Chilkat Valley residents surprised Colin Arisman, when he set out to help make the movie “Rock, Paper, Fish.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The 23-minute film captures community response to a exploration of a potential mining project in the Haines Borough near Klukwan<\/a> known as the Palmer Project. The Palmer Project is a mining prospect in the advanced exploration stage, according to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. The Project is operated by Constantine North Inc. Previously, the tribal government of Klukwan sued the Bureau of Land Management <\/a>in connection to the project.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t However, Arisman said the people he talked to were not as polarized as he expected.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “I think we assumed that the divide between pro- and anti-mining would be pretty black and white, but in small Alaskan communities people are very thoughtful in how they express themselves,” Arisman said in an email after a phone interview with the Capital City Weekly. “There’s a lot at stake — for the watershed, for economic security and for the well-being of the community — but yet neighbors are neighbors, and folks are respectful of each other’s perspectives. At the same time, we became more aware of how limited the opportunities are for the average person to engage with the development process for mines in Alaska, especially when they are on private land.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t