The Pebble Partnership, which includes Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and Anglo American, has agreed to make the $5 million charitable gift to the Alaska Community Foundation, based in Anchorage. The nonprofit foundation would, in turn, provide financial management and administrative services, while a stakeholder advisory board, yet to be named, would review applications for grants and make recommendations on approving them.

Northern Dynasty, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, recently partnered with Anglo American, a South African-based mining and natural resources firm. Partnership officials, including Anglo American CEO Cynthia Carroll, have said they want to establish partnerships that not only protect, but also enhance the fisheries of Bristol Bay.

“The Pebble Fund is an investment by the Pebble Partnership in the long-term social, economic and environmental health of Bristol Bay and its communities,” the partnership said in announcing the fund Feb. 22.

The fund will allocate $1 million a year over five years to support community-led initiatives.

Independent consultant Margaret King of Anchorage was contracted to put together the stakeholders group that will make recommendations on how to spend the funds. King said she hoped to have the group meeting by the end of March, possibly in Anchorage, but was uncertain yet of whom would participate or where they would meet. The foundation, after hearing recommendations from the stakeholders group, is to make final decisions on expenditures.

“We know this (mine) project won't be successful unless we can prove to people it can co-exist with healthy fisheries and wildlife and traditional ways of life, “ said Sean Mcgee, spokesman for the Pebble Partnership.

The mine project has prompted skepticism from some who are engaged in commercial, sport and subsistence fishing and hunting in the Bristol Bay region. The proposed copper, gold and molybdenum mine would lie at the headwaters of the Bristol Bay watershed, and numerous fishing and hunting entities, including those who fish the famed Bristol Bay sockeye salmon run, are concerned that the mine will pollute the waters and hurt the fishery.

“Last time I looked, the fishery was in pretty good shape,” said Bob Waldrop, executive director of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association. The fledging association is funded by a tax on the harvest, and was approved by nearly 2,000 fishermen in the drift net fleet. Board members will decide in future meetings how to use that tax money to improve fisheries infrastructure in the region.

“It's kind of hard to improve on the world's most valuable sockeye fishery,” Waldrop said. “We do want to improve the quality of the harvest, the revenue side and increase demand. This is not a nonprofit enterprise, (but) we don't have an ulterior motive. We simply want to improve the value of the fishery for all the participants.”

Waldrop said the board of the regional seafood development association had not yet had a chance to discuss whether they would apply for any of these funds, “but it's very unlikely,” he said.

Tim Bristol, Alaska program director for Trout Unlimited, expressed skepticism about the mine proponents' motives in making the donation.

“It would be interesting for people to look at other places in the world where Anglo offered up initiatives like this, and see how it turned out for the local communities,” he said. “I think you would find the results are mixed at best. I think this is a playbook they have used over and over again, and I think at five million bucks, they are seriously undervaluing the Bristol Bay fishery.”

Bristol said an economic study conducted for Trout Unlimited by John Duffield of the mathematical sciences department of the University of Montana showed that the commercial fishery in Bristol Bay alone was worth more than $354 million last year, while the sport fishery is worth at least $60 million a year. The wild salmon sport and commercial fisheries also employ roughly 6,500 people, he said.

But would Trout Unlimited apply to use some of the Pebble Partnership funds for sport fisheries? “Even if we were down to our last dime, the answer would be Ôhell no,'” Bristol said.

“I imagine this is the beginning of a trend, as the clean water initiative comes closer to the ballot box,” said Richard Jameson, president of the Renewable Resources Coalition. “We won't be applying for the money. You really have to wonder what they are attempting to do.”

Mcgee said people are rushing to conclusions before the mining partners have finished exploring and laid out their application plans. Last year, Northern Dynasty spent nearly $100 million on the project, and the forecasted budget for 2008 is $125 million.

“Any scientist who tells you they can predict the affects of a project that hasn't yet been designed isn't being entirely forthright,” Mcgee said. “This project hasn't been designed. It is at a very conceptual stage. We believe modern mines can be built to protect water qualities and fisheries. We have a lot of work in front of us, but those who say it is impossible don't have the basis to say that.”