Ladd Landing Beach

The Ladd Landing beach is the only public access to the Three Mile Subdivision.  There are no roads connecting Tyonek and Beluga to the rest of the state.  The airports at Beluga and Tyonek are private.  Private aircraft are required to obtain permission to land. During the summer fishing season, small planes land at the mouth of the Chuit River carring sport fishermen, who walk upstream to try their luck. On Easter weekend it is not unusual to see sun bathers enjoying the return of warmer weather.

Ladd Landing beach is also used as a staging area for various commercial fishing sites in the area.

Locals use the beach for picnics, to collect driftwood, search for agates and the where the land meets the sea. From the Ladd Landing Beach you can see the oil platforms in Cook Inlet, the lights of Anchorage at night, Turnagain Arm and the Kenai Peninsula.

MV Berge Athene, a capesize bulk carrier of 225,200 DWT, built in 1979. Image by Capt. Jan Melchers

If PacRim is granted permits to build a coal strip mine in the Chuitna River watershed, Ladd Landing beach will become ugly and unusable.  Uncovered piles of coal will be stored near by and the constant loading of ships bound for Asia will blacken and poison the beach.  PacRim’s current plans force residents and visitors to access the beach by traveling under the conveyor system that will run from a coal storage facility at the mine to an artificial island built to load Cape Class cargo ships on their way to Asia.