A partnership program designed to protect and restore river habitat on private land has made some significant strides since 2007.
Salmon habitat is the overall goal for the program. That means stabilizing stream banks and removing structures that might hinder fish passage.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game, in partnership with the US Fish and Wildlife Service has led the program in the Mat-Su Borough since 2007. The program has built 900 individual projects on private and public lands throughout the State.
Joe Lyon, Biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, says the cost-share means that the landowners pay only one-third the cost. The US Fish and Wildlife Service and the State also each pay one-third.
Funding varies from year to year and it’s hard to know which projects will move forward next year. During the winter, Lyon says projects are run through a matrix to determine which ones are the highest priority. And they fund as many as they can with the funding they have.
The team conducts a site visit to determine what’s possible on the site. Landowners can then get bids for the work and even break the project into several years if needed.
Two of this year’s projects were on Big Lake and Wasilla Lake. A third was on Montana Creek at the Yoder Road Bridge, an area with about 450 feet of rip-rap in need of plants. The program partnered with many local and national groups to host the second annual community planting day. About 70 volunteers came together to plant more than 200 willows, roses, alders, and high-bush cranberries. Plants were provided by the Knik Tribal Council.
Lyon says native plantings are one of the least expensive ways to protect habitat, but there are other options like special docks that allow light to go through and coir logs that get tacked into the bank. The planting at Montana Creek is planned as a multi-year project and will need volunteers next summer.
Though the application period for landowners closes September 30th this year, Lyon says it will reopen next year.
