As a community with an important salmon nursery inside of our city limits, we owe great thanks to the Native Village of Eyak and to the city of Cordova for their spill response efforts this summer. Earlier this year, a homeowner’s buried fuel tank developed a leak from corrosion that led to heating oil draining into Eyak Lake. And more recently, oil absorbent pads were placed along an inlet creek to soak up sheen that was visible on the water surface, but these pads were washed into the lake by last week’s heavy rain. Native Village of Eyak staff time and oil spill response resources were deployed both times to help with clean up. Several staff from the City of Cordova also spent the better part of three days on the earlier spill to identify the source and contain discharged fuel.
In acknowledging those who had to set aside their regular work duties to respond, I can’t pass up this opportunity to urge homeowners to check their fuel tanks before the coming winter. This is a great time to check your tank for wet spots (where corrosion does its work), leaks around valves and joints, dark spots or odors on the soil below your tank, or dead vegetation around the tank.
Eyak Lake is our “million dollar lake”! Each year, the lake contributes to our pocketbooks by producing sockeye and coho salmon that generate from $876,272 – $1.6 million annually (five year average) in ex-vessel seafood sales (Alaska Department of Fish & Game Annual Finfish Management Reports). Let’s keep Eyak Lake pollution-free so it can continue to contribute salmon, a renewable resource, to our local economy. Thank you,
Kristin Carpenter
Copper River Watershed Project
