers, from the bluffs of the Nushagak.

1779 - Islands in the Nushagak River, near the Mulchatna River confluence.

1785 - Nushagak River sunset, near the Mulchatna River confluence.

1794 - Evening sky over the Nushagak River.

1798 - Hig paddling into the evening on the Nushagak River.

1800 - Tundra hillside and forested slopes above the Nushagak River.

1813 - Forests along the Nushagak River.

1818 - Floatplanes on a gravel bar island on the Nushagak River.

1830 - Bald eagle resting on a log along the Nushagak River.

1834 - Duckling in the Nushagak River near New Stuyahok.

1835 - Duckling swimming up to a skiff at New Stuyahok.

1840 - Salmon strips drying in New Stuyahok.

1841 - Boy waving from the back of a 4-wheeler in New Stuyahok.

1847 - Boats lined up on the shore at New Stuyahok, my Alpacka raft in foreground.

1850 - Hig and Tom floating away from New Stuyahok, past a barge.

1855 - New Stuyahok village, visible as a tiny speck on the banks of the Nushagak River.

1859 - Antler decorated drying rack in Ekwok.

1865 - Salmon strips drying in Ekwok.

1872 - Tom paddling and trolling in the Nushagak River.

1873 - Buildings on the shore of the Nushagak River, below Ekwok.

1874 - Spruce leaning out over a bluff full of swallow homes along the Nushagak River.

1881 - Hig and Tom floating in the Nushagak River.

1882 - Hig paddling behind a log on the Nushagak River.

1886 - Spruce leaning over the banks of the Nushagak River, looking upstream.

1892 - Hig and Tom in the Alpacka rafts, under a sky of puffy clouds on the Nushagak River.

1894 - Hig filming swallows along the bluffs of the Nushagak River.

1897 - Swallows speckle the sky over the Nushagak River.

1902 - Boat steaming up the Nushagak River.

1904 - Fish camp on the lower Nushagak River.

1907 - Float plane taking off up the Nushagak River.

1911 - Hig starting a smoky fire on a small muddy beach along the Nushagak River.

1915 - Tundra flats along Nushagak Bay.

1918 - Hig and Tom on the tundra flats along Nushagak Bay.