Salmon Habitat Protection Measure Defeated in Alaska (1)

A measure to better protect Alaska’s salmon habitat by imposing stricter permitting requirements for development activities near waters where the fish live failed in the Nov. 6 election.

With 98 percent of Alaska’s 442 precincts reporting, Ballot Measure 1, backed by the nonprofit group Stand for Salmon, trailed by 28 percentage points, 64-36.

The measure proposed a two-tiered permitting process for development activities that affect bodies of water with anadromous fish, mainly salmon. Resource developers, major Alaska native corporations, labor, and trade groups opposed it. Their well-funded group, Stand for Alaska, said the measure went ...