
The stranded car that stranded two residents driving to a mining claim last November remains in the Tsirku River, drawing concerns from Chilkat Bald Eagle Advisory Council members about pollutants flowing downstream.
On Nov. 6, a U.S Coast Guard aircrew rescued residents John Coulter and Nathan Jones after Jone’s vehicle submerged in a swift channel on the Tsirku River.
The men were driving to their nearby mining claim to set up a camp when Jones’ Toyota Land Cruiser got stuck in a trench along the embankment. The men were airlifted out, but the car has remained.
At a council meeting last month, Kate Kanouse, Southeast regional supervision for Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s habitat division said that the agency located the car about five miles upriver from Devil’s Elbow, and said it “(doesn’t) know of any fish in the area.”
“There seem to be fish everywhere else outside of the preserve and I think we know that oil doesn’t flow uphill and I’m sure they have gas and oil,” council member Bill Thomas said. “Somebody needs to get that out of there.”
Alaska State Parks regional superintendent Preston Kroes told the council last month that State Parks would address the issue. He told the CVN this week that the department will contact the vehicle’s owner. “Our main concern is contamination coming into the eagle preserve,” Kroes said.
District State Parks ranger Travis Russell said it will be the car owner’s responsibility to remove the vehicle, which may require heavy machinery. “Any vehicle that sat in moving water that long, it’s more than likely that it would take (heavy machinery),” he said.
Al Gilliam, Coulter’s uncle, said he is volunteering to remove the car, despite his lack of ownership.
“We haven’t been able to get ahold of the owner all winter,” Gilliam said. “When the snow is gone before the river comes up, we’ll go up and take that thing out of the river.”
Gilliam said they will likely use heavy machinery to remove the car in mid-April.
Coulter declined to comment and Jones could not be reached by press time.