The Jackrabbit Hills separate the headwaters of the Koktuli River from all the creeks and rivers that flow south to Lake Iliamna, one of the largest and most pristine freshwater lakes on earth. 75 miles long and 20 wide, Iliamna is home to the world's only freshwater seals, and to giant rainbow trout, king salmon, and grayling. Lake Iliamna drains out down the Kvichak River, famous for its catch and release fishery for rainbows in late summer, behemoth predators that can run thirty inches long. The Kvichak flows 60 miles into Kvichak Bay, an arm of Bristol Bay, where the tides thunder in at thirty feet deep, one of the highest tidal changes on earth.

The flat area in this photo is close to the center of the proposed Pebble Project, the largest combined open pit and underground gold and copper mine ever planned. The mining company proposes building a 250 mile-long road into this roadless region, which will open up the surrounding country, all of it public land controlled by the US Bureau of Land Management, to scores of smaller mining claims. Supporters of the Pebble Project say it will bring 2000 jobs to the region, along with much needed revenue. The Pebble Project is extremely controversial, opposed by commercial fishing groups, outfitters and guides, many native communities that rely on subsistence hunting and fishing, and by environmentalists across the globe. Exploration for the mine is already using water from the Koktulie River. If the mine becomes a reality, the Koktulie will be the major source of water for what will be a tailings storage dump in its headwaters, with an earthen dam estimated to be 740 feet tall and 4.3 miles long, the longest such dam ever built. The area to be mined could be as large as 1000 square miles.