For this month’s installment of On The Wire, we’re kicking things to an Audubon team who visited Klukwan or Tlákw Aan (The Village That Has Always Been) to report on how Chilkat communities have been protecting Jilkáat Aani Ka Héeni (Chilkat River Watershed) and preserving their lifeways against a proposed mine.

Hear from Lani Strong Hotch, a textile artist and culture bearer in the Alaska Native community, and Jones Hotch, Tribal council president for the Chilkat Indian Village—Klukwan’s Tribal government. Other voices include Shannon Donahue, a Haines resident and the executive director of the Great Bear Foundation. Stacie Evans, an avid birder and the science director at Takshanuk Watershed Council, and Derek Poinsette, executive director of Takshanuk Watershed Council.

Take some time to read and enjoy the stunning visuals of “Mining Could Pollute Alaska’s Chilkat Valley. A Tribe and Local Groups Defend their Way of Life: Inside the fight for the watershed with the Chilkat Indian Village of Klukwan, residents in Haines, and Audubon Alaska.”