harvest and processing output, including 80 jobs and $1.4 million in labor income. British Columbia added over $750,000 more. Other activities, including commercial air, guided river excursions, hunting and property taxes added still more to the general regional economy. the report mentioned above estimated "the annual economic impact from all activities on the Taku River to be $26.7 million," most of it, about $18 million, from commercial air activity directly related to tourism. The Taku is the Southeast Alaska's top salmon-producing river. Data from the Alaska Department of Fish & Game notes that nearly 2 million wild salmon return to the river annually, including up to 100,000 Chinook salmon (king salmon), 350,000 sockeye salmon (red salmon) and 400,000 coho salmon (silver salmon), 50,000 chum salmon(dog salmon), and 1 million pink salmon (humpy salmon). Beyond its bounty of salmon, the Taku is home to eight other fish species, including steelhead, bull trout, Dolly Varden char, rainbow trout, lake trout, Arctic grayling, whitefish and Southeast Alaska's largest population of cutthroat trout. In addition, hooligans (eulachon), crab, shrimp and halibut are harvested at or near the river's mouth. That marine wealth supports major sport, commercial and tribal fisheries in Alaska and British Columbia. Flooding history Periodically, the Taku River reaches flood stage (43 ft) or above. Records of the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS), a branch of the National Weather Service, show that in the last two decades the river crested above six times. The highest level reached in that period was on June 25, 2004. As of August 12, 2009, the highest registered level for 2009 occurred on July 24 when the river crested at . More information is available at the AHPS website. Also see * http://takuriver.com/takuriverfloods.htm The Taku River fills Tulsequah Lake during peak flow, causing lake outburst events most years. As the lake swells the water can float or melt the glacier enough to trigger sudden releases. Habitat protection efforts Past mining activity and the potential for future mining on the Canadian side of the border led the State of Alaska to take recent habitat protection steps. In January 2009, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Coastal and Ocean Management approved a request from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to designated the entire U.S. portion of the Taku River as "important habitat," a designation that put the stretch of river within the purview of protective