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Herbert River Rollick rallies recreators together against Amalga Mine
- Jasz Garrett
- 5 hours ago
- 7 min read
‘We all live here, so there’s different reasons we want to protect this place’
By Jasz Garrett
Juneau Independent
Three interconnected projects — the proposed New Amalga Gold Project, its access road and the Cascade Point Ferry Terminal — were scrutinized during three activities celebrating the outdoors in the Herbert Glacier Valley on Saturday.
The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council and Southeast Alaska Land Trust organized the “Herbert River Rollick” to raise awareness about the new gold mine, but also expressed concerns about other development in the Eagle-Herbert River watershed 10 miles north of Auke Bay.
“We wanted to host this event because it’s so important for us to make sure that we’re really intentionally recreating on our public lands,” said Stacy Unzicker, SEACC’s mining campaigner.
“I wanted people who actively recreate and look to recreate to know what is valuable here, the things that they would like to protect, and just to know that there is a looming plan of a mine within the next handful of years trying to operationalize, and how that might impact their recreational access and enjoyment of this place,” she said.
Unzicker asked about 50 rollick attendees how they enjoy the valley. Answers included foraging, skiing, snowshoeing, wildlife photography, walking, birding, fishing — and biking.
Nine people followed Riley Moser on a guided bike ride to the proposed Amalga gold mine site surrounding the Herbert Glacier. Others participated in a nature walk with Richard Carstensen, which took participants where the corridor for the access road would intersect with Glacier Highway.
Another group nature journaled with Stephanie Harold near the Eagle Beach Picnic Shelter.
Moser volunteered to lead the bike ride through Juneau Mountain Bike Alliance. He stopped along the way to explain where a future access road could disrupt the Herbert Glacier Trail. Catching their breath, bikers paused under old-growth trees, immersed in sounds of ravens and the Herbert River.
“About an eighth of a mile is the next stretch of distance between the trail and the road. From the trailhead to the next quarter mile, it would be traffic at the very least, and that would be with the state easement if the road stops just there,” Moser said. “So eventually, if they did go through, we’d be biking by a heliport.”
Moser added the operations would need to cross over Herbert River at some point for the mining project’s back end.
The group continued discussing the potential access road and mining operations by Canada-based Grande Portage Resources Ltd. until reaching the glacier.
“I think it’s a lot easier to feel more connected to a spot if you can actually get out here. So a lot of people have been out here, but for those that haven't, it takes it from being a concept to something that you can actually visualize and touch and see and feel,” Moser said. “It’s a beautiful area. A lot of people use it for access for
hunting, recreation, camping.”
Grande Portage has stated the mine site’s design attempts to use natural features to shield much of the infrastructure from areas where recreational users will be. The mine is intended to be a low-impact site where employees will commute to work daily from Juneau and ore will be shipped elsewhere for processing, according to the company.
A company representative said earlier this year the mine is expected to create 277 jobs and a pre-tax net present value of nearly $1 billion during an initial seven-year production cycle. No official mine launch date has been announced, with permitting and other regulatory requirements still pending for the mine, road and ferry terminal.
A new phase for the proposed gold mine north of Juneau began in June, with this year’s drilling season marking a “transition from pure exploration into strategic development planning,” according to a Grande Portage press release issued June 17. This year’s work on the New Amalga Gold Project calls for “4,300
meters of diamond drilling from up to 14 drillholes as well as installation of downhole instrumentation.”
Grand Portage wants to build a 15-foot-wide and 1.3-mile-long unpaved road with helicopter pads, including a staging area in the forest. The eventual plan also includes a larger staging area for trucks to transport ore. The intent is to replace the existing staging area in the Mendenhall Valley to reduce noise impacts to residential areas and helicopter distance, according to the company’s easement application.
Moser said he thinks the proposed road project is likely to progress given the Dunleavy administration’s support for it.
A total of 88% of about 200 public comments submitted earlier this year to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources opposed the proposed mine road between the Eagle and Herbert glaciers earlier this year. Similarly, 92% of public comments opposed the proposed Cascade Point Ferry Terminal.
Trucking the ore to a dock at the Cascade Point Ferry Terminal would lower cost, according to a company official.
The company’s tentative plan is to drive truckloads of ore to a terminal at Cascade Point, about 10 miles further north, about once an hour, with a ship picking up and transporting stockpiles weekly.
Moser noted frequent haul trucks can create hazards, especially for those hiking with dogs. Public access to the road and mining area would likely be restricted due to safety concerns, he said.
The Alaska Department of Transportation listed $49 million as the budget for Cascade Point for 2027 in the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program. The first phase of the project has been delayed until at least 2027 due to concerns from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
SEACC has listed a public comment period on its website with a deadline of Aug. 2 encouraging advocacy against Cascade Point.
Much of the opposition against the ferry terminal and mining project is based on assertions they primarily benefit Grande Portage, Goldbelt Inc. as the landowner at Cascade Point and possibly other companies such as Juneau Hydropower, which has signed an agreement with the state to provide electricity to the terminal.
Kat Heaton, SEACC development coordinator, said part of the trail’s beauty is how it belongs to everyone.
At the end of the trail, the woods opened to expose the face of Herbert Glacier. Heaton said the group cycled through a special, silent place she shares with family when they visit.
“This is an opportunistic area where anyone in the community can come out and enjoy the quietness of Juneau, especially in the hustle and bustle of the summer season. The trail that we just did — it’s a really good entry-level into mountain biking,” she said. “To place a mine in a community where there’s going to be ore trucks going up and down our road — people love to road bike out here. They love going to the beach. This will impact us all.”
She and Moser added an impact on recreation has already been felt, passing by the formerly planned site of Herbert Glacier Cabin. The U.S. Forest Service rejected the cabin due to mining activity and other “site complexity.”
“I really love protecting this place because I love getting out and recreating, and that’s what today’s event is about,” Heaton said. “We all live here, so there’s different reasons we want to protect this place. But I think that is what draws my heart closest to getting out here. I love watching everyone be able to get out here, no matter your ability level.”
The bikers returned to Eagle Beach, joining the artists and hikers for a bonfire. Along with being a popular recreational site, the Eagle-Herbert River watershed is a habitat for eagles, bears and salmon.
A strum of a guitar accompanied bald eagle whistles in the distance.
Jojo Goerner, a local musician and charter fisherman, sang original songs at the fire. Goerner said her love songs about salmon reflect passion for Southeast Alaska — “the most inspiring place to be.”
She lived in Haines before moving to Juneau and said she was already concerned about The Palmer Project’s impacts to the Chilkat River. She expressed shock upon learning about the Amalga gold mine and how close it would be to Herbert River.
“This is a very popular area for us to catch halibut and salmon, and if that were to become toxic, we would lose a whole lot of business,” she said, looking out at the ocean the river drains into. “It kind of happens that all my songs are very based around that as a way to lend my voice.”
Goerner said she was concerned about the gold mine jeopardizing her business, Adventure Fishing Tours, but also the broader fishing industry.
“It’s concerning because we’re already seeing the stocks lower than what they’ve ever been, and to put excess pressure on them seems kind of like folly, especially when there’s so many people who rely on healthy salmon runs in Southeast,” she said.
In an interview, Unzicker echoed that thought. She said even though Grand Portage doesn’t plan on having mill operations in Juneau and will instead ship its ore internationally, the project could still threaten water quality.
“So this whole watershed, if anything goes wrong upstream — this is at the face of a glacier,” she said. “Everything downstream would be impacted by that.”
• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz@juneauindependent.com or (907) 723-9356.
