Alaska's Explosive Mission: Blowing Up the Past to Save the Future!

2025-08-18 06:00:26.146

In Alaska's Tongass National Forest, a team detonated 1,200 lbs of explosives to remove a culvert blocking salmon migration. This action, part of a larger restoration project in Cube Cove, aims to heal the land damaged by past logging. The Tlingit people, who have lived on Admiralty Island for millennia, consider this land sacred. The project involves removing culverts and bridges, reconnecting streams, and restoring the ecosystem. This initiative is a collaboration between the US Forest Service, Kootznoowoo Inc. (an Indigenous corporation), and the Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition (SAWC). The restoration efforts contrast with recent attempts by the Trump administration to open more of the Tongass to logging, highlighting the ongoing conflict between conservation and resource extraction. The project's success is measured not only in ecological terms but also in the revitalization of Tlingit cultural traditions and the strengthening of community bonds.