Feds opens area near salmon rivers

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has opened about 1 million acres of Alaska near major salmon rivers to exploration for oil and minerals.

The area near Bristol Bay in southwestern Alaska is drained by the Kvichak River, which has the largest sockeye salmon run in the world, and the Nushagak River, with Alaska's second-largest king salmon run, the Anchorage Daily News reported Tuesday.

Officials have told environmentalists, commercial and anglers, who have formed an alliance to fight the designation, that the area is unlikely to be exploited because there are no known commercial deposits there. Opponents wonder why, in that case, the bureau wants to open the region.

"We intend to fight this with every available tool that we can come up

with," said Terry Hoefferle, executive director of Numamta Aulukestai, an alliance of eight Native American corporations in the region.

At a news conference Monday, Hoefferle and other opponents said they are considering trying to get legislation to block the action and appealing to President-elect Barack Obama to reverse the bureau when he takes office.