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D. E. MC KNIGHT AND C. E. KNODER 



and modes have been developed. Plans are 

 being completed to develop the Bering River 

 coal field, with the eventual goal of exporting 

 coking coal to Japan. Although mining opera- 

 tions might ultimately affect freshwater envi- 

 ronments to the detriment of several water- 

 fowl species, including the trumpeter swan 

 (Olor buccinator), the chief cause for concern 

 will be additional freighter traffic through 

 Prince William Sound. Similar plans to de- 

 velop Klukwan and Snettisham iron deposits 

 in southeastern Alaska for the use of Japa- 

 nese industry (Bartonek et al. 1971) may re- 

 sult in the imposition of further traffic in 

 Alaska shipping lanes. 



Plans are under way to strip-mine coal de- 

 posits in the Beluga field near the west side of 

 Cook Inlet and transport a coal slurry via 

 pipeline to a thermal electric generation plant 

 opposite Anchorage on the Inlet. Impact on 

 tidal areas may be minor, but thermal pollu- 

 tion of the waters is a possibility. 



Development plans for tin and tungsten de- 

 posits in the Lost River area of Alaska's 

 Seward Peninsula are under way after several 

 years of faltering starts and stops. These ac- 

 tivities and possible extraction of gold lying 

 offshore from Nome may ultimately have 

 some effect on these coastal areas. Methods 

 for recovering gold, regardless of the type, 

 would disrupt marine and estuarine environ- 

 ments used by marine birds (Bartonek et al. 

 1971), and transportation of ores would also 

 increase freighter traffic in the Bering Sea. 



Timber Resource Development 



Although the timber industry has long been 

 established along the coast from Washington 

 north through southeastern Alaska, timber 

 harvests are rapidly expanding on U.S. Forest 

 Service lands in Alaska. The impact of this in- 

 dustry is principally on terrestrial ecosys- 

 tems, but certainly log rafting in estuarine 

 areas, disposal of wastes from pulp mills, and 

 freighter traffic transporting wood pulp or 

 logs to Japan and west coast markets con- 

 tribute to the chronic degradation of marine 

 bird environments. Recent, meager studies on 

 the Vancouver Canada goose (Branta cana- 

 densis fulva) in southeastern Alaska have 

 pointed out the importance to this species of 

 coastal timber stands for nesting and 



estuarine environments for brood rearing and 

 wintering. This essentially nonmigratory 

 goose (Hansen 1962) may be particularly vul- 

 nerable to logging activities in these areas. 

 Similarly, recent evidence indicates that 

 marbled murrelets may nest in large conifer 

 trees adjacent to the coast, from northwest- 

 ern California to northern southeastern 

 Alaska (Harris 1971; Savile 1972). If this is 

 true, logging may eventually greatly restrict 

 the breeding of this numerically important in- 

 habitant of northern coastal waters. 



Assessment of Resource 



Development and Potential 



Conflicts with Marine Bird 



Conservation 



Although extraction of hard mineral re- 

 sources, expansion of the timber industry, 

 and resultant increases in human pressures 

 along North Pacific and Arctic coasts will 

 ultimately affect northern marine bird popula- 

 tions, current and proposed activities of the 

 petroleum industry pose the most immediate 

 threat to marine birds. Chronic degradation of 

 estuarine and marine coastal waters by log- 

 ging wastes, pulp mill and sewage effluents, 

 and bilge oils is an insidious process, the im- 

 pacts of which will be difficult, at best, to 

 quantify. Results of a major oil spill or even 

 low-level contamination of marine ecosystems 

 with oil will be more apparent, however. For 

 this reason, and the fact that the industry is 

 expanding rapidly into the North, most of this 

 discussion will be directed at the impacts of 

 oil development on northern marine birds. 



Potential sources of adverse environmental 

 degradation affecting these birds resulting 

 from oil and gas exploration, development, 

 and production include: ( 1 ) oil discharges into 

 marine waters, both chronic and catastrophic, 

 (2) gravel excavation and dumping in coastal 

 areas, (3) seismic activities, (4) discharge of 

 drilling mud and drill cuttings into marine 

 waters, including toxic heavy metal consti- 

 tuents of drilling mud, (5) disturbance result- 

 ing from petrochemical activities, and (6) in- 

 creased human populations resulting in inter- 

 ference with critical life processes and in- 

 creased hunting of game species. Each source 

 of environmental change will vary by latitu- 



