The animals come here because of the forests, alpine tundra, wetlands, freshwater streams, or marine environment of Turnagain Arm itself. Any way you look at it, the area around Turnagain Arm is extraordinarily productive, in biological terms. But there's another side to this story. The region is fragile, recovering from a series of environmental disturbances. One of these, the '64 earthquake, had a natural cause.
People are responsible for other catastrophes.
For instance, fish still have a hard time in Sixmile Creek because of the mercury left from gold mining. The recent oil spill in Indian will be with us for a long time. The process of healing is slow.