Caswell and Lucille Creeks Fish Passage Restoration

This project replaced five fish passage barrier culverts in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley with fish-friendly culverts and restored the adjacent stream reaches. Four of the projects were located in the
Caswell Lakes system and collectively blocked both juvenile and adult salmon from passing upstream into the two upper lakes and the tributary watersheds feeding those lakes. The final culvert was replaced in July of 2019 and adult coho were observed migrating through it and into the upper lake by local residents in September of that same year. The fifth project was located on Lucille Creek, an important spawning and rearing tributary to Meadow Creek and blocked both up and downstream migration prior to replacement. In total, the project restored unimpeded access to 13.74 km of stream habitat and 17 hectares of lake habitat encompassing 3.54 km of shoreline.

This project utilized funds from PCSRF grant NA16NMF4380235; no funds from this grant were used beyond June 30, 2018.

This project will restore free and clear movement of juvenile and adult salmonids at five road crossings, increasing the overall amount of habitat available to salmon in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough by 13.74 km of stream habitat and 17 hectares of lake habitat; one crossing will also improve downstream access to productive habitats (including wetlands) for rearing juveniles. Appropriately sized culverts will also pass debris and sediment as well as water at the 100-year flood which will greatly reduce the likelihood of catastrophic road failures introducing large volumes of sediment into streams. Stream simulation crossings are also more stable and less prone to bank scour, channel incision, or sediment accretion at a rate greater than the rest of the channel, thereby maintaining salmonid habitat.